No.3 

Max Liebermann
(Berlin 1847-1935) Grain harvest - reapers, design for the wall painting Summer at the Altona town hall, 1898, signed M. Liebermann, oil on cardboard, image area 34.5 x 54.5 cm, framed, (PP)

Eberle 1898/27
Certificate Dr. Matthias Eberle, Berlin, 25 April 2007
Provenance: Hugo Helbing, Munich (1902); private collection, Germany
Exhibitions: Ölgemälde, Handzeichnungen und Aquarelle alter und moderner Meister, Hugo Helbing, Munich, 2 June 1902, No. 71, repr. p. 19
Literature: Deutschter Reichs-Anzeiger, 1898, Nos. 289 and 295; Altonaer Nachrichten, 1898, evening edition of 6 Dec., evening edition of 30 Jan. 1899; Erich Hancke, Max Liebermann. Sein Leben und seine Werke, 1914, (1), pp. 371-372; Katrin Boskamp, Studien zum Frühstück von Max Liebermann mit einem Katalog der Gemälde und Ölstudien von 1866-1889; Matthias Eberle, Max Liebermann. Werkverzeichnis der Gemälde und Ölstudien, vol. 1, Munich 1995, p. 500, repr. p. 498.
This picture shows two reapers approaching the corn with their long-handled scythes from the right-hand side, while on the left a woman bundles up the blades into sheaves. It is a study on a scale of 1:120 for the large wall painting Summer. In June 1897, the Altona city council had decided to have the main assembly hall of the newly built town hall decorated with wall paintings. In spring 1898 a competition was held, with the choice of the subject being left to the discretion of the participating artists. Liebermann entered four designs representing the four seasons. In January the designs were displayed at the Altona town hall, and the Altonaer Nachrichten (morning edition of 10 Jan. 1899) commented as follows: “Several other candidates have tried to cope with the task with little effort, such as Max Liebermann. His pictures would indeed fit better into some village than into the local town hall; for what connection is there between a grazing flock of sheep, a ploughing peasant, harvesting reapers, or lumbermen in the woods and Altona? This cannot but mean that the artist has taken the easy way in approaching his task.” Liebermann was not awarded the commission, but received praise from another critic: “From among the many designs that did not win an award those by Greve and Max Liebermann deserve mentioning, who have tackled the problem from a purely decorative point of view as well. Liebermann describes the four seasons under a northern Sleswick sky. Owing to their simple lines and unified colour fields, these small sketches - particularly the spring landscape - reveal an extraordinary sense of style. It would have had remained to be seen if a realisation on a larger scale had not dwarfed these merits and resulted in excessive uniformity.” (Deutscher Reichs-Anzeiger, No. 295, 14 December 1898, evening edition). The reapers were chosen for one of the narrow sides of the hall and meant to symbolise summer.(...) Prof. Dr. Matthias Eberle, Berlin, 25 April 2007

estimate €40.000,- to €60.000,-

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