Working man (Postcard)

Details

With annotations in an unknown hand, including a change to the address and a post stamp, on the reverse. With a photo expertise by Prof. Dr. Gunther Thiem, Stuttgart, dated 9.8.2001. We are thankful to Christiane Remm of the Karl und Emy Schmidt-Rottluff Stiftung, Berlin, for the information she has kindly provided for cataloguing this lot. This work is documented in the archive of the foundation. Literature: Wietek, Gerhard: Karl Schmidt-Rottluff. Zeichnungen auf Postkarten, Cologne 2010, cat. no.152, with col. illus. p. 444. Provenance: The couple Dr. Peter und Paet. al. Magnussen, Berlin; estate of Paet. al.Schiff-Magnussen; Städtisches Museum Mühlheim a.d. Ruhr, with inventory stamp on the reverse;Ketterer, Munich 29.11.1993, lot 289; Galerie Maulberger, Munich, 2001; private collection, Hamburg; Ketterer, Munich 19.5.2001, lot 32; private ownership, Bremen.

Description

Inscribed on the reverse “S. H. Herrn Sanitätsrat Dr. P. Magnussen u. FrauTempelhof-Berlin, Parkstr. 1Liebe Magnussens, sind Sie bald auf dem Weg nach Kampen? Es wird Ihnen sicher sehr gefallen – es ist herrlich dort – weiträumig und gedehnt. Uns geht’s jetzt ganz gut. Anfangs waren wir von der Luft u. dem vielen Wind reichlich nervös geworden – so zerzaust! Alles Gute für Kampen.Ihr SR u. Frau.” (S. H. Herrn Sanitätsrat Dr. P. Magnussen u. FrauTempelhof-Berlin, Parkstr. 1 Dear Magnussens, are you on the way to Kampen already? I’m sure you’ll love it there – it’s wonderful – wide and open. We are very well. At first we were quite nervous because of all the wind – we were so tousled! Wish you all the best for Kampen. Your SR & wife.”)

• Charming small-format watercolour on a postcard
• Schmidt-Rottluff sent postcards of his own design to friends, colleagues and patrons that are both greetings and works of art
• Testament to the friendship between the artist and the Magnussens in fresh colours Postcards, ten by fifteen centimeter pieces of card printed with picturesque scenes or charming jokes, have been known in Germany since 1870.

In keeping with the tastes of the masses, they show popular holiday destinations and – often similar to the texts that accompany them – are not particularly individual. For decades, Schmidt-Rottluff designed his postcards differently. He often made his own cards to send to friends, colleagues and patrons. They are holiday greetings and works of art at the same time, intimate little gifts from the great painter. In 1921 Schmidt-Rottluff was in Pomerania. He spent the summer in the country with his wife and produced numerous works. This summer he shows people at work: in the fields, in workshops or in the ports. The artist was fascinated by creating and the act of creation. Even in the decades that followed, he would continue to invoke the creative power of craftsmanship in his work. In the card offered here he depicts for his friends, the Magnussens, a working man lifting a pile of something with a fork or shovel. It is not clear what exactly the man is doing, but the card reveals the fascination of the artist and his middle-class friends with farm work. Schmidt-Rottluff had more in common with the couple than his love of the wind in Kampen, which the painter remembered for years following his own visit there. Paula Schiff-Magnussen was also a trained and extremely productive artist. She never sold a single picture throughout her life – obviously because she didn’t want to – but she continued to develop her artistic talent. She studied in Paris, and her style varies: at times she worked in the style of the old masters, and at times her works took on the spirit of the modern trends that surrounded her, Paula Schiff-Magnussen continued to derive inspiration from many different sources, bringing them together in works that often included portraits of women as well as female spaces and landscapes. Schmidt-Rottluff had been friends with her since 1907. They met in Dangast during working trips there, the contact intensified from 1911 onwards. Schmidt-Rottluff moved to Berlin, where the artist, who was now married to the doctor Peter Magnussen, had also been living for a short time. Schmidt-Rottluff must have been fascinated by her. Not only did he create a silver bracelet for her in the 1920s, he also praised her enthusiasm and energy in 1956. The postcard he sent to her was found in the artist’s estate, which initially went to the museum in Mühlheim an der Ruhr.