Lady in a café, Berlin

Details

With a photo expertise and documentation by Dr. Sibylle Groß, Berlin, dated 25.10.2019; this painting will be included in the forthcoming Catalogue Raisonné of works by Lesser Ury. Provenance: Galerie Arnold, Dresden, with gallery label on the back of the frame; private collection, Frankreich; Grisebach, Berlin 29.11.2019, lot 405; private collection, Berlin.

Description

• Intimate coffee house scene coupled with a typical view of a Berlin street in the rain
• The artist created an etching with a variation of this motif in the same period
• Ury places the observer directly among the lively bustle of the metropolis

In her expertise, Dr Sibylle Groß points out that the painting “Dame im Café, Berlin” was probably created at the same time as an etching from 1919, which shows the same scene in reverse and with variations. In realising the pictorial idea, the etcher Ury almost ignores the surroundings and focuses his attention exclusively on the lady sitting at the window, her head slightly lowered towards the straw, concentrating on her drink in the glass. In the painting, on the other hand, he opens up the view to include the surroundings and thus brings the figure of the woman to life. Ury creates a context for the moment depicted, transporting the viewer directly into the hustle and bustle of a metropolis. The heavy curtain, half-pulled to one side, allows a view through a window, behind which a row of towering, multi-storey houses can be seen on the right, slightly clouded by the hazy, damp weather. The motorcars seem to approach the viewer quickly. The impression of speed contrasts with the contemplative posture of the lady, who seems unaware of her surroundings. The subject of a woman sitting alone at a table in a café is not unique, but can be found several times in Ury’s works. It is difficult to interpret the moment depicted. Is the lady expecting someone or is her visit to the café for the sole purpose of leisure and enjoyment alone? It is this open narrative style that characterises Ury’s coffee house pictures. The viewer becomes a spectator and interpreter of the captured moment.