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Portrait of a young woman, Um 1918
Oil on canvas
53 × 49,5 cm
Signed
Provenance:
Carl Steinbart, Berlin (acquired from the artist around 1918)
Dora Stach, née Steinbart, Berlin/Amsterdam (from 1923)
Private collection, Hamburg (-1994)
Private collection, Hanover (1994)
Dora Stach, née Steinbart, Berlin/Amsterdam (from 1923)
Private collection, Hamburg (-1994)
Private collection, Hanover (1994)
Literature:
Aya Soika, Max Pechstein. Das Werkverzeichnis der Ölgemälde, Bd. 1: 1905-1918, München 2011, S. 609, Nr. 1918/42, mit Farb.-Abb.
Aya Soika, Max Pechstein. Das Werkverzeichnis der Ölgemälde, Bd. 2: 1909-1954, München 2011, S. 65.
Aya Soika, Max Pechstein. Das Werkverzeichnis der Ölgemälde, Bd. 2: 1909-1954, München 2011, S. 65.
Max Pechstein's "Portrait of a Young Woman" shows Dora Steinbart (1891-1979), married to Stach, a daughter of the Berlin collector Carl Steinbart (1852-1923). Steinbart, who worked for the banking house Mendelsohn & Co, Berlin, built up a considerable art collection, which included paintings by Max Slevogt as well as works by Edvard Munch, Emil Nolde and Max Pechstein. In 1918, he commissioned Pechstein to paint a portrait of his daughter Dora.
After the end of the First World War, Max Pechstein's works became sought-after collector's items. The art critic Franz Servaes remarked: "What Pechstein paints is sold; his pictures sell like hot cakes. And at very decent prices. Anyone who buys them is a patron of the arts and enlightened - and doesn't want to splash out."
The portrait of Dora Steinbart, painted with loose, almost dry brushstrokes, is very fresh in its colouring and conception. The colour palette is dominated by green and blue, which form an intense contrast to the red tones of the young woman's face. The design of her hair is reminiscent of the cubist tendencies in Pechstein's works of 1912/13, while the conception of her face shows a retraction of the expressive tendencies of his work in favour of a more objective capture of the sitter's personality.
From 1915, Dora Steinbart was married to Paul Stach, who, like her father, worked for the banking house Mendelsohn & Co in Berlin, and from 1920 in its Amsterdam branch. Anette Brunner
After the end of the First World War, Max Pechstein's works became sought-after collector's items. The art critic Franz Servaes remarked: "What Pechstein paints is sold; his pictures sell like hot cakes. And at very decent prices. Anyone who buys them is a patron of the arts and enlightened - and doesn't want to splash out."
The portrait of Dora Steinbart, painted with loose, almost dry brushstrokes, is very fresh in its colouring and conception. The colour palette is dominated by green and blue, which form an intense contrast to the red tones of the young woman's face. The design of her hair is reminiscent of the cubist tendencies in Pechstein's works of 1912/13, while the conception of her face shows a retraction of the expressive tendencies of his work in favour of a more objective capture of the sitter's personality.
From 1915, Dora Steinbart was married to Paul Stach, who, like her father, worked for the banking house Mendelsohn & Co in Berlin, and from 1920 in its Amsterdam branch. Anette Brunner