August MackeWäsche in Kandern. Verso: Münsterkirche in BonnOil on card. 50 x 40 cm. Framed. Signed

August Macke
Wäsche in Kandern. Verso: Münsterkirche in Bonn
Oil on card. 50 x 40 cm. Framed. Signed and inscribed by Elisabeth Erdmann-Macke "Wäsche im Garten 1907" in pencil verso upper right and added "in Kandern" by an unknown hand below. - Contrary to the information given in the catalogue raisonné, the front and back sides of the double-sided card were never separated. The sketch-like motif on the reverse overpainted with whitish paint. - The card edges slightly bumped in places and with minor losses of colour and minimal scratches.

Heiderich 29, 58; Vriesen (1953) 16: Vriesen (1957) 16a, 16b

We would like to thank Ursula Heiderich, Syke, for her kind additional information.

Provenance
Private possession, Rhineland (since 1957); long-term loan to the Museum für Neue Kunst, Freiburg

Exhibitions
Aachen 1948 (Suermondt-Museum Aachen), August Macke Gedächtnisausstellung des Museumsvereins, cat. no. 1; Munich 1962 (Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus), August Macke, cat. no. 5; Bonn 1981 (Bundeskanzleramt), August Macke, cat. no. 1; Münster/Bonn/Munich 1986/1987 (Westfälisches Landesmuseum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte Münster/Städtisches Kunstmuseum Bonn/Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus Munich), Gemälde, Aquarelle, Zeichnungen, cat. no. 6 with full-page illus. p. 187; Münster/Bonn 2001/2002 (Westfälisches Landesmuseum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte Münster/Kunstmuseum Bonn), August Macke und die frühe Moderne in Europa, cat. no. 20, colour illus. p. 84; Stade/Freiburg/Bonn 2009/2010/2011 (Kunsthaus Stade/Museum für Neue Kunst/Verein August Macke Haus Bonn), August Macke ganz privat, p. 33, colour illus. p. 37; Kochel 2015 (Franz Marc Museum), Schöne Aussichten. Der Blaue Reiter und der Impressionismus, p. 191, colour illus. no. 48

Literature
Gustav Vriesen, August Macke, Der rote Weg, in: Westermanns Monatshefte, 98. year, issue 5, Braunschweig 1957, no. 16 a, illus. p. 308; Rudolf von Bitter, August Macke, Munich 1993, full-page colour illus. no. 1, p. 1; Karlheinz Beyerle, August Macke in Kandern, Bonn 1996, p. 111, colour plate 5, p. 53; Peter Dering, Die Ausstellungen des August Macke Hauses 1991 - 1996, Schriftenreihe Verein August Macke Haus Bonn Nr. 20, Bonn 1996, colour illus., p.194; Peter Daners, Peter Dering u.a., Die Ausstellungen des August Macke Hauses 1991 - 2002, Schriftenreihe Verein August Macke Haus Bonn Nr. 40, Bonn 2002, colour illus, p. 232

This painting presents a view into a front garden with blossoming trees and bright white laundry glowing on a line behind a picturesque wooden fence. August Macke painted this image in the small town of Kandern, which is located south of Freiburg where his elder sister Auguste ran the Hotel Krone with her husband, Karl Giss. August Macke was extremely fond of this spot in the south of the Black Forest, and he is supposed to have visited it at least six times between 1903 and 1914 (cf. Hans Thuar: Erinnerungen an August Macke, in: Hans Thuar - August Macke: Freunde fürs Leben; Schilderung einer Jugendzeit, Bonn 1992, p. 58). The painting was presumably created in the spring of 1907, before Macke began his journey to Paris on 11 June. He had previously used the famous "Entwicklungsgeschichte der modernen Kunst" by Julius Meier-Graefe to inform himself about the art of the French Impressionists, which was a revelation for him and provided diverse impulses for his work as an artist. Above all, the compositions of Manet's paintings made a deep impression on him.
The present work is distinguished by the open and light manner of its painting as well as its subtle nuances of colour.
The view of the Bonn Minster on the reverse has largely been covered over with transparent white paint; the artist seems to have discarded this composition.

August Macke
Wäsche im Garten in Kandern. Rückseitig: Münsterkirche in Bonn
Öl auf Karton. 50 x 40 cm. Gerahmt.