Lot 326: Herrmann, Curt 1854 Merseburg - 1929 Pretzfeld

Herrmann, Curt
1854 Merseburg - 1929 Pretzfeld

Garten des Architekten Henry van der Velde in Weimar.Circa 1909. Oil on card. 31 x 47cm. Monogrammed on lower left: CH. Framed. Verso inscribed: Besitzer C.H. / Curt Hermann, Berlin W., Augustastr. 69. Studio stamp. On backpanel of frame handwritten note on his wife Sophie Herrmann with dedication and title.

Provenance:
Private ownership, southern Germany
Curt Herrmann financially supported Henry van der Velde during the construction of his villa "Hohe Pappeln" in 1907/08. On his sojourn to Weimar in May and June 1909 he painted several versions of the villa and van der Velde's garden. The depiction of the lush, blooming vegetation stands in the foreground of the present painting which depicts "the garden side with the porch, which Curt Herrman rendered with fast, strong strokes. The house's exterior wall only serves as a background against which the garden is structured and merges with the landscape behind the hastily sketched fence. The main accent is put on the lilac bush the brightness of which is emphasized through the over-light pastel-shades of the surrounding motifs such as the shadows and the reflections in the windows of the villa." ( Sabine Beneke, Rolf Bothe and Thomas Föhl, in: Exh.-cat. Curt Herrmann - Ein Maler der Moderne in Berlin, ed. by Rolf Bothe, Berlin 1989, p. 213).