Woman with Umbrella in Front of a Hat Shop

Last updated
Woman with Umbrella in Front of a Hat Shop
German: Frau mit Sonnenschirm vor einem Hutladen
August Macke Hutladen.jpg
Artist August Macke
Year1914
Medium Oil on canvas
Dimensions60.5 cm× 50.5 cm(23.8 in× 19.9 in)
Location Museum Folkwang, Essen

Woman with Umbrella in Front of a Hat Shop is an oil-on-canvas painting executed in 1914 by the German painter August Macke. It depicts a woman peeking into a hat shop, painted in an Expressionist style. The painting is in the collection of the Museum Folkwang in Essen. [1] [2]

Contents

History

Macke moved with his wife Elisabeth to Hilterfingen, on the Lake Thun, in Switzerland, in November 1913, where his mother-in-law had a house. The small, orderly bourgeois town inspired him to create a series of quiet, subdued compositions. In particular, he became particularly interested by hat shop windows, which he would frequently make the theme of his paintings. Clearly visible in these works is a focus on subjects from everyday life and the passing moment, as was also known from the Impressionists. Although the formalizing abstraction creates a certain detachment, his works from this period, which came to a close in April 1914, nevertheless radiate a striking positivity. [3]

Description

This is regarded as the most mature of Macke's shop window paintings. It arose immediately after Zwei Frauen vor dem Hutladen and also builds on it. Theme and atmosphere are similar, typically urban, but anything but loud and hectic. The female figure, dressed in an elegant suit, wearing a hat with a white bouquet on her head and an umbrella over her shoulder, could have been taken right out of that earlier work. The lady has no face and remains anonymous, as if she were a fashion doll.

Compositionally, Macke has arranged the image space along clear diagonal perspective lines. The plane-disintegrating geometric shape of the stone facade with the carved pilasters and the shop window, as well as the abstracted figure, fit into the structure of the painting like mosaic stones and form an integrated unit. This also applies to the use of color, with deliberately chosen accents around the middle. The woman's clothing, predominantly warm reds and yellows, corresponds to the hats in the shop window on stands, which are decorated with ribbons and feathers. The light breaks in the window. Reflections mix both inside and outside with the spaces and surfaces. The transparent surfaces in the shop window are echoed in the rustic pilaster on the side.

The attraction of the work lies mainly in the clear and firm power of the composition and the radiant expressive power of the contrasting colours. The atmospheric figurative description of the situation is naturally mixed with a cool abstract effect, giving the painting a special classical-modern tension. [4]

Woman with Umbrella in Front of a Hat Shop was purchased in 1920 by the Museum Folkwang, in Essen, then called Essener Kunstmuseum. In 1937 it was confiscated by the Nazis as degenerate art, but in 1953 the work was bought back by the museum, with the support of the city of Essen. It is now regarded as one of her top works in the collection of modern German art.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Franz Marc</span> German artist (1880–1916)

Franz Moritz Wilhelm Marc was a German painter and printmaker, one of the key figures of German Expressionism. He was a founding member of Der Blaue Reiter, a journal whose name later became synonymous with the circle of artists collaborating in it.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">August Macke</span> German painter

August Robert Ludwig Macke was a German Expressionist painter. He was one of the leading members of the German Expressionist group Der Blaue Reiter. He lived during a particularly active time for German art: he saw the development of the main German Expressionist movements as well as the arrival of the successive avant-garde movements which were forming in the rest of Europe. As an artist of his time, Macke knew how to integrate into his painting the elements of the avant-garde which most interested him. Like his friend Franz Marc and Otto Soltau, he was one of the young German artists who died in the First World War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Museum Ludwig</span> Museum in Cologne, Germany

Museum Ludwig, located in Cologne, Germany, houses a collection of modern art. It includes works from Pop Art, Abstract and Surrealism, and has one of the largest Picasso collections in Europe. It holds many works by Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein.

The year 1887 in art involved some significant events.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carl Grossberg</span> German painter

Carl Grossberg, originally Georg Carl Wilhelm Grandmontagne was a German painter associated with the New Objectivity movement; best known for his urban and industrial scenes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Museum Folkwang</span> Modern art museum in Essen, Germany

Museum Folkwang is a major collection of 19th- and 20th-century art in Essen, Germany. The museum was established in 1922 by merging the Essener Kunstmuseum, which was founded in 1906, and the private Folkwang Museum of the collector and patron Karl Ernst Osthaus in Hagen, founded in 1902.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Johanna Ey</span> German art dealer (1864–1947)

Johanna Ey was a German art dealer during the 1920s. She became known as Mutter Ey for the nurturing support she provided to her artists, who included Max Ernst and Otto Dix.

<i>Landscape with Cows and Camel</i> 1914 painting by August Macke

Landscape with Cows and Camel is a 1914 oil-on-canvas painting by German Expressionist painter August Macke. It is drawn in an Expressionist style influenced by Orphism. It is now housed at Kunsthaus Zürich, Zürich.

<i>Inger on the Beach</i> 1889 painting by Norwegian expressionist Edvard Munch

Inger on the Beach is a painting by the Norwegian artist Edvard Munch. It was created in the summer of 1889, at Åsgårdstrand and is a portrait of Munch's youngest sister Inger.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gereonsklub</span>

The Gereonsklub was an avant-garde artists' association in Cologne in the years immediately prior to World War I.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bernhard Koehler</span> German industrialist and art collector

Bernhard Koehler was a German industrialist and art collector.

<i>Two Women on the Hillside</i> Painting by Franz Marc

Two Women on the Hillside is an oil-on-canvas painting created in 1906 by German painter Franz Marc. It is part of the Bavarian State Painting Collections and is on a permanent loan at the Franz Marc Museum in Kochel am See.

<i>Portrait with Apples</i> Painting by August Macke

Portrait with Apples, also known as Elisabeth with Apples, is an oil-on-canvas painting executed in 1909 by the German Expressionist painter August Macke. It shows his wife Elisabeth Gerhardt and was created shortly after their wedding. Macke had studied the work of the Fauve artists during his honeymoon in Paris, and the painting shows their influence. It marks the beginning of his public artistic appreciation. The work belongs to the collection of the Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, in Munich.

<i>Indians on Horseback</i> Painting by August Macke

Indians on Horseback is an oil-on-canvas painting executed in 1911 by the German Expressionist painter August Macke. It was created when the artist was under the influence of Cubism and had joined Der Blaue Reiter group through his friend Franz Marc. The painting belongs to the collection of the Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, in Munich. It was donated by the Bernhard and Elly Koehler Foundation in 1965.

<i>Promenade</i> (Macke) Painting by August Macke

Promenade is an oil-on-cardboard painting by the German artist August Macke, executed in 1913. It is held at the Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus in Munich. Chronologically, it is the first of the paintings that he created after moving to Hilterfingen in Switzerland.

<i>Lady in Green Jacket</i> Painting by August Macke

Lady in Green Jacket is an oil-on-canvas painting by German artist August Macke, executed in 1913. It is held in the Museum Ludwig in Cologne.

<i>Girls in Green</i> Painting by August Macke

Girls in Green, also known as Girls under Trees, is an oil-on-canvas painting by the German painter August Macke, executed in 1914. It depicts a number of girls among the trees on the edge of a lake, where the color areas of the figures and the environment seem to merge. The painting is in the collection of the Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich.

<i>Fox</i> (Marc) Painting by Franz Marc

Fox, also known as Blue and Black Fox or Blue Fox, is an oil on canvas painting by Franz Marc, from 1911. It is part of the collection of the Von der Heydt Museum in Wuppertal.

<i>Large Bright Showcase</i> Painting by August Macke

Large Bright Showcase is an oil-on-canvas painting by the German artist August Macke, executed in 1912. It is held at the Sprengel Museum in Hanover.

References

  1. ↑ Anna Meseure, Auguste Macke, Taschen, Cologne, 2001, ISBN 3-8228-0914-4
  2. ↑ Woman with Umbrella in Front of a Hat Shop, Museum Folkwang Official Website (German)
  3. ↑ Anna Meseure, Auguste Macke, Taschen, Cologne, 2001, ISBN 3-8228-0914-4
  4. ↑ Anna Meseure, Auguste Macke, Taschen, Cologne, 2001, ISBN 3-8228-0914-4
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.