Kellergarten in Rosenheim (Cellar Garden in Rosenheim)
Max Liebermann (1847-1935), Kellergarten in Rosenheim (Cellar Garden in Rosenheim), etching, 1895, signed in pencil lower right, also numbered 49 in blue crayon, and with the PAN blindstamp (Lugt 2011a); as published in PAN. Reference: Schiefler 35, fourth state (of 4). In very good condition, on a firm cream/tan wove paper with full margins, 7 x 9, the sheet 14 3/8 x 11 inches, archival matting.
Provenance: Collection of Norman Kraeft
A fine impression, printed in black on a cream/tan paper, with plate tone at the top and bottom of the composition, wiped more cleanly at the center.
A Liebermann painting of the same subject (in reverse) is known as Biergarten zu Brannenburg (Beergarden at Brannenburg), or also Wirtshausgarten (Tavern) in Brannenburg. (This title would seem to be more accurate than the conventional title for the etching, since the men are drinking outside rather than in a cellar. Brannenburg is a town in the Bavarian district of Rosenheim, so there’s no great dispute as to the location of this beer drinking.)
Max Liebermann made a number of prints in the early 1890′s as he developed a reputation as the most prominent of the German “impressionists.” During this period he used soft ground etching and drypoint to create atmospheric effects. In Kellergarten he moved away from soft ground, but there are signs of drypoint, and even the use of sulphur to achieve the speckled quality of the tones in the foreground; these techniques, the careful wiping of the plate, and the tannish paper all give this proof the sense that nightfall is near.
$1250