Dill - Master of Horse Racing: Early Works

(1884 Neustadt an der Haardt – 1957 Bad Dürkheim) Before the Beginning, Dill’s painting created in 1922, belongs to the early, significant depictions of horse racing, with which the Impressionist caused a sensation alongside his predatory feline motifs, executed with impulsive, rapid brushstrokes and soft, impasto paint application. During his studies at the Munich Academy from 1908 to 1914, Dill was a student of the animal painting master Heinrich von Zügel, who also introduced him to plein air painting and Impressionism. As early as the summer of 1917, Dill was presented with his first extensive collection of 10 oil paintings and 15 drawings at an exhibition in the Munich Glass Palace. As a member of the Munich Secession, he participated in various exhibitions of the artists' association in 1922. In 1923, the prestigious art journal "Die Kunst für alle" (pp. 259-265) published an article by Munich art historian Dr. Willy Burger about Dill and his horse racing painting (with a comparable painting "Before the Beginning" from 1921), stating: "Here, too, is an outstanding composition, the distribution of horse and rider on the surface, whether at the start or during the race, develops in breadth, or a race in which the horses rush at full speed toward the viewer. These paintings testify to insightful observation of movement, an excellent faithful rendering of all the gaits and positions of the horses; all the exaltation that such a spectacle brings is enlivened and vibrates in the paintings (...)" In 1924, he was awarded the title of professor. In 1930, the artist moved from Munich to Neustadt an der Weinstraße, and in 1941 relocated to Bad Dürkheim. Alongside Max Slevogt, Otto Dill is considered one of the most significant artists of classical modernism in the Palatinate. Oil on canvas; signed and dated 1922; 50.5 cm x 70 cm; framed. Provenance: German private collection, Rhineland-Palatinate.