"Impulsive style and abstraction: the landscape of Noikastel"

(1868 Landshut - 1932 Neukastel) Baumgruppe near Neukastel The landscape painted in 1931, with its lively and loose, impulsive ductus and partially pastose color application, belongs to the last works of the most important German Impressionists alongside Lovis Corinth and Max Liebermann. It is entirely focused on the overall atmosphere and the brushstrokes are interwoven, resulting in a high degree of abstraction in the details. In the diverse oeuvre of Slevogt, landscapes occupy a broad space. Already in his youth, Slevogt visited Landau in der Pfalz and also the Finkler family in Neukastel near Leinsweiler, where in 1890 he met their daughter Antonie (Nini) Finkler (1864-1932), whom he married in 1898. In 1914, he finally acquired the Neukastel estate belonging to his in-laws, the Hofgut Neukastel (today Slevogthof Neukastel). This allowed him to find numerous motifs for his impressionistic plein air painting in the Palatine landscape. From the terrace, the painter had a wide view of the Rhine plain and captured the landscape in different seasons. Among his close artist colleagues, who achieved comparable mature landscape depictions, was Lovis Corinth (1858-1925) with his expressive Walchensee paintings since 1919. Slevogt studied at the Munich Academy from 1884 to 1889, and it was during this time that he created his first landscapes in Neukastel. In 1889/90, he went to the Académie Julian in Paris before settling in Munich in 1890. In 1892, Slevogt was one of the founders of the Free Association of the XXIV in the Munich Secession. In 1901, he moved to Berlin together with Lovis Corinth and became a member of the Berlin Secession. In 1914, the Prussian Academy of Arts in Berlin accepted him as a member, and from 1917 to 1932, he was the head of a master studio for painting at the Academy of Arts in Berlin. Oil/hardboard. Signed. Verso collector's stamp of Theodor Kiefer, Kaiserslautern. 38 cm x 54.5 cm. Framed. We thank Dr. Karoline Feulner from the Max Slevogt Research Center at the Landesmuseum Mainz for her friendly support in the scientific processing. Literature/exhibitions: Hans-Jürgen Imiela: "Max Slevogt. Eine Monographie", Karlsruhe 1968, p. 261, fig. 96, p. 439, note 2; exhibition and catalog "Max Slevogt zum 100. Geburtstag", edited by Wilhelm Weber, Pfalzgalerie Kaiserslautern 1968 (followed by the Kunstahalle Basel and the Kunst- und Museumsverein in Wuppertal in 1968), no. 176; exhibition and catalog "Pfälzische Landschaften: Max Slevogt 1868-1932", Max-Slevogt-Galerie auf Schloss 'Villa Ludwigshöhe' (Edenkoben), 1982, edited by Berthold Roland, pp. 104-105; Berthold Roland: "Max Slevogt - Pfälzische Landschaften", with texts by W. von Alten, J. Guthmann, et al., edited by the Max-Slevogt-Galerie, Schloss 'Villa Ludwigshöhe', Munich 1991, pp. 218-219. Provenance: From the collection of Sanitätsrat Dr. Theodor Kiefer (1889-1985), Kaiserslautern.