DOI Heft:
No. 91 (Septemner, 1904)
DOI Artikel:Lütticke, A. E.: The work of Max Liebermann
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.26962#0283
Max Liebermann
principles of the Impressionists, which, by making
details subordinate to general impressions, and by
stimulating the imagination of the onlooker, have
succeeded in producing the effect of life and move-
ment to an extraordinary extent. The toilers in
every-day life, as they are repeatedly portrayed on
canvas by Liebermann, whether it be in the potato-
field or in a barn with low-raftered ceiling, at the
spinning-wheel or forge, are always true to life ; and
the monotonous, regular movements of the workers,
as each performs his allotted task, are indicated in
such a natural, realistic manner that one can almost
imagine the busy fingers to be moving. No obtrusive
detail disturbs the consistency of the whole, which,
although full of pulsating life, produces the effect
of a mind-killing monotony. It is no insipid re-
flection of life which he shows, but the life itself,
with all its pathetic sternness.
Most of Liebermann’s
works are sombre in
colour and effect; in
fact, poor folk working
under grey skies pro-
duce a depressing, almost
melancholy, impression,
but that does not alter the
undeniable fact that they
are true representations
of actualities. The Tur-
nip Field, although per-
haps not the artist’s first
work of the kind, gave
early evidence of his de-
sire to represent the hard-
est side of human life in
all its monotonous activity.
Painted about the year
1876, this is a striking
work, both in its simple
lines of composition and
in the natural positions of
the toilers in the fore-
ground as they hoe, dig,
or rest from their labours.
Brother and Sister is a
small work in which the
artist’s talent for denoting
movement is particularly
apparent. A clumsy
Dutch girl of some twelve
years is carrying her baby
brother ; the strenuous
efforts of the girl to hold
the heavy, restless child
are depicted with marvellous reality. After a visit
to the Tyrol, Liebermann produced a religious
subject representing The Boy Christ in the Temple.,
striving to picture the incident after a simple and
natural manner, free from any religious sentiment,
but purely from its human side. Judged in this way
the work is powerful, the grouping of the figures
being excellent; but it was denounced as profane,
and he has never again attempted anything of the
kind, although other artists have done so. At one
time there was a perfect rage for treating religious
subjects in this way, many of the figures being
clothed in modern dress.
Although most of the subjects for this artist’s
works are taken from Holland and its people, many
were actually executed in Munich, where he re-
sided off and on before finally settling down in
Berlin. Each one of these Dutch scenes depicts
BY MAX LIEBERMANN
PORTRAIT OF PROFESSOR RUDOLF VIRCHOW
2 I I
principles of the Impressionists, which, by making
details subordinate to general impressions, and by
stimulating the imagination of the onlooker, have
succeeded in producing the effect of life and move-
ment to an extraordinary extent. The toilers in
every-day life, as they are repeatedly portrayed on
canvas by Liebermann, whether it be in the potato-
field or in a barn with low-raftered ceiling, at the
spinning-wheel or forge, are always true to life ; and
the monotonous, regular movements of the workers,
as each performs his allotted task, are indicated in
such a natural, realistic manner that one can almost
imagine the busy fingers to be moving. No obtrusive
detail disturbs the consistency of the whole, which,
although full of pulsating life, produces the effect
of a mind-killing monotony. It is no insipid re-
flection of life which he shows, but the life itself,
with all its pathetic sternness.
Most of Liebermann’s
works are sombre in
colour and effect; in
fact, poor folk working
under grey skies pro-
duce a depressing, almost
melancholy, impression,
but that does not alter the
undeniable fact that they
are true representations
of actualities. The Tur-
nip Field, although per-
haps not the artist’s first
work of the kind, gave
early evidence of his de-
sire to represent the hard-
est side of human life in
all its monotonous activity.
Painted about the year
1876, this is a striking
work, both in its simple
lines of composition and
in the natural positions of
the toilers in the fore-
ground as they hoe, dig,
or rest from their labours.
Brother and Sister is a
small work in which the
artist’s talent for denoting
movement is particularly
apparent. A clumsy
Dutch girl of some twelve
years is carrying her baby
brother ; the strenuous
efforts of the girl to hold
the heavy, restless child
are depicted with marvellous reality. After a visit
to the Tyrol, Liebermann produced a religious
subject representing The Boy Christ in the Temple.,
striving to picture the incident after a simple and
natural manner, free from any religious sentiment,
but purely from its human side. Judged in this way
the work is powerful, the grouping of the figures
being excellent; but it was denounced as profane,
and he has never again attempted anything of the
kind, although other artists have done so. At one
time there was a perfect rage for treating religious
subjects in this way, many of the figures being
clothed in modern dress.
Although most of the subjects for this artist’s
works are taken from Holland and its people, many
were actually executed in Munich, where he re-
sided off and on before finally settling down in
Berlin. Each one of these Dutch scenes depicts
BY MAX LIEBERMANN
PORTRAIT OF PROFESSOR RUDOLF VIRCHOW
2 I I