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- 1. Max Pechstein (1881-1955)
Portrait of Charlotte Cuhrt, 1910
Oil on canvas - 175.8 x 85.4 cm
London, The National Gallery
Photo: Bonhams - See the image in its page
1/3/23 - Acquisition - London, National Gallery - When a major museum buys a first painting by a great artist that has been missing from its collections until now, it can’t go wrong: the National Gallery has thus set its sights on the beautiful Portrait of Charlotte Cuhrt by Max Pechstein which was going up for sale at Bonhams in London on 16 November 2022. This painting (ill. 1) was acquired thanks to the bequest of Martha Doris Bailey, a retired French teacher who died in 2000 at the age of 92. The British press has extensively reported on this singular story: the widow of a property developer, Richard Hillman Bailey, she had planned everything in her last will and testament by bequeathing to the National Gallery a thirty-acre plot of land located near Stockton-on-Tees, in County Durham. While living in a modest bungalow in North Yorkshire, the very generous donor was well aware of the value of this bequest, later estimated at £6,750,000! She had indeed specified that it was possible to wait for the time necessary for the land to be declared suitable for building, which took twenty-two years and was only finalized last autumn! A first instalment of his inheritance had already allowed the museum to acquire a masterpiece by Adolf von Menzel a few years ago (see the news item of 5/4/06).
- 2. Max Pechstein (1881-1955)
Portrait of Charlotte Cuhrt, 1910
Oil on canvas - 175.8 x 85.4 cm (detail)
London, The National Gallery
Photo: Ketterer Kunst
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- 3. Max Pechstein (1881-1955)
Frau Cuhrt, 1908
Oil on canvas pasted on cardboard - 54,5 x 51,5 cm
Private collection
Photo: Ketterer Kunst - See the image in its page
Painted at the age of fifteen, the model (ill. 2) is the daughter of one of Pechstein’s most important patrons: the Berlin lawyer Max Cuhrt. A prominent figure in the German capital’s avant-garde, Cuhrt had commissioned the architect Bruno Schneidereit to design his apartment, where the young Charlotte poses in a flamboyant bright red dress that contrasts with the warmer red of the carpet. The artist first painted a less ambitious but equally interesting portrait of his mother: as its oval format and smaller size suggest, this one (ill. 3) was intended to take its place in the woodwork of the family apartment, also drawn by Schneidereit. The architect and the painter had met in 1906, when the young Pechstein had just joined Die Brücke after studying in Dresden. This Berlin apartment, a true "Gesamtkunstwerk", was thus designed in close collaboration by the three men. As this article already pointed out, the black frame in which the Portrait of Charlotte Cuhrt was offered by Bonhams was only an evocation of its original frame, by Bruno Schneidereit!
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- 4. Max Pechstein (1881-1955)
Portrait of Charlotte Cuhrt, 1910
Chalk - 27.9 x 21.5 cm
Private collection
Photo: Venator & Hanstein - See the image in its page
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- 5. The Portrait of Charlotte Cuhrt inserted in its original frame (preserved) and its initial device (lost) designed by the architect Bruno Schneidereit
Photographer unknown - See the image in its page
In September 2021, a preparatory drawing (ill. 4) was sold at Venator & Hanstein in Cologne: one recognizes at first glance this characteristic broad black molding. Rather thick, it is in fact carved in high relief in order to set the painting above a piece of furniture that served as a base (ill. 5), forming a sort of domestic altar. The painting was presented thus at the third exhibition of the Neue Secession, between February and April 1911. The young Pechstein was then hailed as one of the masters of the avant-garde and had just spent the summer of 1910 painting with Heckel and Kirchner around Moritzburg. He was much admired in Berlin and attracted a clientele eager for modernity, who also appreciated the decorative effect of his paintings. Long in the family, Portrait of Charlotte Cuhrt was first sold in 2008 and then deposited at the Österreichische Galerie Belvedere in Vienna between 2009 and 2014 before being offered at Sotheby’s in London in February 2015 without finding a buyer, probably because of an overly high estimate (£600/800 000). In June 2015, it sold for €660 000 with the hammer at Ketterer Kunst in Munich before reappearing at Bonhams in London last November, where the National Gallery of London was able to acquire it for a sum well below its previous auction.
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- 6. Max Pechstein (1881-1955)
Portrait of Bruno Schneidereit, 1912
Oil on canvas - 60 x 40 cm
Private collection
Photo: Sotheby’s - See the image in its page
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- 7. The Portrait of Charlotte Cuhrt exhibited in Room 43 of the National Gallery in London, between Henri Matisse’s Portrait of Greta Moll and Pablo Picasso’s Maternity.
Photo: Peter Schade - See the image in its page
For want of finding Männerbildnis: Bruno Schneidereit, an attractive portrait of the architect (ill. 6) sold for $600,000 at Sotheby’s in New York in November 2018, Portrait of Charlotte Cuhrt was able to return to its original setting and join Room 42 of the London museum, where it sits for a month between Henri Matisse’s Portrait of Greta Moll (1908) and Pablo Picasso’s Maternity (1901) (ill. 7). Installed on February 20, the painting will soon join the exhibition "After Impressionism: Inventing Modern Art" which will be held at the National Gallery from March 25 to August 13. With its bold colors, it will certainly be one of the highlights of the exhibition.