Portrait of Carl Hagenbeck with the walrus Pallas
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| Portrait of Carl Hagenbeck with the walrus Pallas |
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| Lovis Corinth , 1911 |
| Oil on canvas |
| 200 × 271 cm |
| Hamburger Kunsthalle |
The portrait of Carl Hagenbeck with the walrus Pallas is a painting by the German painter Lovis Corinth . The picture shows the well-known director of the Hamburg zoo Hagenbeck , Carl Hagenbeck , together with the walrus Pallas, who was very well known at the time the picture was taken . The picture was taken in 1911, a few months before Corinth's first stroke , and was acquired by Alfred Lichtwark for the Hamburger Kunsthalle in the same year .
Image description
The large-format painting shows Carl Hagenbeck in a full frontal portrait at the seal pool of the Hagenbeck Zoo in Hamburg together with the popular walrus bull Pallas, who makes up the main part of the picture. In the picture, Hagenbeck wears dark suit trousers with a dark coat and white shirt and a gray hat with a dark hat band. He holds a walking stick in his left hand. He leans against the edge of the enclosure with his right knee bent and puts his right hand on the neck of the walrus. The walrus bull crouches to the right of Hagenbeck, propped up on his front legs, on the edge of the pool. He is represented in profile by the painter and emphasizes about a third of the picture by its mass.
The background is a stone landscape and a water basin that belong to the seal's enclosure. Two more seals can be seen in the water basin, and several reindeer (or other deer) can be seen at the top left of the picture.
In the upper right corner the picture is signed in three lines and inscribed with "Lovis Corinth pinxit October 1911 Stellingen Carl Hagenbeck & Pallas".
Background and origin
According to the catalog raisonné by Charlotte Berend-Corinth , the picture was “painted in the Hamburg Zoo by Carl Hagenbeck”. What is meant is not the Hamburg Zoo, but the zoo that Carl Hagenbeck opened in 1907 in Stellingen , a district of Hamburg. The portrait was the result of an order from Alfred Lichtwark , then director of the Hamburger Kunsthalle . He was enthusiastic about the second portrait of Corinth by the historian Eduard Meyer from 1910/11 and asked Corinth to paint another portrait for the Kunsthalle. Corinth painted the portrait of Carl Hagenbeck according to Meyer in October 1911.
On October 10, 1911, Corinth wrote a letter to Lichtwark describing the work on the picture:
"I would like to inform you that I am in the middle of the best work with the picture of Herr Commercienrat Hagenbeck. Since autumn is here and because of the weather there is no real security, it is important to paint quickly and firmly. This is my favorite work, and I hope that you will enjoy the picture as much as I do working on it. [...] Mr. Hagenbeck sits very well and admires the quick creation of the picture. He gives me all sorts of comforts, and if you do come back later than this week, I will leave the picture in the large restaurant where Herr Hagenbeck has given me a chambré separée to house the picture, and you can have it there visit."
The very next day he described the work and his problems, especially with his wife Charlotte's walrus
“Today I have almost finished my work as planned. Just skip the whole thing for a couple of hours tomorrow. It was very exhausting: I wanted to take advantage of the afternoon every day, but if I stopped at 3/4 1 a.m., I was too tired and I drove into town. I ate lunch and then sleep until 5 a.m. like today. Now that it comes to an end, dissatisfaction occurs again: too stiff, etc. It is somewhat similar to the picture of you with the cop; well, want to see. It's a shame that Lichtwark isn't there. The creature makes all possible positions much more complicated than the simple one in the picture. Well, want to see. Greeting u. Kiss your Lovis. "
The letter to his wife contained a pen sketch of the walrus Pallas. With the "picture of you with the bull" Lovis Corinth refers to the painting Girl with Bull from 1902, in which he painted Charlotte Berend-Corinth together with a cattle bull .
reception
In December 1911, Lovis Corinth suffered a stroke that led to partial paralysis. In a letter on the night of December 31, he described Alfred Lichtwark looking back, in addition to the request to use the picture for an exhibition:
“Now here, lying on my sick bed, Hagenbeck's zoo seems to me to be an admirable work on intensive perception and a strong test of human physical performance. It is not a phrase - I would like to thank you that you, esteemed Professor, made it possible for me to come to this work through your tasks. "
After Corinth's death, Charlotte Berend-Corinth received a letter from the son of Carl Hagenbeck and later zoo director of the Hagenbeck zoo, Heinrich Hagenbeck . He wrote about the picture and the then very popular crowd favorite Pallas:
“If I tell you about an animal next to Lovis Corinth and my father at this point, there is a special reason for that, because the great master himself chose an animal for his famous painting to symbolize old Hagenbeck's love for animals. With artistic sensitivity he recognized what a peculiar character he could give his picture if he were to capture the walrus 'Pallas', which had been kept in the zoo a long time before the war, on the canvas. Because in addition to its external peculiarities, Pallas had a merit, namely to be a world-famous animal, about which visitors to the zoo from all over the world still ask for a good friend, because it was an intelligent and amiable creature, the thick-skinned, Baggy walrus with the bristly mustache and the good-natured look. "
According to Horst Uhr , the portrait is not one of Corinth's most successful works, especially because the big game hunter and founder of the famous Hamburg zoo was painted together with the grim-looking walrus Pallas. In his opinion, the picture is, at best, “an interesting, if not entirely successful, contribution to the portrait genre”.
Exhibitions and provenance
The picture was created in 1911 and was acquired by Alfred Lichtwark for the Hamburger Kunsthalle for 4,000 marks , together with the portrait of Eduard Meyer for 200 marks and the view over the Köhlbrand for 2,500 marks. Corinth also offered the Kunsthalle the paintings Illuminations on the Alster and Kaisertag in Hamburg, also made in Hamburg in 1911 . On December 17, 1911, Lichtwark informed him that the commission of the Hamburger Kunsthalle had approved the purchase of the three pictures, but would not take the other two Hamburg pictures.
The portrait of Carl Hagenbeck with the walrus Pallas and the view over the Köhlbrand were shown in the exhibition of the Berlin Secession in 1912 , which Corinth Alfred Lichtwark had asked for on New Year's Eve with a letter from his sickbed. The pictures were presented with a price of 20,000 or 10,000 marks. Corinth had accepted the lower prices for Lichtwark mainly because it enabled him to sell the pictures to a large museum. In a letter dated March 11, 1912, written on his convalescence vacation on the Italian Riviera , Corinth Lichtwark informed that he would like to work for the Kunsthalle again, but only for significantly higher prices:
"Mainly I would like to inform you that on the appointment according to me I registered Hagenbeck's zoo and a view of the Elbe in the Secession, [..] I am now very happy to continue working according to your order, and I would like to add, besides the honor, which I value highly, the prices would probably be very high as the prices of my pictures have risen lately. "
supporting documents
- ↑ a b Charlotte Berend-Corinth : Lovis Corinth. Catalog raisonné. Revised by Béatrice Hernad. Bruckmann Verlag, Munich 1958, 1992; BC 450, p. 123. ISBN 3-7654-2566-4 .
- ↑ a b c d Horst clock: Lovis Corinth. California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles 1990; Pp. 186-187. ISBN 0-520-06776-2 . ( Online version )
- ^ Letter from Lovis Corinth to Alfred Lichtwark, October 10, 1911. In: Thomas Corinth: Lovis Corinth. A documentation. Compiled and explained by Thomas Corinth. Verlag Ernst Wasmuth, 1979. p. 150. ISBN 3-8030-3025-0 .
- ^ Letter from Lovis Corinth to Charlotte Corinth, October 11, 1911. In: Thomas Corinth: Lovis Corinth. A documentation. Compiled and explained by Thomas Corinth. Verlag Ernst Wasmuth, 1979. p. 150. ISBN 3-8030-3025-0 .
- ^ A b c Letter from Lovis Corinth to Alfred Lichtwark, New Year's Eve 1911. In: Thomas Corinth: Lovis Corinth. A documentation. Compiled and explained by Thomas Corinth. Verlag Ernst Wasmuth, 1979. p. 155. ISBN 3-8030-3025-0 .
- ^ "Letter from Heinrich Hagenbeck to Mrs. Christine Berend-Corinth." In: Charlotte Berend-Corinth : Lovis Corinth. Catalog raisonné. Revised by Béatrice Hernad. Bruckmann Verlag, Munich 1958, 1992; BC 450, p. 222. ISBN 3-7654-2566-4 .
- ^ Letter from Lovis Corinth to Alfred Lichtwark, November 11, 1911. In: Thomas Corinth: Lovis Corinth. A documentation. Compiled and explained by Thomas Corinth. Verlag Ernst Wasmuth, 1979. p. 151. ISBN 3-8030-3025-0 .
- ^ Letter from Lovis Corinth to Alfred Lichtwark, March 11, 1912. In: Thomas Corinth: Lovis Corinth. A documentation. Compiled and explained by Thomas Corinth. Verlag Ernst Wasmuth, 1979. p. 159. ISBN 3-8030-3025-0 .
literature
- Charlotte Berend-Corinth : Lovis Corinth. Catalog raisonné. Revised by Béatrice Hernad. Bruckmann Verlag, Munich 1958, 1992; BC 450, p. 123. ISBN 3-7654-2566-4 .
- Thomas Corinth: Lovis Corinth. A documentation. Compiled and explained by Thomas Corinth. Verlag Ernst Wasmuth, 1979. p. 159. ISBN 3-8030-3025-0 .