- Gallery Text
-
Many expressionists had a background in the arts and crafts movement and continued to work in the applied arts throughout their careers. Pechstein, a member of the Brücke who also showed with the Berlin Secession, made mosaics and site-specific murals, and worked in stained glass in addition to painting, sculpture, drawing, and printmaking. Like Heckel’s painted triptych nearby, this rare surviving example of a window by the artist exemplifies expressionist interest in sacral art forms and in a German tradition that dates back to the Middle Ages. With its single prominent figure, the work is reminiscent of depictions of saints. Surrounded by four small deer and decorative floral motifs, the woman wears red and blue robes like those typically associated with the Virgin Mary. The artist used both structural leading and paint to accentuate the figure’s contours and further define its details. Although this work’s intended site, if there was one, is unknown, Pechstein designed similar pieces for specific architectural spaces; he also displayed them at exhibitions.
- Identification and Creation
-
- Object Number
- 1994.55
- People
-
Max Pechstein, German (Eckersbach, near Zwickau, Germany 1881 - 1955 West Berlin, Germany)
Manufactured by Gottfried Heinersdorff
- Title
- Woman with Animals
- Other Titles
- Original Language Title: Frau mit Tieren; Sommer; The Tahitian Woman
- Classification
- Stained Glass
- Work Type
- stained glass
- Date
- c. 1912
- Culture
- German
- Persistent Link
- https://hvrd.art/o/303636
- Location
-
Level 1, Room 1510, Modern and Contemporary Art, Art In Germany Between the Wars
View this object's location on our interactive map - Physical Descriptions
-
- Medium
- Leaded stained glass
- Dimensions
- 186 x 89.5 cm (73 1/4 x 35 1/4 in.)
- Inscriptions and Marks
-
- Signed: in paint, l.l.: MPechstein 1912
- Provenance
- Collection of the artist, gift; to Rudolf Scheffler, Berlin/New York (1924-1973), gift; to Alfred Einert, (1973-1994), gift; to the Busch-Reisinger Museum
FN: Scheffler was a friend and colleague of Pechstein's, who also worked in stained glass and sometimes shared a studio with Pechstein. The whereabouts of the window from 1912 to the mid-1920s are not certain, but Scheffler's family believes he brought it with him when he moved to New York in the mid-1920s. - Acquisition and Rights
-
- Credit Line
- Harvard Art Museums/Busch-Reisinger Museum, Gift of the Einert Family in memory of Rudolf Scheffler and Linda Einert Scheffler
- Copyright
- © Max Pechstein / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Germany
- Accession Year
- 1994
- Object Number
- 1994.55
- Division
- Modern and Contemporary Art
- Contact
- am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu
- The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request.
- Publication History
-
Gottfried Heinersdorff, Die Glasmalerei: ihre Technik und ihre Geschichte, Bruno Cassirer (Berlin, 1914)
James Cuno, Alvin L. Clark, Jr., Ivan Gaskell, and William W. Robinson, Harvard's Art Museums: 100 Years of Collecting, ed. James Cuno, Harvard University Art Museums and Harry N. Abrams, Inc. (Cambridge, MA, 1996), pp. 336-337, repr. color
Harvard University Art Museums, Masterpieces of world art : Fogg Art Museum, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Busch-Reisinger Museum, 1997
Peter Nisbet and Joseph Koerner, The Busch-Reisinger Museum, Harvard University Art Museums, ed. Peter Nisbet, Harvard University Art Museums and Scala Publishers Ltd. (Cambridge, MA and London, England, 2007), p. 166
- Exhibition History
-
A Decade of Collecting: Recent Acquisitions from the Busch-Reisinger Museum, Central and Northern Art and Design from 1880 to the Present, Harvard University Art Museums, Busch-Reisinger Museum, 04/19/2000 - 07/09/2000
32Q: 1440 Secessionism: Munich, Vienna, Berlin (Expressionism), Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/16/2014 - 07/31/2018
32Q: 1510 German Expressionist Sculpture, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 08/01/2018 - 01/01/2050
-
This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Modern and Contemporary Art at am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu