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Description: August Macke (1887 Meschede/Sauerland - 1914 Vitry/Frankreich). Blondes Mädchen mit Buch. 1912 Oil on canvas .Vriesen 301. With inscription 'August Macke 1911' probably by Elisabeth Erdmann-Macke on the reverse as well as once more inscribed 'Lesendes Mädchen auf blauem Sofa 1911' by her on the stretcher.50 x 71 cm (19,6 x 27,9 in). With the remains of an old label on the stretcher, there with inscription 'C 323 [Ma]cke Lesende'Expertise: We are grateful to Frau Ursula Heiderich, Syke, for her help in cataloguing this lot. The work will be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné of paintings Provenienz: Collection Dr. Dohse, Essen.Private collection South Germany. Ausstellung: August Macke, Fine Arts Associate Otto M. Gerson, New York, 24.03.-17.04.1952, cat.no. 7, p. 11 (ill., there with the title 'Girl reading', 1911). Being filled with enthusiasm about the painting of Böcklin, he began his studies at the art college and the arts and crafts school in Düsseldorf. At that time he designed decorations and costumes for the theatre there. In 1907 August Macke travelled to Paris, where he saw the paintings of the impressionists, which fascinated and influenced him. Back in Germany he went to Berlin and attended the painting school of Lovis Corinth for a short time. After doing his military service for one year as a volunteer in 1908, the artist married - now in Bonn - Elisabeth Gerhardt. In 1909 he got acquainted with Franz Marc in Tegernsee, with whom he would be friends for the rest of his life. With their colourful and spacious, two-dimensional forms Macke's works from that time displayed clearly the influence of the painting of Henri Matisse and Franz Marc. In 1911 August Macke joined 'Der Blaue Reiter', a group of artists from Munich. On another trip to Paris with Marc he got to know Robert Delaunay and his orphic way of painting. Delaunay also visited Macke later, together with Guillaume Apollinaire. This colourful form of cubism had a lasting impression on him. Representations of people reading make up a large part of August Macke's aeuvre. Macke generally used his wife in her domestic surroundings as his model. Lost in a dreamworld, as his figures often seem to be, the readers especially appear to be lingering in another world. The little blonde girl, here viewed in a classic triangular composition, looks thoroughly aware of her role as a model. Her poise and assured pose suggests that she is. Then again, the impression may be deceptive. Macke was not concerned in interpreting the psychology of those he portrayed but instead captured the sitters in their surroundings, assigned to them rather in the manner of a still life. Thus the underlying conception of contemplation is not disrupted but is conveyed with immediacy and a light touch. The trip to Tunis with Paul Klee and Louis René Moilliet in 1914 also contributed to the development of Macke's own style of bright, intensive coloration. On 26 September 1914 Macke fell at the western front in France at the age of 27. [KD]Portraits of children in modern painting Paintings of children were for a long time linked primarily to religious content. Portraits as such are encountered in Italian Renaissance painting but are relatively rare and reserved for noble families of high rank. This tradition of the formal state portrait, which depicts children as small adults, was not modified until the 19th century, when it was ultimately broken down. A pioneer was Phillip Otto Runge, who abandoned all social conventions in his 'Hülsenbeck Children' of 1805 (fig. 1). Caught up in their playful romp, they engage the viewer at eye level and are impressive because the representation is so monumental in conception. Runge has linked the portrait with an allegorical meaning relating to developmental stages, identifying childhood as a separate, essential age in the life of man. A noteworthy example in this vein is the 'Portrait of the Young Count Conrad von Posern', painted in 1851 by Louis Ferdinand von Rayski (fig. 2). The sitter, who died young, is represented in this posthumous portrait outside his social context. The painter has focused his attention entirely on the young person portrayed, who fills the picture so effectively with his poised presence. The perspective also changed in areas unconnected with professional portraiture. Interest came to centre on individuality and child-like qualities. Gabriele Münter's 'Girl with Doll', painted ca 1908/09 (fig. 3), respects the child as an independent individual in her own right and captures in frontal monumentality the self-centredness and seriousness characteristic of a child. In Max Liebermann children are encountered almost always in an intimate family context. His granddaughter, Maria Riezler, who was born in 1917, sat for him especially often. Here the painter was interested in everyday situations in which the little girl could be shown in natural, child-like poses. 'Granddaughter and Nurse on the Garden Bench', painted in 1919, notably exemplifies this group of works (fig. 4). Macke, too, was concerned in his representation of a blonde little girl with the same domestic intimacy and security. The search for harmony and beauty ever present in his painting also informs our picture and has been most convincingly resolved in the subgenre of the child portrait. [KR]In good condition, colours still fresh. Fine, horizontal retouching on the forehead. Tiny retouching(?) in the upper right corner. Isolated negligible rubbing on the edges due to the framing. Isolated barely noticeable craquelé in the pastoser areas.