Insel im Main. 1928.
WatercolorWatercolor and charcoal drawing.
Signed, dated and titled in lower right. Dated on the reverse, presumably by a hand other than that of the artist. On brownish laid paper. 50 x 66 cm (19.6 x 25.9 in), the full sheet. [CH].


• The year before thiw work was made, Siddi and Erich Heckel visited the painter Gertraud Rostosky (1876-1959) in Würzburg where he made several depictions of the surroundings.
• With spontaneous and skillful brushstrokes as well as with inventive painterly means, Heckel captured the cheerful, summery and light scene of the male figures floating on the Main.
• Even during the "Brücke" period, the depiction of bathers and figures outdoors were among the main motifs of Erich Heckel and his fellow artists.
• In the 1920s, Heckel went on several trips and showed an increased preference for landscape subjects in which he sought to combine topographical accuracy with atmospheric landscape elements.

The work is registered in the Erich Heckel Estate, Hemmenhofen on Lake Constance. We are grateful to Mrs Renate Ebner and Mr Hans Geissler for the kind support in cataloging this lot.

PROVENANCE: Galerie Wolfgang Ketterer, Munich.
Hermann Gerlinger Collection, Würzburg (with the collector's stamp Lugt 6032).

EXHIBITION: Erich Heckel. Aquarelle, Zeichnungen (Ausstellung zum 100. Geburtstag des Malers), Städtische Galerie, Würzburg, July 3 - September 11, 1983, cat. no. 75.
Schleswig-Holsteinisches Landesmuseum, Schloss Gottorf, Schleswig (permanent loan from the Hermann Gerlinger Collection, 1995-2001).
Kunstmuseum Moritzburg, Halle an der Saale (permanent loan from the Hermann Gerlinger Collection, 2001-2017).
Buchheim Museum, Bernried (permanent loan from the Hermann Gerlinger Collection, 2017-2022).

LITERATURE: Galerie Wolfgang Ketterer, Munich, 65th auction, December 6 - 8, 1982, lot 589.
Heinz Spielmann (ed.), Die Maler der Brücke. Sammlung Hermann Gerlinger, Stuttgart 1995, p. 325, SHG no. 505 (illu., p. 324).
Hermann Gerlinger, Katja Schneider (eds.), Die Maler der Brücke. Inventory catalog Hermann Gerlinger Collection, Halle (Saale) 2005, p. 236, SHG no. 530 (illu., p. 237).

In good condition. Evenly browned and faintly light-stained. With isolated faint creases and crimped spots in the margins.