Looking at the Masters: Max Liebermann

Max Liebermann (1847-1935) introduced Impressionism to Germany. His parents owned a leading cotton factory in Berlin. Liebermann studied art at the Grand-Ducal Saxon Art School in Weimar, Germany. He moved to Paris in 1873 and set up a studio in Montmartre.  He spent the summer of 1874 in Barbizon, outside of Paris, where he discovered the work of Daubigny, Corot, and Millet, the first French painters to adopt plein air (outdoor) painting. Liebermann admired the work of Millet that featured laborers working in the fields. He also admired the paintings of Monet, Manet, Renoir, and Degas.

Liebermann submitted “Women Plucking Geese” (1870-71) (not shown here) to the Paris Academy in 1872. It was in the dark colors of the German style and of common working people. Although the Academy accepted it, it was sharply criticized, earning him the title “painter of the ugly” and “apostle of ugliness.”

 

 

Unhappy that his skills were not progressing, Liebermann traveled to Holland in 1875, where he discoverd the work of Frans Hals, a Dutch painter of the 17th century, who used a thick application of paint (impasto) with visible brush strokes. Liebermann’s “Dutch Sewing School” (1876), is evidence of the influence of Hals and early Impressionism in Paris. Sunlight pours through the windows and the Dutch costumes are painted with strong yellows on the white collars and hats. Liebermann’s adopted Impressionism did not use the rainbow colors of the French, but hewas able to depict a sun filled room. He captured the intensity of the young seamstresses at work by depicting accurately the positions of their hands. 

 

 

Liebermann continued to prefer painting the common people at their work. He believed the quiet and solemn nature of workers was a worthy subject. “Free Period in the Amsterdam Orphanage” (1881-82) (31”x42’’) represents his interpretation of the Impressionist style. The sunlight of the scene is filtered through trees, creating dappled spots on the ground, walls, and girls. These became popularly known as “Liebermann sun spots.” He chose to retain the original colors of the objects: the red and black dresses, the white hats and aprons, and the earthy colors of the buildings and walkway. Renoir also was famous for his dappled sunlight effects. The viewer feels the warmth of the sunlight and the serenity of the scene. It does not come to mind that these women are orphans.

 

 

Liebermann spent his winters in Germany and his summers in Holland. He was born three days before Germany passed on July, 23,1847, the law emancipating Jews.  His early paintings were unpopular, but by the 1880’s his work shown in the Paris Salons had become popular, and he had found several patrons. Liebermann knew his decision to move back to Berlin in1884 could cause conflict because he was Jewish, and antisemitism was on the rise. His painting “Twelve-year-old Jesus in the Temple” in1789 (not shown here) was sharply criticized because Jesus was depicted in the clothing of a poor Jew.  Nevertheless, several German artists supported him, and he was accepted into the Association of Berlin Artists. At the Paris Salon of 1880, he was the first German artist to receive an honorable mention for his work. The painter and art critic Ludwig Pietsch (1824-1911) called Liebermann a “great talent and an outstanding representative of modernism.”

‘’Munich Beer Garden’’ (1884) (37”x27’’) portrayed one of Germans’ favorite pastimes, beer gardens. Under the shade of the trees, people sit in the sunlight and enjoy the beautiful day. The Liebermann sun spots seem to flicker on the colorful costumes, kerchiefs, bonnets, and boater hats. In the foreground of the painting are three charming little girls. Liebermann was married in September 1884, and his daughter Kathe was born in 1885.  After her birth, he did little painting because he was a devoted father. 

 

 

Liebermann began to make sketches for “Flax Barn in Laren” (1887) (53’’x91’’) while he was in Laren, Holland. He was fascinated by the process of converting flax into thread and then into linen fabric. The girls wear black dresses with white aprons and klompen 

(Dutch clogs). They stand on the wood floor and hold cleaned flax stems which they twist into linen thread. Across the room, seated men and women wind the flax onto spindles. Growing flax to be made into linen cloth was an important industry in Laren. When Liebermann exhibited the work in the Paris Salon in 1887, the reception was generally unenthusiastic. However, Adolph von Menzel, a well-known German painter, remarked that the painting was “the only one to represent men and not models.”

The room with little light coming through the windows is not the usual Impressionist sunny scene. The painting is one of Liebermann’s larger works. His continued interest in the laborers of his time is set against the new factories and machines of the  industrial age already taking hold in Europe. 

 

 

Many of Liebermann’s genre paintings were sketched while he was in Holland and painted when he returned to Berlin. A simple subject, “Woman with Goats” (1890) (50”x68”) depicts a wide verdant green field. Paths are worn in the grass with tracks in many directions. A Dutch woman in clogs pulls on the rope of the larger, stubborn goat, most likely to lead it home. The second goat does not give her any trouble. Painted in larger, freer brush stokes, the scene is appealing. Liebermann received a gold medal in 1891 for this painting at the Munich Art Association exhibition.

Liebermann was honored by the Prussian Academy of Art on his 50th birthday in 1897, and he was elected president of the Academy in the following year. He received a medal of honor in the 1890 Paris International Exhibition, and he was admitted to the Société des Beaux-Arts in Paris.  Germany’s younger artists were eager to move into a modernist style, and the Berlin Secession, founded in 1898, elected Liebermann as the first president.

 

 

 

Liebermann purchased a house in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee in 1909, and he began to paint landscapes and garden scenes. “Garden Restaurant on the Havel-Nikolskoe” (1916) was one of the many paintings he did of the Lake Havel-Nikolskoe during the summer. The sunny scene is similar to those of Renoir who also loved to show people gathered by a lake enjoying themselves. Liebermann’s scene includes dappled sunlight. The colors are in the Impressionist style with rainbow colors used to depict sunlight and shadow throughout the scene.   

Liebermann became a favorite portrait painter of the German aristocracy and upper middle class at the beginning of the 20th Century.  He painted over 200 portraits, including Albert Einstein, Richard Strauss, and Paul von Hindenburg, President of Germany from 1925 until 1934. Hindenburg gave him an eagle shield “as a token of the thanks that the German people owe you.” Adolph Hitler stated in a paper, “It would be unheard of for a Jew to paint the Reich President.” Liebermann’s response was “I can only laugh at something like that. I’m convinced that when Hindenburg finds out, he’ll laugh about it too. I’m just a painter, and what does painting have to do with Judaism?”

As the leading German artist, Liebermann had to deal with several long running challenges from the German academy artists and the modern artists he supported. On his last trip to Holland in1912, Queen Wilhelmina presented him with the Order of the House of Orange. On returning to Berlin, he was awarded a doctorate by the Friedrich Wilhelms University, and art academies in Venice, Brussels, Milan, and Stockholm made him a member in 1913. He was elected president of the Prussian Academy of Art in 1927. His work was included in the art competition and painting event in the 1928 Sumer Olympics in Berlin. 

When the Nazi’s came to power in 1933, the Academy decided not to show any works by Jewish artists. Liebermann resigned from the Academy before he was forced to by the new anti-Jewish laws. The Gestapo began removing his paintings from museums and private collections.  Liebermann stayed in Wannsee with his wife and continued to paint until his death in 1935. The Gestapo forbade attendance at his funeral, but more than 100 people showed up, including the German printmaker and sculptor Kathe Kollwitz.

Liebermann’s wife Martha inherited his large private collection of art, and she kept it with her in Wannsee. She suffered a stroke in 1943 and was bedridden. She took her own life after she was ordered to report to a concentration camp. Their daughter escaped to America.

Hundreds of Liebermann’s paintings and others from his private collection are listed by the German Lost Art Foundation, created in 1994. The Max Liebermann Society opened the Liebermann Museum on April 30, 2006, at the villa in Wannsee.

 “In his various capacities as a leader in the artistic community, Liebermann spoke out often for the separation of art and politics. He pushed for the right of artists to do their own thing, unconcerned with politics or ideology.” Grace Gluck (1926-2022) American arts journalist)

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Beverly Hall Smith was a professor of art history for 40 years. Since retiring to Chestertown with her husband Kurt in 2014, she has taught art history classes at WC-ALL and the Institute of Adult Learning, Centreville. An artist, she sometimes exhibits work at River Arts. She also paints sets for the Garfield Theater in Chestertown.