Oil on canvas. Signed in the lower right. 54.5 x 82 cm. - Landscape painter Alexander Koester finally discovered the dominant theme of his oeuvre, atmospheric depictions of ducks, during a stay in Klausen in the Eisack Valley, a South Tyrolean artists' retreat, in 1896. - With a free, impressionistic, broad, and loose application of the paint, Koester captured the fleeting moment of the animals frolicking in the water, the play of light and shadow on their plumage, and the reflections of the sunlight on the water's surface. - His works soon became popular and entered collections and museums. Emperor Wilhelm II and King Vittorio Emanuele III of Italy acquired two duck paintings (1900 and 1907). - In 1904, the artist was represented with three duck paintings at the World's Fair in St. Louis, Missouri, and was awarded a gold medal. - Similar works can be found in, among others, the collections of the Neue Pinakothek, Bavarian State Painting Collections, Munich, and the Belvedere in Vienna. LITERATURE: Ruth Stein, Alexander Koester. Leben und Werk, Recklinghausen 1988, catalogue raisonné no. 825. - - Kunstauktion Bantele, Munich, March 27, 1976, lot 518 (illustrated and illustrated in an ad in Weltkunst 4/1976, p. 170). Christie, Manson & Woods, London, 19th Century Pictures and Continental Watercolors:The Properties of Sir George Christie and from Various Sources, June 23, 1989, lot 134 (illustrated). Ketterer Kunst, Munich, auction 261, Dec. 1, 2001, lot 16 (illustrated). Ketterer Kunst, Munich, auction 431, May 25, 2016, lot 97 (illustrated).
Gedächtnisausstellung des Kunstmalers Alexander Koester, Ständige Kunstausstellung der Münchener Kunstgenossenschaft, Maximilianstr. 26, Munich, 1933 (cat. no. 8849)
Private collection, Lower Saxony. Private collection, South Germany (acquired from the above in 2001, Ketterer Kunst, Munich, lot 16). Private collection, South Germany (acquired from the above in 2016, Ketterer Kunst, Munich, lot 97)
Ab 1908 sucht der Künstler regelmäßig das Bodenseegebiet auf, um dort große, weite Wasserflächen in allen Wetterstimmungen zu malen. "Die Enten verkörpern in Koesters Darstellungen gleichsam den Aspekt der Freiheit in der Natur. Er sieht sie vorwiegend ohne irgendwelche Aggression und ohne besondere Dramatik unter dem Spiel von Sonnenflecken in kleinen Ausschnitten. Daraus erklärt sich auch der eigentümliche Stimmungsgehalt seiner Bilder, der sich in einer liebevollen Beobachtung des scheinbar zufällig erfaßten, ungestört sich darbietenden Tierlebens zeigt. Künstlerisch wird dies mit einem hohen Maß an Naturalismus erreicht, mit dem Koester in der besten Tradition des 19. Jahrhunderts steht." (Mario-Andreas von Lüttichau, in: Ausst.-Kat. München u. a. 1985, Alexander Koester. Werke aus der Schenkung Else Eckhard, Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, München 1985, S. 27).
Atmospheric depiction in good condition. With minor professional retouching and small overpainting in the bottom corners of the image, probably due to rubbing caused by framing. Minimal rubbing on the edges of the image, also due to framing. The condition report was compiled in daylight with a UV light source and to the best of our knowledge and belief.
Lot Details
Oil on canvas. Signed in the lower right. 54.5 x 82 cm. - Landscape painter Alexander Koester finally discovered the dominant theme of his oeuvre, atmospheric depictions of ducks, during a stay in Klausen in the Eisack Valley, a South Tyrolean artists' retreat, in 1896. - With a free, impressionistic, broad, and loose application of the paint, Koester captured the fleeting moment of the animals frolicking in the water, the play of light and shadow on their plumage, and the reflections of the sunlight on the water's surface. - His works soon became popular and entered collections and museums. Emperor Wilhelm II and King Vittorio Emanuele III of Italy acquired two duck paintings (1900 and 1907). - In 1904, the artist was represented with three duck paintings at the World's Fair in St. Louis, Missouri, and was awarded a gold medal. - Similar works can be found in, among others, the collections of the Neue Pinakothek, Bavarian State Painting Collections, Munich, and the Belvedere in Vienna. LITERATURE: Ruth Stein, Alexander Koester. Leben und Werk, Recklinghausen 1988, catalogue raisonné no. 825. - - Kunstauktion Bantele, Munich, March 27, 1976, lot 518 (illustrated and illustrated in an ad in Weltkunst 4/1976, p. 170). Christie, Manson & Woods, London, 19th Century Pictures and Continental Watercolors:The Properties of Sir George Christie and from Various Sources, June 23, 1989, lot 134 (illustrated). Ketterer Kunst, Munich, auction 261, Dec. 1, 2001, lot 16 (illustrated). Ketterer Kunst, Munich, auction 431, May 25, 2016, lot 97 (illustrated).
Gedächtnisausstellung des Kunstmalers Alexander Koester, Ständige Kunstausstellung der Münchener Kunstgenossenschaft, Maximilianstr. 26, Munich, 1933 (cat. no. 8849)
Private collection, Lower Saxony. Private collection, South Germany (acquired from the above in 2001, Ketterer Kunst, Munich, lot 16). Private collection, South Germany (acquired from the above in 2016, Ketterer Kunst, Munich, lot 97)
Ab 1908 sucht der Künstler regelmäßig das Bodenseegebiet auf, um dort große, weite Wasserflächen in allen Wetterstimmungen zu malen. "Die Enten verkörpern in Koesters Darstellungen gleichsam den Aspekt der Freiheit in der Natur. Er sieht sie vorwiegend ohne irgendwelche Aggression und ohne besondere Dramatik unter dem Spiel von Sonnenflecken in kleinen Ausschnitten. Daraus erklärt sich auch der eigentümliche Stimmungsgehalt seiner Bilder, der sich in einer liebevollen Beobachtung des scheinbar zufällig erfaßten, ungestört sich darbietenden Tierlebens zeigt. Künstlerisch wird dies mit einem hohen Maß an Naturalismus erreicht, mit dem Koester in der besten Tradition des 19. Jahrhunderts steht." (Mario-Andreas von Lüttichau, in: Ausst.-Kat. München u. a. 1985, Alexander Koester. Werke aus der Schenkung Else Eckhard, Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, München 1985, S. 27).
Atmospheric depiction in good condition. With minor professional retouching and small overpainting in the bottom corners of the image, probably due to rubbing caused by framing. Minimal rubbing on the edges of the image, also due to framing. The condition report was compiled in daylight with a UV light source and to the best of our knowledge and belief.
Pierre-Auguste RENOIR 
