Alexander Koester (1864–1918) Ducks on a pond

Alexander Koester studied at the Karlsruhe Art Academy. In Klausen in South Tyrol, a meeting place for painters, he not only met his future wife, but also found the artistic theme with which he became famous. The ducks he saw at his father-in-law, an inn owner. After marrying in 1893, Koester moved to Klausen in 1896. After the First World War he settled in Dießen am Ammersee.Although he worked in various genres, especially landscape painting, ducks remained his most important and popular motif, which gave him the nickname “Enten-Koester”. His careful observations of ducks made him an expert on these animals. Koester also intensively studied the reproduction of the water surface through the play of light and shadow. His paintings are characterized by great naturalness and liveliness. His stylistic development shows increasing virtuosity with freer brushwork.The picture is an excellent example of Koester's virtuosity, with individual, broad brushstrokes that border on abstraction in detail, delivering a realistic and lively as well as painterly delicate impression of the ducks in the play of light, water and colors. The artist perfectly managed to capture a fleeting moment that will change again in the next moment. Stylistically, the picture can be assigned to Koester's late phase, after he settled in Dießen am Ammersee. Signed lower right: A KOESTER. Oil on canvas, 28 × 47 cm, with frame 52 × 72 cm