Felix Nussbaum - Netzflicker
Felix Nussbaum
Netzflicker
1928
Oil on canvas 55.5 x 40.2 cm Framed. Signed, dated and inscribed 'Felix Nussbaum' lower left. - Wth inconspicuous craquelure, left and upper margins with retouches.
In 1933 Felix Nussbaum emigrated to Belgium, a country where he and his family had often travelled on holiday. There, in 1928, he painted the “Netzflicker”, a harbour scene set on a quay wall “furnished” in the manner of an interior. The painting “Judengasse in Antwerpen” (Junk/Zimmer 42) is presumably from the same year and is thematically and structurally comparable. An exterior has been transformed into an interior: the furniture has been placed in front of the building and the figures in the picture practice their handicrafts outside their door. Oriented within the depicted space in a similarly oblique manner, they turn away from their viewers and towards their activity; the protagonists' absorption in their work also invites viewers to enter a state of contemplation or, alternatively, concentration. The form of our net mender's abstract and confused-looking ball of string stands in contrast to the clarity in the depiction of the figure and space. The picture is distinguished by its painterly finesse, delicate colour scheme and intensity, which directly mesmerise viewers with the full charm of a subject that ostensibly seems naively rural.
Here the repeated effect of a reversal between interior and exterior may already provide a premonition of the inner “Unbehaustheid”, the discord within the painter, under the repression of the political events to come.
Catalogue Raisonné
Schwetter 69; Junk/Zimmer 39
Provenance
Estate of the artist; Galerie Michael Hasenclever, Munich (1975); Galerie Clasing, Osnabrück (1982); Private collection, Lower Saxony; Private collection, North Germany
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Felix Nussbaum
Netzflicker
1928
Oil on canvas 55.5 x 40.2 cm Framed. Signed, dated and inscribed 'Felix Nussbaum' lower left. - Wth inconspicuous craquelure, left and upper margins with retouches.
In 1933 Felix Nussbaum emigrated to Belgium, a country where he and his family had often travelled on holiday. There, in 1928, he painted the “Netzflicker”, a harbour scene set on a quay wall “furnished” in the manner of an interior. The painting “Judengasse in Antwerpen” (Junk/Zimmer 42) is presumably from the same year and is thematically and structurally comparable. An exterior has been transformed into an interior: the furniture has been placed in front of the building and the figures in the picture practice their handicrafts outside their door. Oriented within the depicted space in a similarly oblique manner, they turn away from their viewers and towards their activity; the protagonists' absorption in their work also invites viewers to enter a state of contemplation or, alternatively, concentration. The form of our net mender's abstract and confused-looking ball of string stands in contrast to the clarity in the depiction of the figure and space. The picture is distinguished by its painterly finesse, delicate colour scheme and intensity, which directly mesmerise viewers with the full charm of a subject that ostensibly seems naively rural.
Here the repeated effect of a reversal between interior and exterior may already provide a premonition of the inner “Unbehaustheid”, the discord within the painter, under the repression of the political events to come.
Catalogue Raisonné
Schwetter 69; Junk/Zimmer 39
Provenance
Estate of the artist; Galerie Michael Hasenclever, Munich (1975); Galerie Clasing, Osnabrück (1982); Private collection, Lower Saxony; Private collection, North Germany
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Time, Location
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