Karl Schmidt-Rottluff
Karl Schmidt-Rottluff
1884 - 1976
Fischer auf der Düne. 1921.
Oil on canvas.
Signed in the lower right. Signed, titled, and inscribed with the work number “213” on the reverse of the stretcher. Once more inscribed with the work number on the reverse of the partially overpainted canvas. 87.5 x 100.5 cm (34.4 x 39.5 in). [CH].
• EXPRESSIVE Rich colors, expansive surfaces, and reduced forms.
• INSPIRATION Schmidt-Rottluff spent the summer months in Jershöft on the Baltic Sea between 1920 and 1931.
• TURNING POINT Through his exploration of man and nature, the artist attained a whole new confidence in color.
• PROVENANCE Once part of the outstanding collection of Berthold and Else Beitz, Essen, for over 65 years.
• MUSEUM QUALITY Similar paintings are at, among others, the Brücke Museum in Berlin, the Grand Rapids Art Museum in Michigan, the Kunsthalle Hamburg, and the Museum Folkwang in Essen.
The work is documented in the archives of the Karl and Emy Schmidt-Rottluff Foundation, Berlin.
PROVENANCE: Ferdinand Möller Collection, Berlin (presumably acquired directly from the artist in 1922).
Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, Michigan (taken into storage in March 1938 as a loan from the above; confiscated as “enemy property” by the U.S. government in December 1940).
U.S. government property (1950–1957; ownership of the above-mentioned property was transferred through “Vesting Order 15411” by the Office of Alien Property at the Department of Justice on October 30, 1950).
Maria Möller-Garny, Cologne (repurchased from the U.S. government in 1957).
Angelika Fessler-Möller, Cologne (from the above)
Berthold and Else Beitz Collection, Essen (acquired from the above in 1959 through the mediation of Galerie Grosshennig, Düsseldorf; in the family’s possession until 2024).
Dietmar Manke Collection, Schleswig-Holstein (acquired from the above in 2024, Ketterer Kunst).
EXHIBITION: Neue Kunst Hans Goltz, Munich (with a fragmentarily preserved label on the reverse of the stretcher).
Schmidt-Rottluff traveling exhibition, Galerie Möller, Berlin; Danzig Museum, Nov. 1928–March 1929 (neither exhibition was accompanied by a catalog).
Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Gemälde, Aquarelle, Graphik, Bernsteinschmuck, Kunstsammlungen der Stadt Königsberg / Kunstverein Königsberg, Dec. 30, 1928–Jan. 20, 1929, Cat. No. 18.
Kunstwerke aus drei Jahrtausenden gesammelt im Ruhrgebiet, Kunsthalle Recklinghausen, May 16–July 16, 1963, cat. no. 212 (illustrated)
Pomeranian State Museum, Greifswald (permanent loan 2015–2024)
Zwei Männer – ein Meer. Pechstein und Schmidt-Rottluff an der Ostsee, Pomeranian State Museum, Greifswald, March 29–June 28, 2015, cat. no. 9 (dated 1920 here, illustrated on p. 81).
LITERATURE: Will Grohmann, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Stuttgart 1956, p. 266 (illustrated in black-and-white) and on p. 292.
- -
Galerie Wilhelm Grosshennig (ed.), 10 Jahre Kunsthandel in Düsseldorf 1951–1961, Düsseldorf 1961 (illustrated and with a different date, “1920”).
Eberhard Roters, Galerie Ferdinand Möller: die Geschichte einer Galerie für Moderne Kunst in Deutschland 1917–1956, Berlin 1984, pp. 156 and 226.
Katrin Engelhardt, Ferdinand Möller und seine Galerie. Ein Kunsthändler in Zeiten historischer Umbrüche, Ph.D. thesis, Hamburg 2013, https://ediss.sub.uni-hamburg.de/bitstream/ediss/5203/1/Dissertation.pdf, p. 122, note 337 (accessed Oct. 13, 2026).
Ketterer Kunst, Munich, Auction 560, Evening Sale, Dec. 6, 2024, lot 19 (illustrated).
ARCHIVE MATERIALS (selection):
Index card from the art inventory of the Ferdinand Möller Gallery (“Fisherman on the Dune, oil on canvas” by Karl Schmidt-Rottluff), in: Index Card Boxes, Berlinische Galerie, Berlin, Ferdinand Möller Estate, BG-KA-N/F.Möller-KK.
Business correspondence between the Ferdinand Möller Gallery and the Art Collections of the Free City of Danzig, Berlinische Galerie, Berlin, Ferdinand Möller Estate, BG-GFM-C, II 1, 587f.
Business correspondence between the Ferdinand Möller Gallery and Dr. Wilhelm Reinhold Valentiner, Director of the Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit (USA), Berlinische Galerie Berlin, Ferdinand Möller Estate, BG-GFM-C, II 1, 115 (among others).
Customs invoice and customs declaration for the import of 18 oil paintings from the Ferdinand Möller Gallery to the Detroit Institute of Arts, 1938, Berlinische Galerie Berlin, Ferdinand Möller Estate, BG-KA-N/F.Möller-66-M66,18-23.
Department of Justice, Office of Alien Property, Washington, D.C., and others: Purchase agreement between the Office of Alien Property of the U.S. Department of Justice and Maria Möller-Garny regarding the repurchase of 19 paintings in storage at the Detroit Institute of Arts, Berlinische Galerie, Berlin, Ferdinand Möller Estate, BG-KA-N/F.Möller-68-M68,88-89Neue Kunst Hans Goltz, München (verso auf dem Keilrahmen mit einem fragmentarischen Etikett).
Wanderausstellung Schmidt-Rottluff, Galerie Möller, Berlin; Museum Danzig, Nov. 1928-März 1929 (jeweils ohne Katalog).
Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Gemälde, Aquarelle, Graphik, Bernsteinschmuck, Kunstsammlungen der Stadt Königsberg / Kunstverein Königsberg, 30.12.1928-20.1.1929, Kat.-Nr. 18.
Kunstwerke aus drei Jahrtausenden gesammelt im Ruhrgebiet, Kunsthalle Recklinghausen, 16.5.-16.7.1963, Kat.-Nr. 212 (m. Abb.).
Pommersches Landesmuseum, Greifswald (Dauerleihgabe 2015-2024).
Zwei Männer – ein Meer. Pechstein und Schmidt-Rottluff an der Ostsee, Pommersches Landesmuseum, Greifswald, 29.3.-28.6.2015, Kat.-Nr. 9 (hier 1920 datiert, m. Abb., S. 81).
Roman Zieglgänsberger, Curator of Modern Art, Museum Wiesbaden, quoted from: Exhibition catalog Karl Schmidt-Rottluff. Landschaft, Figur, Stillleben, Brücke Museum Berlin, 2014/2015, p. 96
Karl Schmidt-Rottluff
1884 - 1976
Fischer auf der Düne. 1921.
Oil on canvas.
Signed in the lower right. Signed, titled, and inscribed with the work number “213” on the reverse of the stretcher. Once more inscribed with the work number on the reverse of the partially overpainted canvas. 87.5 x 100.5 cm (34.4 x 39.5 in). [CH].
• EXPRESSIVE Rich colors, expansive surfaces, and reduced forms.
• INSPIRATION Schmidt-Rottluff spent the summer months in Jershöft on the Baltic Sea between 1920 and 1931.
• TURNING POINT Through his exploration of man and nature, the artist attained a whole new confidence in color.
• PROVENANCE Once part of the outstanding collection of Berthold and Else Beitz, Essen, for over 65 years.
• MUSEUM QUALITY Similar paintings are at, among others, the Brücke Museum in Berlin, the Grand Rapids Art Museum in Michigan, the Kunsthalle Hamburg, and the Museum Folkwang in Essen.
The work is documented in the archives of the Karl and Emy Schmidt-Rottluff Foundation, Berlin.
PROVENANCE: Ferdinand Möller Collection, Berlin (presumably acquired directly from the artist in 1922).
Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, Michigan (taken into storage in March 1938 as a loan from the above; confiscated as “enemy property” by the U.S. government in December 1940).
U.S. government property (1950–1957; ownership of the above-mentioned property was transferred through “Vesting Order 15411” by the Office of Alien Property at the Department of Justice on October 30, 1950).
Maria Möller-Garny, Cologne (repurchased from the U.S. government in 1957).
Angelika Fessler-Möller, Cologne (from the above)
Berthold and Else Beitz Collection, Essen (acquired from the above in 1959 through the mediation of Galerie Grosshennig, Düsseldorf; in the family’s possession until 2024).
Dietmar Manke Collection, Schleswig-Holstein (acquired from the above in 2024, Ketterer Kunst).
EXHIBITION: Neue Kunst Hans Goltz, Munich (with a fragmentarily preserved label on the reverse of the stretcher).
Schmidt-Rottluff traveling exhibition, Galerie Möller, Berlin; Danzig Museum, Nov. 1928–March 1929 (neither exhibition was accompanied by a catalog).
Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Gemälde, Aquarelle, Graphik, Bernsteinschmuck, Kunstsammlungen der Stadt Königsberg / Kunstverein Königsberg, Dec. 30, 1928–Jan. 20, 1929, Cat. No. 18.
Kunstwerke aus drei Jahrtausenden gesammelt im Ruhrgebiet, Kunsthalle Recklinghausen, May 16–July 16, 1963, cat. no. 212 (illustrated)
Pomeranian State Museum, Greifswald (permanent loan 2015–2024)
Zwei Männer – ein Meer. Pechstein und Schmidt-Rottluff an der Ostsee, Pomeranian State Museum, Greifswald, March 29–June 28, 2015, cat. no. 9 (dated 1920 here, illustrated on p. 81).
LITERATURE: Will Grohmann, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Stuttgart 1956, p. 266 (illustrated in black-and-white) and on p. 292.
- -
Galerie Wilhelm Grosshennig (ed.), 10 Jahre Kunsthandel in Düsseldorf 1951–1961, Düsseldorf 1961 (illustrated and with a different date, “1920”).
Eberhard Roters, Galerie Ferdinand Möller: die Geschichte einer Galerie für Moderne Kunst in Deutschland 1917–1956, Berlin 1984, pp. 156 and 226.
Katrin Engelhardt, Ferdinand Möller und seine Galerie. Ein Kunsthändler in Zeiten historischer Umbrüche, Ph.D. thesis, Hamburg 2013, https://ediss.sub.uni-hamburg.de/bitstream/ediss/5203/1/Dissertation.pdf, p. 122, note 337 (accessed Oct. 13, 2026).
Ketterer Kunst, Munich, Auction 560, Evening Sale, Dec. 6, 2024, lot 19 (illustrated).
ARCHIVE MATERIALS (selection):
Index card from the art inventory of the Ferdinand Möller Gallery (“Fisherman on the Dune, oil on canvas” by Karl Schmidt-Rottluff), in: Index Card Boxes, Berlinische Galerie, Berlin, Ferdinand Möller Estate, BG-KA-N/F.Möller-KK.
Business correspondence between the Ferdinand Möller Gallery and the Art Collections of the Free City of Danzig, Berlinische Galerie, Berlin, Ferdinand Möller Estate, BG-GFM-C, II 1, 587f.
Business correspondence between the Ferdinand Möller Gallery and Dr. Wilhelm Reinhold Valentiner, Director of the Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit (USA), Berlinische Galerie Berlin, Ferdinand Möller Estate, BG-GFM-C, II 1, 115 (among others).
Customs invoice and customs declaration for the import of 18 oil paintings from the Ferdinand Möller Gallery to the Detroit Institute of Arts, 1938, Berlinische Galerie Berlin, Ferdinand Möller Estate, BG-KA-N/F.Möller-66-M66,18-23.
Department of Justice, Office of Alien Property, Washington, D.C., and others: Purchase agreement between the Office of Alien Property of the U.S. Department of Justice and Maria Möller-Garny regarding the repurchase of 19 paintings in storage at the Detroit Institute of Arts, Berlinische Galerie, Berlin, Ferdinand Möller Estate, BG-KA-N/F.Möller-68-M68,88-89Neue Kunst Hans Goltz, München (verso auf dem Keilrahmen mit einem fragmentarischen Etikett).
Wanderausstellung Schmidt-Rottluff, Galerie Möller, Berlin; Museum Danzig, Nov. 1928-März 1929 (jeweils ohne Katalog).
Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Gemälde, Aquarelle, Graphik, Bernsteinschmuck, Kunstsammlungen der Stadt Königsberg / Kunstverein Königsberg, 30.12.1928-20.1.1929, Kat.-Nr. 18.
Kunstwerke aus drei Jahrtausenden gesammelt im Ruhrgebiet, Kunsthalle Recklinghausen, 16.5.-16.7.1963, Kat.-Nr. 212 (m. Abb.).
Pommersches Landesmuseum, Greifswald (Dauerleihgabe 2015-2024).
Zwei Männer – ein Meer. Pechstein und Schmidt-Rottluff an der Ostsee, Pommersches Landesmuseum, Greifswald, 29.3.-28.6.2015, Kat.-Nr. 9 (hier 1920 datiert, m. Abb., S. 81).
Roman Zieglgänsberger, Curator of Modern Art, Museum Wiesbaden, quoted from: Exhibition catalog Karl Schmidt-Rottluff. Landschaft, Figur, Stillleben, Brücke Museum Berlin, 2014/2015, p. 96
