Lot 1214 | Portrait of a Lady in the Garden above the Elbe River

KALLMORGEN, FRIEDRICH
1856 Altona - 1924 Grötzingen


Title: Portrait of a Lady in the Garden above the Elbe River.
Technique: Oil on canvas.
Measurement: 18,5 x 20,5cm.
Notation: Monogrammed and dated lower right: Fr. K. / 1905.
Frame/Pedestal: Framed.
Provenance:
Collection Kaletta, Hamburg.

On the shimmering golden, agitated waters of the Elbe, the first boats are getting ready to set sail. In the foreground, a working boat is already moving under a large grey cloud of noise towards the sun rising behind a cloud. The port of Hamburg, which stretches across the entire upper half of the picture, is shrouded in "haze and smoke". Without doubt, the 1903 Hamburg Harbour View (lot 1225) by Friedrich Kallmorgen is a highlight of this auction and of the former Kaletta Collection, as well as a major work in the artist's oeuvre. The work reflects two points that the artist was always interested in in his city views, especially those of Hamburg harbour: on the one hand, industry as well as people, work and technology. On the other hand, the aspect of nature, which is brought to bear by the impressionistic brushstroke, the well thought-out composition and, not least, the masterly choice of colours, creating an overall atmospheric mood.
We find a similar mood in the painting "Group of Girls in the Passage to the Garden Café" (lot 1222). Kallmorgen painted children's motifs mainly during his creative period from 1889 to 1890. The present work, however, was painted in 1906 - as the artist noted at the bottom right next to his signature. During this period Kallmorgen was mainly concerned with depictions of the port of Hamburg and landscapes. The deliberately chosen section of the picture framed by the architecture, into which we are drawn by the direct gaze of the girl facing us, is what distinguishes the present work. The warm, peaceful mood of the depiction as well as the design of the background also reminds us of the paintings of the important German Impressionist Max Liebermann. Kallmorgen - as is also evident in the portrait of a girl (lot 1216) - always depicts children sweetly and with similar physiognomies.
His studies of people show how much Kallmorgen was concerned with the people, the inhabitants of the Hamburg and Karlsruhe region but also of the Dutch coast, and with their everyday lives and consequently with the way they lived.
From around 1900 Kallmorgen became increasingly involved with printing techniques such as etching and lithography. Lot 1221 is made up of three works: a pen and ink drawing, a watercolour lithograph and colour lithograph for the work "Mutschi", which once again shows us a completely different side of the artist.
Friedrich Kallmorgen, trained at the Düsseldorf Academy, won numerous prizes during his lifetime and is one of the most important Impressionist artists. The collector Rolf Mico Kaletta (1942-2020), who began to assemble his impressive art collection of museum quality with works by Friedrich Kallmorgen in the 1970s, already trusted VAN HAM to process and sell his collection in recent years. The comprehensive, meticulously assembled collection of the Hanseatic collector not only provides insights into the artist's accomplished brushstroke, but also allows us to participate in the process of creating the works.

In the ONLINE ONLY auction (16-25 November 2021) running parallel to the FINE ART auction, VAN HAM will also be able to offer further impressive paintings, pencil, pen and watercolour drawings, detailed studies and a whole range of prints. Also up for bid will be works by the artist's wife, Margarethe Hormuth-Kallmorgen, from the Kaletta's collection, which specialised in particular in flower and still life paintings.