Lot 1238 | Ballet Dancers

PIPPEL, OTTO EDUARD
1878 Lodz - 1960 Planegg


Title: Ballet Dancers.
"Bei Gustl Annast in München".
Technique: Oil on canvas.
Measurement: 62,5 x 50,5cm.
Notation: Signed lower right: Otto Pippel.
Frame/Pedestal: Framed.
Verso:
On the stretcher artist label with inscription.

Provenance:
Private ownership, Germany.

Starting from the tulle dresses of two ballet dancers in an arabesque pose in the centre of the image space, the light shines across the canvas in front of the scene, which shows a stage scene in flickering, warm colours. Otto Pippel, one of the most important Late Impressionists in South Germany, locates the motif of the painting in a locality belonging to the Annast couple by reference to an inscription on the back. In the first decades of the 20th century, the restaurateur, actor and cultural worker Gustl Annast and his wife Anna ran various venues in Munich and the surrounding area, which established themselves as well-known meeting places for artists.
The present depiction shows one of the numerous evening events in one of these locales, possibly the traditional Luigi Tambosi café at the Hofgarten, the oldest café house in Munich still in operation today, which the couple expanded by adding a ballroom and a so-called intimate theatre, which was only aimed at certain enthusiasts. Thus, despite the illuminated view shown from the auditorium, the present depiction also appears to be in a familiar atomic sphere.