Landschaft mit roten Gestalten. 1918.
Oil on cardboard.
Signed and dated lower right. 67,3 : 89,3 cm (26,4 : 35,1 in). Arnold Topp was born in Soest, Westphalia, in 1887. By 1904 he was already friends with the Soest artists Wilhelm Morgner and Eberhard Viegener. Topp first attended the Soest Teachers’ Seminary and on graduation worked as a village schoolmaster. After attending the Royal Art School in Düsseldorf, Topp worked as a drawing master in Brandenburg on the Havel from 1913. From there the artist cultivated the ties he had previously forged with the Berlin gallery “Der Sturm”. He visited Berlin regularly and made friends with artists, including Bruno Taut and Georg Muche. Topp’s first show was held at “Der Sturm” in December 1915. That same year Topp was conscripted for military service. In 1918 Topp was a founder-member of the Work Council for Art.

Our picture dates from Topp’s most productive phase, when he was at the height of his creative powers. The painter has largely overcome the war trauma and has abandoned “war pictures” for other subject matter. The red walker motif recurs frequently at this time. Our picture features two figures who are interwoven with the ciphers of houses and pieces of landscape in the fabric of both composition and palette to fuse with the natural environment. Despite the vibrancy of the palette and the dynamic handling of form, our picture radiates the harmony and peace of an all-enveloping nature at one with mankind.

Until 1929, Arnold Topp showed his works at numerous exhibitions in Germany, the US, the Soviet Union, Japan and France. During the National Socialist era, he was proscribed and works by him were included in the notorious exhibition of “Degenerate Art”. In 1945 he was conscripted despite his age into the last-ditch effort made by the National Socialist regime before being transferred to the Wehrmacht. He was reported missing in action from that time on. In April 1961, Arnold Topp was declared dead by the Soest District Court. [KD]
EXPERTISE: This work is accompanied by a photo expertise signed by Dr. Rainer Enders, Frankfurt (Oder), and dated 31 July 2008. The work will be included in the forthcoming revision of the catalogue raisonné under the number 18.Oe.32
PROVENIENZ: Private collection Meseritz.
Private collection (gift from the previous owner in 1976).

In good condition. Edges with isolated tiny colour flakings, retouched.