Cucuel always stages the models in his pictures with accessories and clothing that emanate femininity: stockings, elegant Japanese parasols, ribbons, summer hats decorated with flowers. Characteristic of Cucuel's paintings are these unobserved, intimate moments, in which the warm summer light fills the scenery. The gaze wanders across Lake Starnberg, onto which the artist dabbed a few white sailing boats. The broad brushwork, in which single color areas contrast with one another, still bears witness to the painterly exchange with Leo Putz, a member of the Munich artist group "Die Scholle", with whom Cucuel spent the summer months from 1909 to 1914 in the Chiemgau region. Until then, he had mainly worked as a printmaker and illustrator for the press, including in New York in the 1890s, after he had completed his studies at the art academy in his hometown San Francisco and at the progressive Académie Julian in Paris. The turning point in his work came around 1911, when, under the influence of Leo Putz, he turned entirely to impressionist plein-air painting. Numerous motifs of summer life were created in a loose, broad style, whereby Putz and Cucuel often share the models and accessories such as the Florentine hat decorated with flowers. In line with Putz' strong painting style, Cucuel not only used the brush, but often applies the color in broad strokes with a painting knife "alla prima", which gives his motifs a solid physicality despite the light, pastel colors. His paintings breathe the warmth of summer, the scent of nature, the coolness of water, and thanks to their sensuality, they helped him to great international success. During his lifetime, his works found their way into American private collections and museums. [KT]