Ruhendes Mädchen. 1921.
Watercolor over pencil.
Lower left signed and dated. 44.4 x 60.8 cm (17.4 x 23.9 in), the full sheet.
The background shows the mural in Pechstein's studio on Kurfürstenstraße 126, cf. the oil painting "Der Sohn des Künstlers auf dem Sofa" (catalogue raisonné Soika 1917/99). [CH].
• Pechstein shows his model in intimate close-up and with at times bold and delicately glazed colors in peaceful tranquility and contemplation.
• The background refers to the Berlin studio, which means that Pechstein's first wife Lotte could have posed as model.
• In March 1921, Pechstein traveled to Leba in what was then Pomerania for the first time and fell in love with Marta Möller, the daughter of the local innkeeper, during the spring and summer months.
• In December of the same year, he and Lotte got a divorce and Pechstein began a relationship with the young woman, whom he finally married in 1923.
• In the same year, Pechstein also created a small cycle of around five paintings in which he portrayed Marta sleeping or resting, sometimes together with her sister.
• With confident strokes and expressive colors, the artist translates a traditional motif into 20th century aesthetics.

With the copy of the certificate issued by Max K. Pechstein in 1988.
The work is documented in the archive of the Max Pechstein UHRG, Hamburg/ Berlin.

PROVENANCE: Museum Marl.
Private collection Rhineland.
Art dealer Wolfgang Werner, Bremen.
Galerie Neher, Essen.
Private collection Northern Germany (acquired in 1992).

LITERATURE: Villa Grisebach Auktionen, Berlin, 24th aucion, Kunst des 19. und 20. Jahrhunderts, May 25, 1992, lot 34 (color illu.).