Author Description

Complete catalogue. Fourth edition. 304 pp.; 365 illustrations. Text in English and German.. The great German-Jewish artist Max Liebermann was born in Berlin in 1847 and died there in 1935. His art studies began in the 1870s with Ferdinand Pauwels in Weimar. During the latter part of the 'seventies and through the 'eighties he made extensive trips to Holland and Paris. He was named Professor of the Königliche Akademie der Künste in 1898 and became the president of the Berlin Secession the following year. Beginning in 1912, the artist received numerous official decorations in Germany and Holland and was president of the Prussian Academy of Art from 1920 to 1932. Liebermann's earliest etchings date from the early 1890s and are reminiscent of Van Gogh's Nuenen period. After the turn of the century his style became more impressionistic and his subjects consisted of beach scenes, cafe views, equestrian images and street scenes in Holland, including a number of Jewish interest. In the teens he began his inimitable series of self-portraits and portraits of luminaries. During the First World War he created a series of lithographs in support of the German war effort. After the war he returned to his favorite motifs of horses, portraits, landscapes and children at play. The third edition of Schiefler's catalogue raisonné appeared in 1923 and has been unavailable for many years. This new fourth edition is undertaken with the authorization of the original publisher, Bruno Cassirer Ltd., who relocated to Oxford during the Nazi regime. This edition adds corrections and 94 new illustrations. It also provides an English language translation of the introduction, technical terms and titles.