Hanna Nicolassen

Anita Rée (Hamburg 1885 - Kampen 1933)

Before 1920. Oil/canvas. 80,5 x 90,5 cm. Lo. le. sign. Rée. Small part missing. Unlike in the numerous and sometimes austere shoulder pieces and half-length portraits, Rée has placed Hanna Nicolassen as a whole figure in a carefully crafted southern setting. The security of the flower-decorated terrace with its view of a beautiful landscape, the clear face of the young woman and her elegant dress, together with the color harmony of friendly light blue tones, lend the picture a special loveliness. - Literature: Cat. rais.: Maike Bruhns includes the painting to the cat. rais. as no. G68 - Provenance: Since the 1960s private collection Hamburg; thence by descent to a private collection in Lower-Saxony, North Germany - R. is one of the most eminents artists of Hamburg. She began as pupil of A. Siebelist, one of the most important painting teachers in Hamburg at that time. Since 1910 she shared a studio with F. Nölken and F. Ahlers-Hestermann. In 1912 she took lessons with F. Léger in Paris. R. was co-founder of the Hamburg secession and the 'Gedok'. She was also a sought-after portrait painter. Being harrassed by the Nazis she died isolated on the island of Sylt in 1933. Mus.: Hamburg (Kunsthalle, Altonaer Mus.), Bremen (Kunsthalle), Schleswig (SHLM), Wuppertal, Rendsburg (Jüdisches Mus.), Jerusalem a. others. Lit.: Thieme-Becker, Bénézit, Vollmer, Der Neue Rump, M. Bruhns: Anita Rée. Leben und Werk einer Hamburger Malerin, 2001 a. others.