Häuser im Tessin. 1928/29.
Watercolor and ink pen.
Signed in lower left. On slightly structured wove paper. 59.5 x 46 cm (23.4 x 18.1 in), the full sheet. [CH].

• Between 1927 and 1929, Schmidt-Rottluff traveled to the Ticino several times and found inspiration for his vibrant watercolors in the mountainous landscape.
• The artist depicts the idyllic village and the view over Lake Lugano from an elevated vantage point.
• He dissolves the scenery into reduced forms and high-contrast, at times bold and then again delicately washed fields of color.

The work is documented in the archive of the Karl and Emy Schmidt-Rottluff Foundation, Berlin.

PROVENANCE: Hermann Gerlinger Collection, Würzburg (with the collector's stamp, Lugt 6032).

EXHIBITION: Schleswig-Holsteinisches Landesmuseum, Schloss Gottorf, Schleswig (permanent loan from the Hermann Gerlinger Collection, 1995-2001).
Kunstmuseum Moritzburg, Halle an der Saale (permanent loan from the Hermann Gerlinger Collection, 2001-2017).
Buchheim Museum, Bernried (permanent loan from the Hermann Gerlinger Collection, 2017-2022).

LITERATURE: Heinz Spielmann (ed.), Die Maler der Brücke. Sammlung Hermann Gerlinger, Stuttgart 1995, p. 411, SHG no. 735 (illu. in color).
Hermann Gerlinger, Katja Schneider (eds.), Die Maler der Brücke. Inventory catalog Hermann Gerlinger Collection, Halle (Saale) 2005, pp. 112f., SHG no. 251 (illu. in color).

In the 1920s, Schmidt-Rottluff entered a phase of extensive travel:
"In 1923, he set off towards southern Europe for the first time to explore Italy in the company of his sculptor friends Georg Kolbe and Richard Scheibe. This was followed by trips to Paris (1924), Dalmatia (1925), and the Swiss Ticino (1927-1929). The inspiration the artist found there is reflected in the increased production of landscape paintings starting midway through the decade. Around this time, a further stylistic transformation became apparent: The works are characterized by a greater closeness to nature, the forms become more plastic and voluminous, and the color loses its luminosity and gets more nuanced, giving the works a more harmonious and calmer effect. Schmidt-Rottluff's turn towards a more natural, sculptural style is linked to his first trip to Italy and was encouraged by his sculptor friends. Karl Brix wrote about the "transformation of Schmidt-Rottluff's art": "He had a strong inner relationship to nature, deeply experiencing its wealth of forms as reality, as a spatial and organic unity." (quoted from Magdalene Schlösser, Landschaft, in: Magdalena Möller (ed.), Karl Schmidt-Rottluff. Landscape, Figure, Still Life, 2014, p. 27)

In good condition. Barely noticeable mount staining. One tiny paper tear in lower right margin. Two creases in the lower margin (from the making). [EH]