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Dimensions: 43 by 54.5cm.
16 7/8 by 21 1/2 in.
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Provenance: Galerie Walter, Dusseldorf (sale: Kunsthaus Lempertz, Cologne, 5th December 1979, lot 69)
Private Collection, Germany
Private Collection, Austria
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Exhibited: The Hague, Kunstzalen d'Andretsch, Sturm - Wanderausstellung. 2. Ausstellung. Expressionisten-Kubisten, 1916, no. 6
Berlin, Galerie Der Sturm, 66. Ausstellung: Heinrich Campendonk, Walter Dexel, 1918, no. 39
Berlin, Galerie Der Sturm, no. 15
Hanover, Kestner-Gesellschaft
Ludwigshafen, Wilhelm-Hack-Museum, Der Blaue Reiter - Die Befreiung der Farbe, 2003-2004, no. 183, illustrated in colour in the catalogue
Murnau, Schlossmuseum, Wassily Kandinsky - Klänge, 2004, illustrated in colour in the catalogue
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Literature: Andrea Firmenich, Heinrich Campendonk. Leben und expressionistisches Werk, mit Werkkatalog des malerischen OEuvres, Recklinghausen, 1989, no. 159, illustrated (as dating from circa 1912)
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Notes:
Orientalisches is a wonderfully exotic example of Campendonk's favourite theme, that of animals in nature, executed during the height of his involvement with Der Blaue Reiter group. A complex mixture of human, animal and plant life, this composition illustrates the artist's firm belief in a cosmic unity and harmony of man and nature. Highly stylised and vividly coloured, Orientalisches is composed of geometric forms intertwined in such a way as to suggest the unity of all living forms. By depicting this rich image of the realm of unspoilt nature, Campendonk creates an idyllic world, evoking a more 'primitive' state. Like the Impressionists and Fauves before them, Campendonk and his fellow German Expressionists often ventured into nature, fleeing from the frenzy of urban life, and seeking a more peaceful, elemental environment.
Although previously thought to be dating from 1912, Dr Andrea Firmenich corrected her initial dating of Orientalisches to circa 1914-15. At this time Campendonk was living in Sindelsdorf, a small town near Murnau at the foot of Bavarian Alps. The artist moved there in 1911 at the invitation of his fellow painters Franz Marc and Wassily Kandinsky, and later that year, they formed the artistic group Der Blaue Reiter and often exhibited together. Sharing Campendonk's fascination with the mysteries of the natural world, Marc often acted as his mentor. Both artists were inspired by their rural surroundings and sought motivation in the innocence of the animal world.
In Orientalisches, Campendonk renders his subject with overlapping, transparent colours, using a luminous palette and application of pigment that is akin to that of the Orphists. He creates a complex space by overlapping planes, segmenting his composition into various geometrical forms, combined in such a way to suggest recognisable figurative elements. His breaking down of form is inspired by the revolutionary treatment of space pioneered by the Cubist artists in the previous decade. It was through Marc that Campendonk was introduced to both Cubism and Orphism, although, guided by the Blaue Reiter's belief in stylistic individuality, he adapted these pictorial devices to his own, highly personal style. Whilst the proponents of Orphism and Cubism drew their inspiration from urban scenes and still-lifes, Campendonk applied their formal principles to a subject matter entirely his own.
Peter Selz wrote about Campendonk's sources of inspiration: 'When the Rhenish painter Heinrich Campendonk came to live in Bavaria, he saw peasant votive pictures painted under glass. Fascinated by this naïve forceful expression, he tried to re-create - not imitate - the spirit, technique and subject matter of folk art. He settled among the Bavarian peasants and lived on their farms for many years, first in Sindelsdorf and then, after being discharged from the army in 1916, in Seeshaupt, on lake Starnberg. [...] Campendonk's subject matter consists of the most elementary objects of country life - farmers and their wives, their cattle and fowl - but he dismembers this ordinary world and reassembles it into a magic, dreamlike place' (P. Selz, German Expressionist Painting, Berkeley, 1973, p. 308).
Fuelled by the artist's desire to show nature in a 'primitive' state, Orientalisches represents a world of fantasy and fairy-tale lyricism. The formal unity of patterns, colours and overlapping planes suggests the unity of natural forms that Campendonk so firmly believed in. Writing about their shared fascination with nature, Franz Marc proclaimed in 1912: 'Nature glows in our pictures as in every form of art. Nature is everywhere, in us and outside us; there is only one thing that is not altogether nature, but rather the overcoming and interpreting of nature: art. Art always has been and is in its very essence the boldest departure from nature and 'naturalness', it is the bridge into the spirit world' (quoted in P. Selz, op. cit., p. 20).
