Oil on canvas laid on panel. Signed in the lower left. 100 x 80 cm.
[MH].

• Lesser Ury is considered one of the key figures in the development of Impressionism in Germany.
• While Ury became famous for his Berlin street scenes and café interiors, portraits of children from his early creative period are extremely rare.
• A rare document of bourgeois childhood in the 19th century—moving beyond idealized genre paintings, Ury presents authentic portraiture and captures a private, unposed moment.
• Exhibited at the annual Glaspalast exhibition in Munich as early as 1891.
LITERATURE: Rudolf Lepke’s Kunst-Auctions-Haus, Berlin, 1178th Auction, April 25, 1899, lot 57. Adolph Donath, Lesser Ury, Berlin 1921, p. 67 (illustrated, fig. 32). Kunsthaus Lempertz, Cologne, 409th Auction, Oct. 23-24, 1940, lot 159. Kunstpreis-Verzeichnis, Vol. 2, Weltkunst-Verlag: Auction Results from July 1, 1940-June 30, 1940, p. 96, no. 992. Galerie Neumeister, Munich, May 19, 1969, no. 353 (illustrated) Bavarian State Painting Collection (ed.), Neue Pinakothek. Erläuterungen zu den ausgestellten Werken, Munich 1981, p. 350 (illustrated) Carla Schulz-Hoffmann, Christoph Heilmann (eds.), Wegweiser durch die Sammlung der Neuen Pinakothek und die Staatsgalerie moderner Kunst, Munich 1985, inv. no. 14275. Hans F. Schweers, Genrebilder in Deutschen Museen. Verzeichnis der Künstler und Werke, Munich 1986, pp. 336, 339 (illustrated). Joachim Seyppel: Lesser Ury. Der Maler der alten City. Leben, Kunst, Wirkung, Berlin 1987, no. 31. Hermann A. Schlögl, Hannah Katzenstein (eds.), Der Teufel hole die Kunst. Briefe von Lesser Ury an einen Freund, Berlin 2000, p. 66 (illustrated). Archival materials: Central Archive Berlin, accession number I/NG 0729. 1935: Files regarding the Lesser Ury Memorial Exhibition in Berlin, list of Lesser Ury’s works with owners. Brandenburg State Archives, reference number REP 36A, 11822, liquidation of the estate of Joseph Goldschmidt 1935, including auction order for the estate of Curt Goldschmidt to Edgar Lach, item 207: oil painting “Lesser Ury Kinderszene”, estimate price 800 RM.

Münchner Jahresausstellung von Kunstwerken aller Nationen, Königlichen Glaspalast, Munich, 1891, cat. no. 1590. Lesser Ury, Salon Keller & Reiner, reviewed by Maximiliane Rapsilber, in: Ost und West. Illustrierte Monatsschrift für illustriertes Judentum, ed. by Leo Winz, 1905, p. 14 (illustrated)

Julius Elias, Berlin. Curt Goldschmidt, Berlin (1921-1935). Bavarian State Painting Collection, Munich (since 1972). Private collection, Berlin (1972, Neumeister, Munich)

In good condition. With expertly retouched drycracks. There is a vertical retouched spot in the center of the painting, as well as a horizontal one and a few other isolated spots the size of a pinhead. The sky shows older retouching. The retouching is mostly beneath the old varnish. There is minor retouching along the edges, as well as partial paint loss in the edges.