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Exhibition

THOMAS HERBST
THOMAS HERBST
Thomas Herbst
COW’S HEAD, CA. 1880
OIL ON PAPER, MOUNTED ON CARDBOARD
FORMERLY AHLERS COLLECTION
19. January 2007 - 03. March 2007

THOMAS HERBST

A GERMAN IMPRESSIONIST

Recent exhibitions have marked the 150th anniversary of the Hamburg-born painter, Thomas Herbst (1848–1915), who counts as one of the most important ‘unknown’artists of German modernism. It is a testament to the mental character and artistic skill of this German impressionist that he was able to make a name for himself, despite the fact that he focused his work on small-scale landscapes and portraits of cows. This exhibition dedicated exclusively to his art is the first of its kind in Hanover.

Born in Hamburg, Thomas Herbst began his artistic journey studying at the Städel in Frankfurt in 1866, before moving to Berlin to attend the private school of the equine painter, Carl Steffeck. It was here that he met figures including Max Liebermann. The pair went on to study art in Weimar and were reunited in the 1870s in Paris, where they shared a studio. Their path led them both to Munich in 1878 and they it was not until 1884 that they parted ways when Liebermann returned to Berlin and Herbst to Hamburg. Their work, which grew out of similar education and experience, maps the entire artistic spectrum of German impressionism. In their respective spheres of influence, these artists helped the movement to gradually break through fierce resistance and finally gain acceptance.

Herbst’s return to his home town marked the beginning of a period of continuous productivity as a plein-air painter; his art became increasingly close to the impressionism he had encountered in Paris. His style of painting was characterised by a chromatic translation, composed of half-tones, of lighting conditions that he found around unprepossessing subjects in the countryside. He spent one half of his productive existence in the villages along the Elbe Marshes, and the other in prosperous Hamburg social circles of art connoisseurs. His modest range of themes and marked use of small formats made Herbst a plein-air painter whose work counts among the best products of the influence of impressionism in Germany. The artistic concept to which he devoted his life could be described as a harmonious blend of the Dutch tradition of animal portraiture with modern landscape impressionism.

The exhibition at the Ahlers Pro Arte Foundation in Hanover features forty paintings and twenty drawings by this exceptional artist. Herbst’s work merits fresh discovery, even though the art market has long since favoured him as one of the most influential German impressionists.

Quotations:

‘Thomas Herbst was active during one of the great eras of painting; the sense of momentum and optimism that accompanied his artistic method of choice – easel painting – clearly also lent a great deal of momentum and optimism to the artist himself.’
Willi Wolfrath, 1922

‘He pursued his love for the city of his birth without a thought for the sacrifices he would have to make, not just those of a material nature – as Hamburg has no market for art – but also those of a spiritual kind, as he had to forfeit contact with like-minded colleagues. Perhaps that is the reason why he failed to develop his eminent abilities to their fullest extent.’
Max Liebermann, 1909

‘He truly was an artist through and through and a painter who could withstand comparison with the most eminent of his contemporaries. Hamburg could have had its very own Liebermann in him, had it paid him more attention and had he not been so humble and reserved.’
Hans Rosenhagen, 1918

‘He possessed that quality which escapes the majority of modern painters: sensibility. Not in the negative, sentimental way, but rather in the form of a great warmness of heart. He did not turn a severe gaze to the objects of his painting – his deciding to paint an object meant that he was well and truly in love with it. He painted with the heart, as well as with the paintbrush; not in order to show off his virtuosity, but instead out of love for the piece of nature laid out before him. This inner relationship to the object of his art lends his painting a truly individual quality, a truly unique note and a wonderful poetic expression.’
Friedrich Ahlers-Hestermann, 1939

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