Fritz von Uhde

FRITZ VON UHDE (Germany, 1848-1911)
"Seamstresses," 1902.
Pastel on paper.
Signed and dated in the lower right corner.
Measurements: 48 x 58 cm; 62 x 73 cm (frame).

The painting in question, made with the pastel technique, is a characteristic work of Fritz von Uhde, a German painter whose production was located at the intersection between Realism, Naturalism and Impressionism, with a notable inclination towards the representation of scenes of everyday life. The scene portrays two women in a domestic setting, a humble petit-bourgeois home. Both are concentrated in manual labor, but while the one on the left is knitting with agility, the other, younger, is attentive to the stitches of the older one, which gives us to understand that she is learning to sew.

The use of pastel gives the work a particular softness and luminosity. Von Uhde uses pastels to create subtle textures, especially in the fabrics of the clothes and in the light that falls on the interior. The color palette is restrained, dominated by earth tones, ochers, grays and muted blues, with touches of luminous whites in the coiffures and fabrics. The light, which seems to come from a window on the left, is diffused and creates an intimate and serene atmosphere. The objects on the table (cup, teapot) and the background (fireplace with hanging utensils) reinforce the homelike character of the scene.

Fritz von Uhde was born in Wolkenburg, Saxony, creator of genre works and religious themes, which he also treated as if they were genre scenes. In 1866 he was admitted to the Academy of Fine Arts in Dresden, but later that year he gave up his studies in favor of military service, and from 1867 to 1877 he was a riding instructor in the regiment of the armed guard, reaching the position of captain of cavalry. In 1876 he visited the historicist painter Hans Makart, but the latter refused to take him as a pupil. Nevertheless, his influence is noted in the first works of historical themes. He visited Paris and moved to Munich in 1877 to attend the Academy of Fine Arts, but was unable to enter the Academy. In Munich he particularly admired the old Dutch masters, and in 1879 he traveled to Paris where his studies of Dutch painters continued. He was influenced by the plein air painting of Max Liebermann, devoting himself to painting a plein air until the end of his life. In 1882 a trip to Holland brought a change in his style, as he abandoned the somber chiaroscuro he had learned in Munich in favor of a chromaticism informed by the works of the French Impressionists. Around 1890, Uhde became a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. He was, with Max Slevogt and Lovis Corinth, one of the leading figures of the Munich Sezession, headed by Stuck and later joined the Berlin Secession as well. He died in Munich in 1911.