1913, Erich Heckel, Siblings -- Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (Richmond)
From the museum label:
In Siblings Heckel portrays his future wife, Milda Frieda Georgi, a dancer who went by the name Siddi Riha, with her younger brother. Siddi modeled for Heckel frequently, appearing in many paintings throughout his career. Here, the sharply defined and angular facial features of the sitters are set in a compressed, flattened space. A masterpiece within Heckel's oeuvre, Siblings conveys both his stylistic developments in the years after Die Brücke relocated from Dresden to Berlin in 1911, as well as the tense mood leading up to the breakout of World War I in 1914.
Originally from Max Fischer's portion of the Ludwig and Rosy Fischer Collection, Siblings had been in the collection of the Karlsruhe Art Museum (Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe) in Germany since the artist donated it to the museum in 1967. On December 10, 2020, the German Advisory Commission on the Return of Cultural Goods Seized as a Result of Nazi Persecution decided unanimously to recommend that the painting be restituted to the descendants of Max Fischer. The case hinged on the fact that no documentation could be provided to explain how Erich Heckel received this painting from Max Fischer sometime between 1934 and 1944, the same period in which Max Fischer, who was Jewish, had to flee Germany due to Nazi persecution and could not return.
1913, Erich Heckel, Siblings -- Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (Richmond)
From the museum label:
In Siblings Heckel portrays his future wife, Milda Frieda Georgi, a dancer who went by the name Siddi Riha, with her younger brother. Siddi modeled for Heckel frequently, appearing in many paintings throughout his career. Here, the sharply defined and angular facial features of the sitters are set in a compressed, flattened space. A masterpiece within Heckel's oeuvre, Siblings conveys both his stylistic developments in the years after Die Brücke relocated from Dresden to Berlin in 1911, as well as the tense mood leading up to the breakout of World War I in 1914.
Originally from Max Fischer's portion of the Ludwig and Rosy Fischer Collection, Siblings had been in the collection of the Karlsruhe Art Museum (Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe) in Germany since the artist donated it to the museum in 1967. On December 10, 2020, the German Advisory Commission on the Return of Cultural Goods Seized as a Result of Nazi Persecution decided unanimously to recommend that the painting be restituted to the descendants of Max Fischer. The case hinged on the fact that no documentation could be provided to explain how Erich Heckel received this painting from Max Fischer sometime between 1934 and 1944, the same period in which Max Fischer, who was Jewish, had to flee Germany due to Nazi persecution and could not return.