Q50332197

Painted in 1908 on cardboard rather than canvas, this work by Lovis Corinth represents the smaller-scale, more experimental mode of his production during a highly productive Berlin period. Cardboard supports were common among late-nineteenth and early-twentieth-century artists for sketches, studies, and works intended as personal records rather than exhibition pieces; they accepted paint well and were cheaper and more portable than stretched canvas. Corinth kept a vigorous output throughout 1908, and the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden's holding of this work alongside several other Corinths of the same year suggests a sustained relationship between the artist's studio practice and the Saxon collecting institution during the early twentieth century.

Cardboard as a support absorbs oil more aggressively than primed canvas, often producing a matte, slightly dry finish in thinner paint passages while allowing impasto areas to retain their texture. Corinth would have adapted his typically heavy-handed application accordingly, perhaps working more quickly to prevent the paint from dragging. The result often has a raw directness distinct from his finished canvas works.