Schwarzwaldmädchen Marie

Lovis Corinth's Schwarzwaldmädchen Marie (Black Forest Girl Marie, 1885) is the companion piece to his Schwarzwaldmädchen of the same year — a second study of a young Black Forest woman in traditional regional costume. The named title — 'Marie' — gives this sitter a specific identity that distinguishes her from the anonymous companion piece. The two paintings together suggest a sustained engagement with the subject, perhaps documenting two different women in the same costume tradition.

Like the companion piece, this work renders the distinctive Black Forest costume — the Bollenhut, the traditional dress — with careful attention to its specific visual elements. The named sitter Marie would be rendered with more individual psychological attention than a pure costume study — her specific face and character within the frame of the traditional dress. Corinth's handling shows his Munich period academic training applied with the personal directness that distinguished his best early work.