Menschen am Meer. 1909.
Charcoal and pastel.
Lower right sigend and dated and titled in lower left. On wove paper. 22.5 x 32.5 cm (8.8 x 12.7 in), the full sheet.
[AR].

• Strongly reduced, quickly executed drawing of great immediacy.
• While in Italy, Heckel already anticipated the style that was to become formative for the development of the "Brücke" a little later.
• Beach scenes from this period are extremely rare in the work of the artist and are hardly offered on the international auction market (source: artprice.com).

The work is registered in the Erich Heckel Estate, Hemmenhofen on Lake Constance. We are grateful to Mrs Renate Ebner and Mr Hans Geissler for the kind support in cataloging this lot.

PROVENANCE: Artist's estate.
Hermann Gerlinger Collection, Würzburg (with the collector's stamp, Lugt 6032).

EXHIBITION: Erich Heckel 1883-1970. Aquarelle, Zeichnungen, Ausstellung zum 100. Geburtstag des Malers, Städtische Galerie, Würzburg, July 3 - September 11, 1983, cat. no. 5.
Schleswig-Holsteinisches Landesmuseum, Schloss Gottorf, Schleswig (permanent loan from the Hermann Gerlinger Collection, 1995-2001).
Kunstmuseum Moritzburg, Halle an der Saale (permanent loan from the Hermann Gerlinger Collection, 2001-2017).
Erich Heckel. Einfühlung und Ausdruck, Buchheim Museum, Bernried, October 31, 2020 – March 7, 2021, p. 102 (fig.)
Buchheim Museum, Bernried (permanent loan from the Hermann Gerlinger Collection, 2017-2022).

LITERATURE: Heinz Spielmann (ed.), Die Maler der Brücke. Sammlung Hermann Gerlinger, Stuttgart 1995, p. 171, SHG no. 191 (fig.).
Hermann Gerlinger, Katja Schneider (eds.), Die Maler der Brücke. Inventory catalog Hermann Gerlinger Collection, Halle (Saale) 2005, p. 162, SHG no. 364 (fig.).

In good condition. Overall slightly browned and the upper margin slightly irregular and with small creases, probably due to the sheet being removed from a sketchbook. Faint creases in the margins and in the lower right corner of the sheet.