Hans Thoma (1839-1924), Witch, C. 1900

Hans Thoma (1839 Bernau - 1924 Karlsruhe), Witch, around. 1900. Beringer 204. Algraph on strong wove paper after a drawing from 1870, published by Breitkopf und Härtel in Leipzig as ‘Zeitgenössisches Kunstblatt Nr. 178’, 27.7 cm x 39.4 cm (image), 40 cm x 50 cm (sheet size), signed and dated lower right. Publisher's sticker on verso.
- Corners somewhat bumped, small marginal tear in lower wide margin, otherwise in excellent condition  



- The Magic of the Uncanny -


Hans Thoma drew inspiration from Adriaen van Ostade's paintings when designing his depiction of a witch brewing something in her kitchen. However, the Dutchman's burlesque grotesque takes on a mysteriously eerie quality here. In the glow of the flickering fire, the hunched-over witch takes a recipe from a book representing the diabolical and mysterious. The steam from the concoction, illustrated by wild lines, already fills the room. To keep to herself during her witchcraft, her alter ego, the cat, chases away an approaching cat, and the viewer is kept at a distance by the witch's broom and the objects in the foreground.



About the artist


After failing to complete his apprenticeship as a lithographer, painter and clockmaker, Hans Thoma trained as an autodidact painter. In 1859 he won a scholarship to the Karlsruhe Art School, where he became a student of Wilhelm Schirmer and Ludwig Des Coudres. After graduating in 1866, Thoma spent time in Basel and Düsseldorf. He met Otto Scholderer, with whom he traveled to Paris in 1868. There he was impressed by the art of Gustave Courbet and the Barbizon School. After his works were rejected by the Karlsruhe Kunstverein, Thoma moved to Munich in 1870, where he was close to the Leibl circle. Wilhelm Trüber worked for a time in Thoma's studio in Munich. In 1874 he made the first of a series of trips to Italy with the painter Albert Lang, where he met Hans von Marées and Adolph von Hildebrand and became friends with Arnold Böcklin, whose art made a lasting impression on Thoma. On his return to Munich, Thoma became a student of Cella Berteneder, whom he married in 1877. Thoma traveled to England in 1879 at the invitation of art collector Charles Minoprio. Over the years, Minoprio acquired more than 60 oil paintings by Thoma and organized the first exhibition of his art abroad in Liverpool in 1884. Thoma had lived in Frankfurt since 1878. The following year, the Frankfurter Kunstverein organized the first solo exhibition of his work. After a trip to the Netherlands, Thoma moved to Kronberg im Taunus in 1899, where the Kronberg painters' colony was based. That same year he was appointed professor at the Karlsruhe Art School and director of the Karlsruhe Kunsthalle. In 1901, together with Wilhelm Süs, Hans Thoma founded the Grand Ducal Majolica Manufactory in Karlsruhe, for which he supplied designs from then on. Thoma was now at the height of his artistic fame. The 1909 edition of Meyer's Großes Konversations-Lexikon noted that Thoma had become one of the German people's favorite painters. On the occasion of his 80th birthday in 1919, Ernst Oppler and Lovis Corinth organized a large celebration. After Thoma's death, the Berlin National Gallery dedicated a major exhibition to him in 1922, and the Basel Kunsthalle in 1924.