Attributed To Lovis Corinth (1858–1925) - Female Nude Leaning Against An Armchair, Circa 1911–1915

Attributed to Lovis Corinth (1858–1925)
Female Nude Leaning Against an Armchair, circa 1911–1915

Oil on canvas, 50.5 × 36 cm
Signed lower left: “L. Corinth” (probably apocryphe)

Provenance:
Private collection

A major figure in the German art scene at the turn of the twentieth century, Lovis Corinth occupies a singular position between naturalism, late Impressionism, and the early tensions of Expressionism. Trained in Königsberg, Munich, and Paris, he settled permanently in Berlin, where he became one of the central figures of the Berlin Secession. His work, deeply rooted in the study of the live model, gives a prominent place to the female nude, treated with a characteristic blend of painterly frankness and psychological intensity.

In this vertical composition, the model is depicted in a relaxed, almost meditative pose. The dropped shoulder, inclined head, and lowered gaze create an atmosphere of quiet intimacy. The body, solidly constructed through broad, vibrant brushstrokes, stands out against a background animated by sweeping diagonal bands of color—greens, pinks, and blues—that energize the space without confining it within a precise narrative setting. The blue drapery covering the armchair, handled with vigor, provides a chromatic counterpoint to the warm tones of the flesh.

The palette reveals a subtle interplay between rosy highlights—accentuated at the knees, cheeks, and joints—and cooler shadows that model the volumes. This chromatic tension, combined with the visibly dynamic application of paint, corresponds to Corinth’s stylistic evolution after his stroke in 1911, a period during which his painting gained gestural freedom and expressive intensity.

The work thus belongs to the tradition of studio studies that Corinth executed with controlled spontaneity. The direct treatment of the model, the absence of anecdotal detail, and the primacy of painterly vibration reflect a modern approach to the nude, liberated from strict academic conventions.

Presented as attributed to Lovis Corinth, this canvas demonstrates convincing stylistic affinities with the artist’s Berlin production of the 1910s. It reflects a gaze that is at once sensual and analytical, in which the human body becomes a field for experimentation in a living, dense, and resolutely modern pictorial language.