Fidus (Luebeck 1868-1948 Woltersdorf bei Berlin), also known as Hugo Hoeppener
"Zwielichter" ("Twilight")
1902
oil on canvas laid down on thick cardboard
49,0 x 70,4 cm (painting only); 68,4 x 89,4 cm (including frame)
lower left signed: Fidus
inscribed on verso: "Zwielichter" Sommer [?] 01. Jan. 05 [in artist's hand?]
Provenance:
Richard Hirsch (1882-1959), politician and glassmaker
Exhibition History:
Grosse Berliner Kunst-Ausstellung 1905
Albert Rathke's Kunstausstellung Magdeburg
Kunstausstellung Wertheim, Berlin (No. 881)
Arte e Magia: Il Fascino dell'Esoterismo in Europa, Palazzo Roverella, Rovigo, Italy, 2018-2019.
Publication History:
Fidus (Hugo Höppener) Mappe I. 12 Kunstdrucke aus der "Jugend." (München: Verlag der "Jugend," 1919), Plate 7.
Discussion:
On a postcard from 1947, Fidus identified the woman in "Zwielichter" as his wife Elsa Knorr (1877-1915), and he downplayed the significance of the perceived "Japanese" characteristics of the painting:
"The red beams shouldn't be viewed as 'Japanese,' just ivy 'wooden style.' The lights were Japanese because there was no good paper style in the West at that time." Loose translation by Jack Daulton from the original German (see below).
