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Mountain Reapers (Version I), 1907

Leopold Museum,
Vienna
Oil on canvas
94.6×150 cm

Artists

  • Albin Egger-Lienz

    (Stribach near Lienz 1868–1926 Zwölfmagreien/Bolzano)

Unfortunately not on display at the moment
Powerful, bordering on pathos, Albin Egger-Lienz’s (1868–1926) first version of Mountain Reapers from 1907 shows the reduced, simplified shapes that in their compactness bring out essential—the human body in rhythmic movement in the landscape. The work of the peasant population is made graspable as something elemental, significant, monumental through the plainness of the sculptured figures. The three reapers, swinging their scythes evenly and with fluid, calculated moves, are placed one behind the other in the picture space in a staggered line-up. The thoroughly planned pictorial composition creates immediacy: the scythe blade and the feet of the foremost man elude our gaze. Looking at him from a slightly elevated viewpoint, we are part of the action. The middle figure is shown in its entirety in its swinging movement. The third reaper in the background is only seen partial back figure standing out from behind a hillock. Lush mountain meadows, a rugged massif and a dense sky stretching above it convey the scenery-like impression of a site high up in the Alps: pictorial ideas that the Nazi regime of the Third Reich 30 years later tried to appropriate for its own ideological purposes.

MH, 2021

Object data

Artist/author
  • Albin Egger-Lienz
Title
Mountain Reapers (Version I)
Date
1907
Art movement
Naturalism I Realism, Expressionism
Category
Painting
Material​/technique
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
94.6×150 cm
Signature
Signed lower right: Egger Lienz
Credit line
Leopold Museum, Vienna, Inv. 716
Inventory access
Contributed to the Leopold Museum-Privatstiftung in 1994
Selection of Reference works
  • Albin Egger-Lienz: 1868-1926, hrsg. von Gert Ammann/Michael Fuhr, Wien 2008 (Ausst.-Kat. Leopold Museum, Wien, 15.02.2008–29.05.2008).
  • Wilfried Kirschl: Albin Egger-Lienz: 1868-1926; das Gesamtwerk; [Monographie in zwei Bänden], Wien 1996.
Catalogue raisonne
  • Kirschl 1993: M 234
Keywords
landscape depictiongroup portraitman/boycultural landscaperural lifecultivation/agriculturemountainsmeadow/pasturereaping/picking/mowing (harvest)farmerhatfirmament/sky

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Provenance

Provenance research
Leopold Museum i

Franz Hauer, Wien, (1910-1914);
Leopold Hauer, Wien (1914-1920); (1)
Auktion: 15.03.1920, C. J. Wawra, Wien, Albin Egger-Lienz und zeitgenössische Künstler in der Sammlung Franz Hauer sen., Nr. 27
Oskar Neumann, Wien (vor 1930); (2)
Therese Neumann, Wien (1938-1954); (3)
Georg Neumann, Wien (o.D.); (4)
Marietta Huber, Wien (o.D.); (5)
Dr. Rudolf Leopold, Wien (1971-1994); (6)
Leopold Museum-Privatstiftung, Wien (1994)

  1. Katalog der Sammlung Franz Hauer (Rekonstruktion), in: Amt der NÖ Landesregierung Abt. III/2, Kulturabteilung (Hrsg.), Künstler (Sammler) Mäzene. Porträt der Familie Hauer, Krems 1996, S. 228; Wilfried Kirschl, Albin Egger-Lienz: 1868-1926. Das Gesamtwerk, Wien 1996, S. 528, M 234.
  2. Heinrich Hammer, Egger-Lienz, Innsbruck 1930, S. 271.
  3. ÖStA, AdR 06, VVSt. 17.071, Vermögensverzeichnis Oskar Neumann vom 16.07.38 sowie Veränderungsmeldung dazu vom 22.12.1938; Katalog zur 55. Ausstellung des Kunstvereines für Kärnten: Albin Egger-Lienz. Gemälde und Zeichnungen, Künstlerhaus Klagenfurt, Oktober 1938, Nr. 16; BDA, Restitutionsmaterialien, Kt. 8, Mappe 2, fol. 15, Schreiben der Landeshauptmannschaft Kärnten an das Ministerium für innere und kulturelle Angelegenheiten Abt. IV vom 20.10.1939.
  4. Sonja Niederacher, Dossier zu Oskar und Therese Neumann vom 21.12.2009, S. 24; Archiv des Leopold Museums, Eidesstattliche Erklärungen von Gertrud Eckhart vom 17.03.2008 und Theodora Haslinger vom 14.03.2008.
  5. Klebeetikett auf der Rückseite: „Marietta Huber, XIII Hietz[inger] Hauptstr. 59“
  6. Archiv des Leopold Museums, Verkaufsbestätigung Armin Hubers vom 3. Februar 1971

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Search in collection

landscape depictiongroup portraitman/boycultural landscaperural lifecultivation/agriculturemountainsmeadow/pasturereaping/picking/mowing (harvest)farmerhatfirmament/sky