Lot number 2519 - Auction 155
STILLLEBEN MIT OBST, GEMÜSE UND EINER SCHNECKE

OTTO SCHOLDERER 1834 Frankfurt am Main - 1902 ibid. STILL LIFE WITH FRUIT, VEGETABLES, AND A SNAIL Oil on canvas, relined. 51 x 61 cm (Frame 65.5 x 75.5 cm). Monogrammed and dated 'O.S. 1880' upper right. Retouching, edge wear; water stains on the reverse of the relined canvas support. Framed. "A well-painted turnip is just as good as a well-painted Madonna" - this famous aphorism by Max Liebermann perfectly describes a tectonic shift occurring not just within a single genre, but across the entirety of 19th-century art. Contained within this phrase is the manifesto of a new era: the aesthetic value of a work is no longer determined by the hierarchy of the subject matter, but exclusively by the character of its painterly execution. The evolution toward Modernism is particularly evident in the history of the still life. A complete liberation from the subject takes place: when the turnip is granted the same status as the Madonna, the concept of a "high" subject disappears entirely, and the still life ceases to be merely a "servant" element or a religious allegory. The primacy of form and color comes to the fore, where the object becomes merely an occasion to explore the most complex textures. This focus on "inconspicuous subtleties" of execution and the rendering of atmosphere serves as a harbinger of abstraction; it anticipates that moment in Modernism when the material object finally dissolves into a purely painterly space.