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Acquisition Otto H. Engel: Friesische Stube mit junger Frau
Otto H. Engel: Friesische Stube mit junger Frau, 1909
oil on canvas, 58.5 cm x 70 cm
inscribed below right: Otto H. Engel, with original gold frame.
In 1913, the young woman in the painting by Otto H. Engel (1868-1949) was shown for the last time at the Danzig Kunstverein, after which she disappeared from public view for 110 years!
She was considered lost. Now it is being offered for sale from a private collection in excellent condition. The owner sees the MKdW as an excellent new home for his wonderful painting and is therefore not putting it on the art market. We are now very keen to return this important work by Otto H. Engel, who has been regarded as "the" painter of Föhr since the beginning of the 20th century, to its place of origin. The young woman - it is the 17-year-old Enken Elena Lorenzen (1892-1951), daughter of the dyer Bernhard Arnold Lorenzen (1863-1930, the Bernhard-Farwer-Strat in Nieblum is named after him) - sat for the artist in August 1909.
The viewer is granted a glimpse into a typical Frisian parlor with walnut furniture, Dutch tiles and floorboards. The woman sits in an armchair and concentrates on her needlework. The sunlight streaming into the room through the white mullioned windows at the back, dimmed slightly by the fine white curtains, is captured perfectly. However, a single beam of light shines directly through the window and creates a sunny spot on the floor. Unusually for Engel, but realistically for the period around 1900, the woman with her long blue dress is wearing contemporary clothing. Otherwise we only know women in traditional Frisian dress from Engel's works created on Föhr.
