Alexander Max Koester. Four Ducks in the Reeds - photo 1
Alexander Max Koester. Four Ducks in the Reeds - photo 2
Alexander Max Koester. Four Ducks in the Reeds - photo 3
Alexander Max Koester. Four Ducks in the Reeds - photo 4

Alexander Max Koester. Four Ducks in the Reeds

Estimate value
€ 20 000 – 30 000
Auction dateClassic
17.05.2024 18:00UTC +02:00
€
Buyer Premium 29%
Auctioneer
VAN HAM Kunstauktionen GmbH
Event location
Germany, Köln
ID 1208176
Lot 1193 | Alexander Max Koester. Four Ducks in the Reeds
KOESTER, ALEXANDER MAX1864 Bergneustadt - 1932 Munich


Title: Four Ducks in the Reeds.
Date: Ca. 1910-20.
Technique: Oil on canvas.
Measurement: 45.5 x 76.5cm.
Notation: Signed lower left: "A. Koester".
Frame: Framed.
Provenance:
Private ownership, Germany.

In addition to the few portraits and genre paintings he created, the painter Alexander Koester is known for his atmospheric landscapes, but above all for his duck paintings. He was born in Neustadt (now Bergneustadt) in 1864 and initially completed an apprenticeship as a pharmacist near Colmar. As an art student, the painter from the Rhineland initially earned his living by painting portraits and genre paintings. After completing his art studies at the Karlsruhe Academy, Koester moved with his family to Klausen in South Tyrol in 1896. In Austria, he devoted himself primarily to studies of nature. It was at this time that Koester discovered the ducks that his father-in-law kept on the property as a subject. It was only when he moved to live with his wife's family in Klausen in South Tyrol that his interest in painting increasingly focussed on his lifelong main subject: the depiction of ducks. He found his motif directly in the domestic environment; in countless studies, the animals were captured in a wide variety of situations.

The painter made his first public appearance in 1899 at the Grosse Beriner Kunstausstellung, where the exhibited ducks immediately attracted attention, making Koester a recognised and highly decorated artist at the turn of the century. The painterly animal, which would occupy him for the next 40 years, thus became the main object of study in his artistic oeuvre. The depiction of ducks is represented in many hundreds of studies, which were captured in pencil, charcoal, pastel, and oil. From 1908, Koester increasingly travelled to the Lake Constance region to paint large expanses of water in calm or stormy weather, sun and shade to complement the ducks.

After Klausen was declared a war zone during the First World War, the artist moved to Munich and settled in Dießen am Ammersee. Although from then on he also devoted himself to depicting lakeside landscapes and floral still lifes, the subject of ducks continued to play a major role in his artistic work until his death. The painter is known not least under the name "Enten-Koester". In addition to the anatomically correct depiction of the animals, Koester was particularly interested in depicting the changing incidence of light on the water. The depiction of the iridescent play of light falling harmoniously on the water and the ducks' plumage is thus recurring and characteristic.
Artist:Alexander Koester (1864 - 1932)
Applied technique:Oil
Auction house category:Paintings 19th Century
Address of auction VAN HAM Kunstauktionen GmbH
Hitzelerstr. 2
50968 Köln
Germany
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Phone +49 221 92586215
Fax +49 221 92 58 62 4
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