DEGNER, ARTHUR (1887-1972)

"Washerwoman" (c.1970)
oil on board
90 x 60cm
signed lower right
*private collection, Sydney
 
Degner was a respected German Expressionist, and protégé of the legendary painter, Lovis Corinth (1858-1925). Corinth was one of Germany's greatest & most important artists; master painter, printmaker & pioneer of the Berlin Secession. Degner was a close friend & protege of Corinth until his death, whereby Degner succeeded his position as Chairman of the Berlin Secession. Both men had several works stolen & destroyed by Hitler's Third Reich as they were considered 'Entartete Kunst' (Degenerate Art). It is recorded that they posed for mutual portraits, but until this discovery, only Corinth's 1923 charcoal of Degner was known to have survived. Now Degner's portrait of Corinth has re-emerged from obscurity!