The Artist Elena Luksch-Makowsky: Between St
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chapter 13 The Artist Elena Luksch-Makowsky: Between St. Petersburg, Munich, Vienna, and Hamburg Simone Ewald Abstract As the daughter of the famous Russian Salon painter Konstantin Makovsky, Elena Luksch-Makowsky received a thorough artistic education in St. Petersburg, Munich, and Vienna; she successfully exhibited with the Vienna Secession and worked for the Vienna Workshops between 1900 and 1908. Her further development as an artist, however, was limited by her three pregnancies, the family’s move to Hamburg, her di- vorce, and the subsequent burden of having to raise the children on her own. The essay explores the historical conditions, cultural limitations, and personal reasons for the unfulfilled artistic potential of Elena Luksch-Makowsky. Whenever the painter and sculptor Elena Luksch-Makowsky is mentioned in the literature or represented in a museum exhibition, it is almost always in the context of the Vienna Secession and the Wiener Werkstätte (Vienna Work- shops) with whom she was involved from 1900 until around 1908. This period of less than a decade, on which art historians usually focus, is extremely nar- row given that the artist, born in 1878, pursued an active career up until her death at the age of 89. As the Austrian art historian Sabine Plakolm-Forsthuber has noted, Elena Luksch-Makowsky “as an artist, so to speak, [was] embalmed in her own lifetime.”1 I wish to illuminate some aspects of her biography and work that led to this assessment. Childhood and Youth in St. Petersburg Elena Konstantinovna Makovskaya was born in 1878 into an aristocratic family of artists. In her posthumously published memoir, she describes her childhood 1 “als Künstlerin gleichsam zu Lebzeiten schon einbalsamiert” Sabine Plakolm-Forsthuber, Künstlerinnen in Österreich 1897–1938. Malerei, Plastik, Architektur (Women artists in Austria 1897–1938: Painting, Sculpture, Architectur) (Vienna: Picus, 1994), 126. © simone ewald, ���7 | doi �0.��63/9789004333�47_0�5 This is an open access chapter distributed under the terms of the CC-BY-NC License. Simone Ewald - 9789004333147 Downloaded from Brill.com09/24/2021 09:15:54AM via free access <UN> 176 Ewald with enthusiasm: “I was cradled in my father’s renown and my mother’s beau- ty; in the background were many friends, visitors, and admirers of my fathers’ art….”2 Like her uncle Vladimir, her father, Konstantin Makovsky, was a mem- ber of the Tovarishchestvo peredvizhnykh khudozhestvennykh vystavok (Society of Travelling Art Exhibitions), the so-called Wanderers, which strove to cap- ture in a realistic style images of everyday Russian life and history, as well as scenes from mythology and Russian fairy tales. The colorful, opulent works of her father attracted influential clients, including the imperial tsar’s family, making him one of the most sought after and influential artists of his time. In the upper-class home of the Makovskys, in a well-to-do St. Petersburg neigh- borhood, a distinguished group of visitors consisting of artists and “many so- cially prominent and aristocratic figures,”3 among them Leo Tolstoy, regularly met. The young mother, Julia Makovsky, with her “instinct for the social graces, interest in people, her beauty, discretion, and taste”4 assumed the role of host- ess and lady of the house. Elena’s upbringing was likewise a preparation for her future role as wife and woman of the house. Her talents in drawing and painting, however, did not go unnoticed by her father. He provided attentive encouragement with praise, suggestions, corrections, and gifts of books. Even so, it was unlikely that her parents saw in her the makings of a future profes- sional artist. For the young Elena, however, there was no question: “I decided very early on to become an artist and fully believed in myself,”5 she remem- bered later. In order to ease marital tensions, which led to the parent’s divorce in 1892, her mother set off in 1889 with the children on extended travels in Europe. Their four years of travel led them to Bad Kissingen, Venice, Florence, Lausanne, and Nice, among other places: “This contact with various foreign guests greatly expanded my perspective and enabled a certain freedom in my ability to converse and chat with them in their language.”6 After the return to St. Petersburg, she received instruction from the Society for the Advancement of the Fine Arts and began preliminary studies in 1895 in the private studio 2 “Mein Wiegenlied war die Berühmtheit meines Vaters und die Schönheit meiner Mutter, im Hintergrund viele Freunde, Besucher, Verehrer der Kunst meines Vaters […].” Elena Luksch- Makowsky, Kindheits—und Jugenderinnerungen 1878–1900 (Memories of childhood and youth 1878–1900) (Hamburg: Hower, 1989), 5. After her death, her memoirs were translated by her son Peter and after his death published by his daughter Maria Luksch. 3 “viele gesellschaftliche und adelige Persönlichkeiten” Ibid., 22. 4 “Gesellschaftsgefühl, Interesse für Menschen, mit ihrer Schönheit, ihrem Takt und Ge- schmack” Ibid., 23. 5 “Ich habe mich sehr früh entschlossen, Künstlerin zu werden und glaubte an mich” Ibid., 26. 6 “Diese Berührung mit verschiedenen ausländischen Gästen erweiterte den Blickwinkel, ver- mittelte eine gewisse Freiheit in der Fähigkeit, mit ihnen in ihrer Sprache zu sprechen und zu plaudern.” Ibid., 69. Simone Ewald - 9789004333147 Downloaded from Brill.com09/24/2021 09:15:54AM via free access <UN> The Artist Elena Luksch-Makowsky 177 of Ilya Repin (1844–1930), who at the time was at the zenith of his success. A year later Repin accepted the young eighteen-year-old into his master class at the Imperial Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg. This as such was not so un- usual, as women had been permitted as students in the academy since 1893. Additionally, she attended a sculpture class taught by Vladimir Beklemishev, who likewise offered her access to his studio. Repin, whom she “naturally and immeasurably”7 admired, nevertheless remained the central figure in her education. In 1898, Makovskaya set off alone—as her role model Repin him- self once did—on a voyage on the Volga. In her sketchbooks, she recorded the impressions she gained along the so-called Golden Route: Tirelessly I painted in my album, at times the riverbank, then the figures at the stations, barge haulers with their sunburned faces, the ancient Rus- sian; then I set down the people on the deck and captured swiftly but with care their appearance, all shades of the complexion, the picturesque nature of the people, the shine of the patchwork clothing and the expres- siveness of the faces.8 In addition to her academic training, this penchant for the rural character of Russia, which she recorded with pencil and brush on her numerous journeys, served as a formative artistic experience. At one of the regularly scheduled Academy exhibitions, Makovskaya’s work came to the attention of Johann von Bloch, railroad pioneer in Russia, pacifist, and patron of the arts; he offered her a stipend for travel abroad.9 She chose Munich, because, as she explained later: “At the time several students from the Academy left for Munich, having heard stories of Frau Werefkina, of Grabar, of Kandinsky and Jawlensky, who were there experimenting with colorful effects.”10 7 “natürlich und grenzenlos” Ibid., 95. 8 “Unermüdlich malte ich ins Album, mal die Ufer, mal die Figuren an den Stationen, Hakenmänner mit ihren sonnenverbrannten Gesichtern, das uralt Russische; dann setzte ich an Deck die Menschen fest und ergriff schnell, aber durchdacht, ihre Erscheinung, scharf und aufmerksam alle Stufen des Kolorits erfassend, das Malerische des Volkes, das Glänzen der Kleiderflicken und die Ausdruckskraft der Gesichter.” Ibid., 109. 9 He also commissioned her to design a frieze, Über die Notwendigkeit des Friedens und die Unmöglichkeit künftiger Kriege [On the necessity of peace and the impossibility of fu- ture wars], to be shown at the Paris world exposition in 1900. Due to political bickering, however, it was never exhibited, and the disposition of the work is unknown. Ibid., 120–121. 10 “Zu dieser Zeit fuhren einige Schüler der Akademie nach München, erzählten von Frau Werefkina, von Grabar, von Kandinsky und Jawlensky, die dort experimentierten, mit far- benprächtigen Effekten.” Ibid., 113. Simone Ewald - 9789004333147 Downloaded from Brill.com09/24/2021 09:15:54AM via free access <UN> 178 Ewald Stops in Munich and Deutenhofen Like the Russian artists preceding her, Makovskaya found her way to Anton Ažbe’s school upon her arrival in the Bavarian art metropolis. As to whether there was any interaction or acquaintance with those in Werefkin’s circle, we can only speculate. The works from this period, however, show no indication of any influence from the artists associated with Werefkin. Ažbe’s influence on his art student must likewise have been limited, as Makovskaya soon departed from Munich for a studio in Schloss Deutenhofen (fig. 13.1). Here, in the vicinity of Dachau, the professional sculptor Mathias Gasteiger offered instruction and studio space. Most clearly to be seen in the works from this period is the influ- ence of the Dachau artists’ colony (Neu-Dachau), particularly Ludwig Dills and Adolf Hölzel.11 Figure 13.1 Elena Makowksy in her Studio in Deutenhofen, 1898/99, anonymous photographer private collection 11 See Athina Chadzis, “Die Malerin und Bildhauerin Elena Luksch-Makowsky (1878–1976). Biographie und Werkbeschreibung” (The woman painter and sculptor Elena Luksch- Makowsky (1878–1976): Biography and œuvre), PhD thesis Hamburg University, 2000, 40–45. url: http://ediss.sub.uni-hamburg.de/volltexte/2000/893/ (accessed January 18, 2015)Chadzis’s dissertation is the first work to offer a detailed overview of the artist’s en- tire body of work. Simone Ewald - 9789004333147 Downloaded from Brill.com09/24/2021 09:15:54AM via free access <UN> The Artist Elena Luksch-Makowsky 179 Figure 13.2 Elena Luksch-Makowsky, Self-Portrait with Red Beret, 1898, oil on canvas, 25.2 × 18.8 cm private collection A photograph from 1898/99 shows Elena Makovskaya in her Deutenhof studio as she typically appeared at the time: She wore her full red hair loose, with a red beret (fig.