Bruning, Max (1887 - 1968)

A master of many styles and artistic mediums, Max Bruning claims a major position in twentieth century German art. His first original paintings and prints were exhibited in 1910 and show stylistic elements of both Art Nouveau and Symbolism. After the end of the First World War (1918) he turned more to both Expressionistic and Art Deco concerns. At this time Max Bruning’s art dealt almost entirely with the many elements of eroticism. During the 1920’s his watercolours were reproduced as ‘naughty’ postcards and imagery for advertising. He dedicated his more serious talents, however, to the creation of original etchings and drypoint engravings, some of which were finished with extra layers of colours applied by hand. Max Bruning’s eventful life is almost as compelling as his art. He attended the Leipzig Academy of Art at the young age of fifteen and studied both painting and printmaking techniques there under Alois Kolb and Peter Halm. Upon completion of his studies, Bruning contributed drawings to the periodical, Ex Libris (1910). He also first exhibited his art in Munich during that year. In the First World War (1914-1918), Bruning was commissioned as a war artist. Shortly after the war ended he settled in Berlin. As the Weimar era became increasingly threatened by the rise of the Nazis, however, Bruning moved to the Tyrol Mountains in Austria. He remained there during the entire Second World War. In 1943, Allied bombing attacks upon Berlin destroyed most of the remaining original copper plates of Bruning’s engravings. When the war ended in 1945, Max Bruning, a classified German citizen, was forced to leave Austria. He settled in Lindau in the following year and opened a studio. Most of his art from this period is landscape paintings and watercolours. Oberstdorf is a small alpine town located on the German-Austrian border. In all probability Max Bruning created Oberstdorf during the Second World War when he lived in Austria. This beautiful night scene is both a drawing and an engraving. Pastels are used throughout the entire composition with added highlights of china white on both the mountains and in the foreground stream. With such extensive drawing it is unlikely that Bruning created more than a mere handful of impressions of this fine landscape.

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