Max Liebermann painted close to seventy self-portraits during his lifet.mes . It is interesting to note the t.mes at which these were made as with the exception of two early works from 1866 and 1873, Liebermann started working on the series in 1902, at 55 years old. By then the artist from Berlin, one of the most important representatives of German Impressionism, already enjoyed a highly successful career being established both artistically and socially. The present work shows the 71-year-old with disarming directness. The light painter’s smock points to the artist, while the elegant dark suit underneath reminds us of the established and highly respected citizen that Liebermann was. The portrait is intimate, void of any pose, unlike other self-portraits. The focus lies on the artist’s thin and exhausted melancholic traits which are emphasized through shadows and capture Liebermann’s sharp gaze and strong power of observation.

According to Prof. Dr Matthias Eberle, the author of the catalogue raisonné on the artist, the present work is most likely a study for the large Self Portrait with artist’s smock seated to the right (Selbstbildnis im Malkittel, sitzend nach rechts, 1918) currently displayed at the Kunsthalle Mannheim. (no. 1918/3 in the catalogue raisonné).

At the t.mes of the compilation of the catalogue raisonné the whereabouts of the painting were unknown; Dr. Eberle almost exactly guessed the size of the work based on images.

The original owner of the present work, Isaak Isidor Eigenfeld, was born on 2 April 1884 in Perehinske, Ukraine, before emigrating to Oberhausen, Germany, in 1903. There, he opened a furniture store on Ellenbogenstrasse 10 and lived just above.

A successful businessman, Eigenfeld expanded his business and married Claire Fisch-Eigenfeld (born Chaja Fisch on 30 June 1903 in Pascienza Poland) on 27 May 1928.
The present self-portrait was a wedding gift from Isaak to his wife Claire. The young couple had a daughter, Grete. In 1933, the young family was forced to flee to Amsterdam.
When the Germans entered into Holland, Grete was forced to change schools and attend a Jewish school where she met and befriended Anne Frank and her family. In 1941, the Eigenfelds were forced to leave the present work and other valuable property with a Dutch family in The Hague for safekeeping. In July 1944, the civil registry notes that the family has ‘departed unknown where to’. In reality, the family had gone into hiding. After the war, the painting went back to the Eigenfelds and remained in their family until this day.

We would like to thank Mr Daniel Leyser, the grandson of Isaak and Claire Eigenfeld, for providing information on his family and photographs from his family archives.