Winterabend bei Mittenwald mit Karwendal (Winter Evening near Mittenwald with Karwendal)

Provenance

Dorotheum, Vienna, 24 October 2024, lot 195.

Notes

Erwin Kettemann, born in Munich in 1897, was a German landscape painter best known for his atmospheric depictions of the Bavarian Alps and the surrounding countryside. The artist developed a distinctive approach to landscape painting that combined traditional German Romanticism with the looser brushwork and sensitivity to light associated with Impressionism.

Working primarily in Bavaria, Kettemann was closely associated with the Munich landscape tradition and exhibited alongside artists active in the region. His paintings demonstrate a sustained interest in the relationship between landscape, light and mood, with expansive compositions that emphasise the grandeur of the natural environment. His preferred subjects included snow-covered Alpine peaks, wooded valleys, lakes and rural villages, often depicting the landscape during winter or in the transitional seasons.

Kettemann's artworks remain sought after for their accessible yet accomplished treatment of the Alpine landscape and their evocation of the picturesque Bavarian countryside.