Pechstein, Max

Pechstein, Max (b Eckersbach, nr. Zwickau, 31 Dec. 1881; d West Berlin, 19 June 1955). German Expressionist painter and printmaker. He studied in Dresden and in 1906 became a member of the Brücke. In 1908 he settled in Berlin; his energy and charm quickly made him a leading figure in the city's artistic life and in 1910 he was elected president of the Neue Sezession. In 1913–14, showing an interest in the exotic shared with other Expressionists, Pechstein visited the Palau Islands in the Pacific and he painted bright and lively anecdotal pictures depicting the paradisal life of the island fishermen in a near-Fauvist manner. His other subjects included nudes, landscapes, portraits, and opulent flower pieces. He was the most French in spirit of the German Expressionists (he was particularly influenced by Matisse) and probably because his work was decorative rather than emotionally intense, he was the first of the Brücke to achieve success and general recognition; the 1920s marked the height of the fashion for his work. Since then his reputation has faded whilst those of his former colleagues have grown. In 1918 he was one of the founders of the Novembergruppe and he taught in the Berlin Academy from 1923, being dismissed in 1933 by the Nazis and reinstated in 1945. His later work became repetitive and the high quality of his work during his Brücke period is sometimes forgotten.