Alblandschaft

Born in Bublitz in 1883, Paul Kleinschmidt studied initially at the Berlin Akademie where he was greatly influenced by such diverse mentors as Adolf von Menzel and Lovis Corinth. After completing his training in Munich where he concentrated on engraving and lithography, Kleinschmidt returned to Berlin where he exhibited at the Sezession in both 1908 and 1911. He was called for military service in 1914 and discharged a year later, settling down to earn a living as a technical draughtsman and a drawing teacher, during which time he produced many of his most celebrated graphic works. Kleinschmidt had two one-man exhibitions in Berlin in the 1920s, the second at the gallery of the celebrated art dealer Fritz Gurlitt.

In 1932 Kleinschmidt and his family left Berlin for Southern Germany, settling first in Klingenstein near Blaubeuren, then in Ulm and finally in Ay, near Senden. Both the present work and the following lot were executed in Ulm, and were given to the uncle of the present owner as payment for the Kleinschmidts' lodging. In 1938 political pressure on the artist became so great that he and his family left Germany, emigrating first to Holland and then to France in 1938, where he was interned for several months. He was eventually released after the French capitulation, but, in 1943, was forced by the Nazis to stop painting while living in Bensheim. He died in 1949 of severe angina.