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拍品專文
Dr. Sibylle Gross has confirmed the authenticity of this work.
Berlin in the first years of the twentieth century was the fastest growing city in the world. A paradoxical shining new temple of modernity and of the relentless sprawl of industrial progress, Germany's Weltstadt was both feared and admired as a terrifying mechanical enslaver of man and an economic wonder, as well as being a thrilling cauldron of vice and corruption. The epitome of all that was modern, at night it was the brightest city in Europe, lit up by all the latest attractions, from cafés and cabarets to cinemas, nightclubs, theatres and race-tracks.
The present work, painted in the years between 1915 and 1920, in all likelihood depicts Leipziger Strasse in the Berlin-Friedrichstadt district. This area had grown over the course of the preceding decades into Berlin’s most bustling shopping area—the "puls"’ of the city, according to some at the time—and the location of several of the grandest coffee houses. Here Ury set up his easel to record the human traffic of a winter evening, illuminated by the electric street-lights hanging above the hubbub and the warmer glow emanating from the windows and doorways. Ury’s characteristic relish in the reflections off the wet surface of the street is joined in the present work by an unusually complex cast of characters, featuring all manner of city-dwellers, most of whom seem absorbed in their own business.
Berlin in the first years of the twentieth century was the fastest growing city in the world. A paradoxical shining new temple of modernity and of the relentless sprawl of industrial progress, Germany's Weltstadt was both feared and admired as a terrifying mechanical enslaver of man and an economic wonder, as well as being a thrilling cauldron of vice and corruption. The epitome of all that was modern, at night it was the brightest city in Europe, lit up by all the latest attractions, from cafés and cabarets to cinemas, nightclubs, theatres and race-tracks.
The present work, painted in the years between 1915 and 1920, in all likelihood depicts Leipziger Strasse in the Berlin-Friedrichstadt district. This area had grown over the course of the preceding decades into Berlin’s most bustling shopping area—the "puls"’ of the city, according to some at the time—and the location of several of the grandest coffee houses. Here Ury set up his easel to record the human traffic of a winter evening, illuminated by the electric street-lights hanging above the hubbub and the warmer glow emanating from the windows and doorways. Ury’s characteristic relish in the reflections off the wet surface of the street is joined in the present work by an unusually complex cast of characters, featuring all manner of city-dwellers, most of whom seem absorbed in their own business.