Otto Eduard Pippel Study of a Violinist

An original early 20th-century graphite drawing, Otto Eduard Pippel, Study of a Violinist.

A spirited monochrome study by German Impressionist master of colour Otto Pippel (1878–1960). The sketch, showing a violinist, quite possibly at the Munich opera, embodies illustrious times in both the history of art in Europe and the history of Western music.

Pippel painted a number of musical subjects, both concert musicians and more intimate chamber groups; this rare study gives an insight into the care with which the artist attended to the detail of pose and expression, despite the generally looser and more atmospheric renderings typical of his oil paintings.

Born in Lodz (now Poland) to German parents, Pippel eventually settled in Planegg near Munich in 1909. The same year he encountered French Impressionism in Paris, and thereafter he would become one of the most important Impressionists in Southern Germany. His style was heavily inspired by the French Impressionists, whilst his subjects nevertheless had a distinctly German flavour, with his best-known works being the Munich motifs, such as the Hofgarten, the Englischer Garten and the Hirschgarten.

The influence of French Impressionists and their subjects taken from the cultural life of Paris can be seen in the present drawing. Pippel would have likewise been able to partake in the rich musical life of Munich, a city with a rich musical heritage, numerous opera houses and opera festivals, where the repertoires of Mozart, Wagner and Richard Strauss were regularly performed. The present drawing particularly recalls the numerous closely observed sketches of musicians at the Paris opera made by Edgar Degas, which would often position the performer up-close in the foreground so that the viewer's vantage point is that of the audience.

On thin sketchbook paper, with perforations at the left edge.