(Bergneustadt 1864–1932 Munich)
Wild Hunt, signed A. Koester, oil on canvas, 78 x 129.5 cm, framed, (GS)

Provenance:
Das Gemälde Haus, Munich 2008; Rhineland private collection

Alexander Koester repeatedly used the motif of the ‘wild hunt’, one of his most ambitious compositions, in his paintings (cf. R. Stein, H. Koester, Alexander Koester, Leben und Werk, Recklinghausen 1988, no. 863- 867). All these works were executed in 1914, during Koester’s stay in Hard on the Austrian bank of Lake Constance. In 1988 Ruth Stein rote of the painter Alexander Koester: “His painting is again drawing attention. The magnitude and importance of his work is recognised and, with Southern German animal painting from 1900 onwards enriched by his affectionate interpretation of this theme, his rank as an expert in painting ducks confirmed. Familiarity with his oeuvre as a whole reveals that Alexander Koester deserves the highest level of recognition for his landscapes, portraits and flower paintings. Conservative in his approach to form, Impressionist in his approach to light and its reflexes, the ‘modernity’ of his animal compositions renders him an innovator, the artist’s creativity extending to many fields. His painting has retained its life-affirming impact to this day, as well as its positive power…” (Quote from R. Stein, H. Koester, op. cit., p. 58).