SwissArtGallery · Documented identity

Max Clarenbach

Born : 1880Died : 1952Documented citizenships : Germany

Max Clarenbach’s painting initially focuses on the landscapes of the Lower Rhine, which he observes and works through drawing, painting, etching and lithography. Winter motifs occupy a particular place in his work, while the other seasons are approached for their atmosphere. Stiller Tag, dated 1902, is held at the Kunstmuseum Düsseldorf.

As a teenager, he was admitted to the Düsseldorf Academy of Fine Arts, where he studied under Heinrich Lauenstein and Arthur Kampf. From 1893 to 1895, he studied under Gustav Wendling and, alongside his studies, worked at his uncle’s cardboard factory to finance his art materials. In 1897, he joined Eugen Dücker’s class as a private student. After his first exhibition successes, he completed his studies in Düsseldorf in 1903 and settled in Bockum.

The areas around Kaiserswerth, Bockum, Kalkum and Angermund are regular subjects of his work. The landscapes of the Westerwald, the Bergisches Land and the Ruhr Valley add to those of the Lower Rhine; from 1912, he often painted in the Sauerland. Landscape remained at the centre of his output, although theatre, sports and street scenes appeared between 1923 and 1930. Active in exhibitions, Clarenbach served on the jury of the German National Art Exhibition in Düsseldorf from 1904 and joined its preparatory committee in 1907. In 1908, together with several former students of the Academy, he organised exhibitions from which the Sonderbund emerged in 1909. He exhibited with it in Cologne and Düsseldorf between 1909 and 1912, alongside colleagues from Düsseldorf and French Impressionists.

Before the First World War, he created murals for the office of the district president in Düsseldorf, depicting the region’s landscapes. In 1915, he performed alternative military service as an accountant at a military convalescent home in Krefeld. The following year, in Slonim, Belarus, he painted the consequences of the war, including abandoned trenches, destroyed houses and devastated landscapes. After Dücker’s death, he taught at the Düsseldorf Academy of Fine Arts from 1917 to 1945 and took over his former teacher’s landscape-painting class. He joined the Malkasten artists’ association in 1919.

This profile brings together identity references for Max Clarenbach and paintings, drawings and works on paper documented in auction catalogues.

Documented auction references

29auction references

2auction houses

29documented results with prices

Dobiaschofsky · Lempertz

References include catalogue entries and available results; they do not all represent completed sales. Attributed works and special lots are excluded from the priced results.

Works recorded at auction

Photograph : Lempertz · Enlarge image ↗

Lempertz · Lot 2543

Dorf im Schnee

Oil on canvas

Original catalogue wording

Dorf im Schnee
Öl auf Leinwand

Auction date : 2023-05-20

Published result : 6300 EUR

Including buyer’s premium

Estimate : 5000

Max Clarenbach

Documented auction references

Works recorded at auction

Dorf im Schnee

Winterlandschaft mit einem Boot

Dünenstrand in Vlissingen

Winterlandschaft am Niederrhein

Winterlandschaft (Winters Ende)

Frühlingsmorgen am Niederrhein

Am Rheinufer

Ansicht von Wittlaer

Winterlandschaft bei Wittlaer

Maimorgen

Winter an der Erft

Winterliches Hochwasser bei Wittlaer

Winter in Wittlaer

Landschaft am Niederrhein

Frühling in Wittlaer

Frühlingslandschaft am Rhein

Winter an der Erft

Obstblüte am Niederrhein

Ansicht von Kaiserswerth

Am Rhein bei Grimmlimghausen

Duisburger Hafen

Sommerwolken

Winterlandschaft am Niederrhein

Holländische Küstenlandschaft

Verschneite Flusslandschaft am Niederrhein

Schnee und Nebel

Verschneite Winterlandschaft mit Kopfweiden

Mondnacht - Studie II.

Winter on the Erft

Sources and references

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