The Yellow Parasol by Lotte Laserstein

Art work details

Year of production :

1935

Artist:

Lotte Laserstein

Medium :

Oil painting

Materials:

Oil paint, Paper

Dimensions :

height: 58 cms; width: 44 cms

Credit Line :

Purchased from the artist through Thos. Agnew and Sons Ltd

Copyright :

© DACS 2021

Tags:

Yellow, Portrait, Laserstein

From about 1931 onwards, Laserstein began to adopt a looser, more fluid technique, her brushstrokes more impressionistic.

This portrait of Laserstein’s close friend and favourite model Gertrud Rose (Traute Rose) is relaxed and informal. The image of a woman with a parasol can be seen in Japanese prints but was also adopted by Western European artists in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries, including Monet and Kirchner.

Added visual interest comes from the plant fibres visible in the support of handmade paper; also the numerous tonal changes across the picture reflecting dappled sunlight and shadows beneath the golden parasol. Traute Rose was Laserstein’s principal model throughout her life. She helped to get Laserstein’s remaining paintings out of Germany in 1938, thus avoiding their seizure by the Nazi authorities. Traute Rose died in 1989 aged 86.

(Research by Barry Herbert).