August Macke and Hans Thuar

August Macke, Flucht aus Ägypten (Flight from Egypt), 1910, oil on canvas, 68 x 53 cm

Provenance: Estate of the artist, family of the artist (since 1914).

The painting, depicting Joseph looking back, Mary wrapped in a cloak and sitting on a donkey, and the barely visible baby Jesus, who had to be saved from Herod by fleeing to Egypt and then continuing on to Galilee via several changes of location, was created in 1910. One reason why August Macke did not return to Bonn with Elisabeth after their honeymoon (in Paris), where they actually lived with her wealthy and somewhat conservative family, was her ‘premarital’ pregnancy. Their first son, Walter, was born in ‘exile’ in Tegernsee in April 1910.

Whether August Macke painted the picture because they felt driven out of Bonn or whether it shows him with his son and wife on their way back to Bonn from Upper Bavaria after the birth, where they arrived at the end of 1910, is perhaps not so essential to the picture. What is crucial is that Macke’s family was sacred to him, and this is precisely what resonates subliminally in this work. And when even the Holy Family has to flee or wander, it means that any paradise, no matter how safe it may seem, can be turned into its opposite in a flash.

Intoduction:

Riehen, im Juni 2025

Sehr geehrte, Besucher, liebe Sammler, Künstler, Kunstliebhaber, liebe Freunde,

Der Sommer 2025 führt zwei besondere Freunde in meine Galerie: August Macke und Hans Thuar.

Hans Thuar ist neun, August Macke zehn Jahre alt, als sich die Nachbarsjungen in Köln anfreunden. Die beiden begeistern sich nicht nur für die wilden Spiele im Neubaugebiet am Kölner Strandrand, sondern sind gleichermaßen fasziniert von den japanischen Holzschnitten, die Vater Thuar in seiner Grafiksammlung verwahrt. „Wir saßen, wir wilden, wilden Jungens, vor diesen unglaublich subtilen Reisblättern und waren begeistert, erschüttert und so andächtig, wie uns noch keine Kirche je gesehen hatte“, erinnert sich Thuar.

In Briefen und Begegnungen zeigt sich die enge Verbundenheit von Macke und Thuar. „Eine starke lebendige Empfindung zu gestalten“, ist das Motto, das sie bei ihren Experimenten antreibt“, schreibt Macke. Während August Macke (1887-1914) einen Ausdruck für seine Vorstellungen vom irdischen Paradies sucht, spiegelt sich im Werk von Hans Thuar (1887-1945) dessen existentielle Beziehung zur Natur. Einige ihrer ausdrucksstarken Bilder entstehen quasi Seite an Seite während einer kurzen gemeinsamen Zeit in Bonn.

Alle Werke stammen direkt aus den Künstlerfamilien und waren noch niemals zuvor auf dem Kunstmarkt zu erwerben. Ich bin insbesondere Herrn und Frau Axel und Dorothee Scheuren und der Familie Macke zu tiefstem Dank verpflichtet.

Riehen, June 2025

Dear visitors, dear collectors, artists, art lovers, dear friends,

Summer of 2025 brings two very special friends to my gallery: August Macke and Hans Thuar.

Hans Thuar is nine and August Macke is ten when the boys from neighbouring houses in Cologne become friends. Not only are they enthusiastic about playing wild games in the new housing development on the edge of Cologne’s beach, they are equally fascinated by the Japanese woodcuts that Thuar’s father keeps in his art collection. ‘We sat there, us wild, wild boys, in front of these incredibly subtle rice sheets and were thrilled, shaken and more reverent than any church had ever seen us,’ recalls Thuar.

The close bond between Macke and Thuar is evident in their letters and encounters. ‘To create a strong, vivid sensation’ is the motto that drives them in their experiments, writes Macke. While August Macke (1887–1914) sought an expression for his ideas of earthly paradise, Hans Thuar’s (1887–1945) work reflects his existential relationship with nature. Some of their most expressive paintings were created virtually side by side during a brief period together in Bonn.

All works come directly from the artist’s families and have never before been available on the art market. I am particularly indebted to Mr and Mrs Axel and Dorothee Scheuren and the Macke family.

Marc Triebold

Texts assembled from various sources. Copyright images: Estate August Macke and Estate Hans Thuar.