Anders Zorn's two portraits of Max Liebermann. From the Parisian and Berlin art world of the 1890's. In the 1880's the German artist Max Liebermann (1847-1935) went to Paris regularly, both to keep in contact with the Parisian art world and to see his own pictures on view there. He made friends with Scandinavian artists, among others the Finns Albert Edelfelt and Ville Vallgren, the Norwegian Frits Thaulow and the Dane P.S. Kroyer. But above all he appreciated the Swedish artist Anders Zorn (1860-1920) whom Liebermann leatnt to know in 1888 or 1889 and whom he was to support in later Berlin years when he had become an influential personage as president of the Berlin Secession (from 1899). Liebermann and Zorn harmonized from the beginning in their opinion about art and artists. They both admired Rembrandt and Frans Hals, but particularly they took the same view of contemporary art. This means that they rejected the academic style and disliked avantgarde symbolism as well, whereas they moved closer to Manet and the French Impressionists. The feeling of a particular relationship was expressed by Zorn in his etching of Liebcrmann in 1891 as the printed dedication says: “impressions sur un impressioniste”. As participants of the exhibition at the World Fair in Paris (1889) they had at this occasion both been awarded the Legion d'Honneur- an important recognition for two foreign francophiles. The Prussian government, however, did not grant Liebermann permission to accept the order until 1896. Liebermann's and Zorn's breakthrough in Paris was to a certain extent due to the same powerful supporters. Among these were some art critics of the Gazette des Beaux-Arts (a magazine that promoted the Impressionists' works) as well as Antonin Proust (1832-1905), commissaire des beaux-arts of the World Fair's department of fine arts. Proust had been a near friend of Manet (who died in 1883), and so had Jean Baptiste Faure (1830-1914), a celebrated baritone of the Parisian opera who had been the most important patron of Manet. He showed interest in both Liebermann and Zorn. In 1883 he acquired two works by Liebermann and from 1891 over thirty works by Zorn. With an enormous income Faure could afford a growing art collection at his home in Paris, where cognoscenti were welcome visitors. Being the most famous amateur in Paris concentrated on Manet (nearly 70 works) and the Impressionists (Monet, Degas, Pissarro and Sisley) it is not surprising that Manet had painted Faure several times. The last time when Faure posed for a portrait, during the winter of 1882-1883, it was important for him to show his recently awarded order of the Legion d'Honneur. Unfortunately the portrait could not be completed (as Manet was ill and died). With regard to these unlucky circumstances it must have been a challenge for Zorn to paint Faure as a singer (“Faure chez soi”, 1891) with the cherished decoration that turned out as a red spot on the portrait. The same situation, a Chevalier painting a Chevalier, occurred again in 1896. When Zorn then painted Liebermann it must have been important to both of them that a “red spot” was applied on the canvas. Contrary to Zorn's etching of Liebermann (1891) the portrait of 1896 was not only intended to depict a recognized “impressioniste”. It played the same honourable part as a “portrait of the collector” in Liebermann's Berlin residence as Zorn's portrait of Faure did in Paris. For in 1892 Liebermann began purchasing works by Manet and the Impressionists showing the same preference for Monet, Degas, Pissarro and Sisley. With only 35 works Liebermann's collection was far from competing with his former Parisian patrons, but in Berlin Liebermanns private gallery was considered important enough to stimulate appreciation of modern French art and educate the visitors' taste. Zorn's portrait of Liebermann stayed in Berlin until 1948 when it was integrated in the collection of the Zorn Museum in Mora, Sweden. The portrait gives rise to some questions concerning the dating as the painter neither signed nor dated it. A discussion of this subject has never been opened although German scholars in consequence of Franz Servaes' book on Zorn (1910) traditionally date it at 1896, whereas Swedish scholars vote for 1891, since Gerda Boethius related the canvas to the etching in her book on Zorn (1949). As none of them observed the model as a Chevalier I feel inclined to view the red spot as circumstantial evidence for the year 1896. In any case there is no reason to doubt Servaes' dating. He was a Berlin critic supporting Liebermann and personally acquainted with him. Another argument is provided by a photo from Zorn's studio in Paris taken in June 1896 and showing his portrait of Liebermann still placed on the easel.
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