Lesende am Fenster

Engrossed in her book, a woman sits beside an open window. Her features look relaxed and a barely perceptible smile plays about her lips. Are we witnessing the tranquil joy of a reader relaxing with a book? Schrimpf’s work can be assigned to the New Objectivist school, but unlike Otto Dix (1891–1969) or George Grosz (1893–1959), he does not show us the shocking side of metropolitan life.

Instead, his portrait tends toward a depiction of a harmonious idyll and is concerned neither with the state of technology nor the political situation of his age. As an artistic autodidact, the baker’s apprentice orientates himself on models from Italian Renaissance portraiture, lending his work a manifestly timeless quality. However, the cool gaze with which he views the figure displays an emotional distance that is also characteristic of other New Objectivist artists. Ultimately, Schrimpf’s portrait depicts a woman who is closed off and completely absorbed in her book, and who appears, despite her physical presence, untouchable and distant.