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"Kloster Andechs 1970"
Procession of pilgrims returning from Andechs.
Water color over pencil by Max
Raffler (1902-1988). Titled upper left. Signed upper
right.
Raffler's talent for painting
was discovered only when he was already sixty years old. He
was a farmer, who lived in Greifenberg on the Ammersee. He
was coached by a friend (Toni Roth), had exhibitions in
Munich and other cities in Bavaria and won the second prize
among 3647 participants at an Amsterdam International Sunday
Painter exhibit. Suddenly he was well known, and his art was
very much sought. Calendars were produced and post cards.
Books about Raffler and his work were published and several
documentary movies were made about him. Individual exhibits
followed in Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Hamburg, etc.
Raffler's art style is
endearing. He painted what he knew and what he saw. Being a
religious man, many of his watercolors show that. We lived
only a few miles up the lake, and so I met Raffler in 1976.
One of his sisters kept book on in-coming orders. I wanted
to buy a watercolor of Andechs . Raffler painted in the
kitchen, in a half-sitting, half lying position under a big
window. He would not even look up when someone entered the
kitchen. He just kept painting. Raffler was 74 when I first
met him, and he was already quite sick and tired. His
artwork at that time had suffered from his age and
weariness. It was nearly impossible to get any of his
artwork on the open market dated before the current date, as
he sold any of his paintings right off the bat. His order
books were filled, and he did not produce much. Being a
"neighbor" his sister led me to the small stash she had
framed on the wall and in a beat-up portfolio for special
customers. I was allowed to buy three of Raffler's paintings
from his good days, this being one of them. Raffler was
never married. He was taken care of by his sisters. They
told me that he had been painting all his life, and that
they had trashed every single painting he had made before he
was "discovered".
Condition: Flawless. Still in
the frame the Raffler sisters had given it.
Image, visible under the narrow
matting: 44,5 x 34,3 cm (ca. 17.5 x 13.5")
Overall including frame: 51,8 x
41,7 cm (ca. 20.4 x 16.4")
$ 380.00
Order Nr. ANDECHS 239047
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