Two Masons at work
  • Otto Greiner
  • Leipzig 1869 - 1916 Munich
  • Two Masons at work, 1894
  • Black and reddish-brown chalk, over pencil, partly heightened with white, on brown paper, numerous small holes from drawing pins,
  • monogrammed and dated in red chalk on the left: O. Gr. 94 inscribed and numbered on the verso by another hand
  • 455 × 311 mm

In 1893, Greiner returned from a two-year study visit in Rome, first to his hometown of Leipzig and soon thereafter to Munich, where he had built up a large friend circle after studying in the Academy there; these contacts assisted him as he made a fresh start.

A series of his colleagues likewise valued his straightforward art and personally invested in Greiner, among them Franz von Lenbach and Franz von Stuck (see cat. no. 78). Thus, numerous commissions arose for Greiner during these Munich years, mostly for portraits, as lithographs and paintings, which secured his financial livelihood while also confirming his artistic potency. Simultaneously, Greiner’s choice of motives during this period give an impression of his interested proximity to his environment, to which this powerful drawing on typical brown paper attests.

It shows two masons unloading bricks, which the younger of the two has carried over on a pannier. The pentimenti and loose stroke indicate that this is a study after a spontaneous observation of the scene. The elaboration of the sheet through a bold inner drawing as well as striking white heightening clearly denote Otto Greiner’s hand. A pictorial transformation of this image is, however, not known.