Max Schulze-Sölde

Max Schulze-Sölde’s works unite many different movements. While his early work was generally orientated on Impressionism he soon turned towards Expressionism after World War I. After a five-year break from art his pictures from 1924 onwards are mostly in the New Objectivity manner. Schulze-Sölde was actively involved in various life reform projects and revolutionary Christian movements, even taking to the road as a wandering priest for a short period. This conviction is reflected in the subjects of his works in the 1920s, dominated by workers in the field and miners, as well as depictions of Christ. In the 1930s he turned predominantly to landscapes and portraits. Schulze-Sölde initially sympathised with the Nazis. Some of their policies such as the desire to return to an agriculturally orientated society, matched his own ideological view of the world. He joined the ‘Reichskunstkammer’ in 1935 and was allowed to take part in exhibitions although, in 1937, some of his early works were deemed ‘degenerate’ and confiscated. After the war Impressionistic landscapes dominated his work.

Alfred Flechtheim exhibited works by Max Schulze-Sölde in his gallery in Düsseldorf as early as in February 1914, just one year after the artist had completed his training at the Düsseldorfer Akademie. After returning from detention camp in France in 1918, Schulze-Sölde signed an agreement with Flechtheim that assured him a monthly payment of 300 Marks and two thirds of the sales price for his pictures. Apart from that, Flechtheim introduced Schulze-Sölde to Karl Ernst Osthaus who provided him with a flat and studio in Hagen. However, the artist ended both business relationships in late 1919 to devote himself entirely to political and religious matters over the following five years.