Wilhelm Lachnit, Reading boy
1924, Oil on canvas, 40.5 x 55 cm, indicated at the top-right corner: W. Lachnit 24
Inv. no. 1929/913, acquired in 1929
Lachnit grew up in a proletarian milieu, comparable with Conrad Felixmüller, Hans Grundig or Otto Griebel. His strong realism which was decisively influenced by Otto Dix in Dresden is based on said origins of the politically engaged artist. Wilhelm Lachnit developed a straightforward, extensive and almost classical painting technique with harmonious shades of color and a clear composition soon finding its own proper place within the art of New Objectivity as well as the attention of contemporary art critics. The painting of the reading boy to be found in the Zwickau museum is inspired by a drawing kept at the Kupferstichkabinett Berlin which Lachnit refined in his painting.