Johann Valett was a German painter, draughtsman and graphic designer. Very close to the Impressionist current, Valett excelled particularly in the fields of landscape painting and portraiture. From 1907 to 1908, he trained at the Academy of Fine Arts, Munich under Karl Raupp and then continued his studies at the Grand-Ducal Saxon Art School, Weimar with Fritz Mackensen and Hans Olde up until 1913. After the outbreak of World War I, he was conscripted. On October 2^nd, 1914, he was awarded the Iron Cross.

The war left deep wounds in the artist’s life. His daily life, his psyche, and his art changed profoundly (FIG. 1). From this period came his bitterest and darkest works, in which the artist’s torments are clearly evident.

FIG. 1, Selfportrait , 1919

In the following years, this deep sense of angst led him to constantly change residence: from 1918 to 1920 he lived in Weimar, from 1920 to 1922 in Berlin, then Heringsdorf, Rastow, again in Weimar, again in Berlin, then Kiel, Altona, and again in Berlin in 1934. Turbulent years but also very successful ones. Starting from the early 1920s, Valett was highly active in the art world and exhibited regularly, also in important group shows and at museums of the calibre of the Hamburger Kunsthalle (1931).

FIG. 2 - Johann Valett in his atelier in Kiel, 1924 - 25

FIG. 3 - Johann Valett, Self- portrait, c.1930

A photo from 1924-25 (FIG. 2) shows the artist in his studio in Kiel surrounded by several of his portraits. Valett also portrayed himself in the same pose in a famous self-portrait dated to around 1930. In these images, with respect to the self-portrait presented here, the face of the artist is that of a mature man, his hairline having receded. Our painting instead shows a young, fascinating and confident subject, about 25 years old, absolutely at ease, and whose pose shows a relaxed and proud manner. These are the considerations which allow us to date this work to the years immediately before the war, and therefore around 1913.

The work clearly demonstrates the artist’s great ability to tackle the portrait genre. The smart suit and the characteristic straw hat give the character authority, the cigar in his mouth giving him an air of subtle irreverence and cockiness. Here more than elsewhere, Valett’s Impressionist leaning is very evident: the touches of light on the face have been realized by rapid, loaded brushstrokes of pure colour applied to the canvas almost without being mixed. It is only in the eye that the colour is blended, without losing the vibrant bright quality which makes this work a painting of great interest.

His works are now part of important public collections: the Schleswig-Holstein State Art Museum at Gottorf Castle; while a lithograph by Johann Valett, Bildnis Julius Spengel (1929) is in the Hamburger Kunsthalle. In Laeiszhalle there is an oil painting, while another self-portrait in oil is in the collection of the Detlefsen-Museum in Glückstadt, the city where the artist died in 1937, and which dedicated a retrospective exhibition to him in 2019, featuring over 50 of his works.