Erich Büttner

Erich Büttner was an Expressionist who, after an apprenticeship as a glazier, studied painting, graphics, and book illustration at the Museum of Decorative Arts in Berlin from 1906 to 1911. In 1908, he became a member of the Berlin Secession. After being deployed as a cartographer in World War I, he also taught at the Museum of Decorative Arts in the 1920s. One of his strengths was portraiture, especially portraits of his friends from the artistic community.

Büttner’s painting Sportgelände des B.S.C. (Sports Grounds of the B.S.C.) is clearly documented by the illustration in the catalog. The Berlin Sports Club was founded in 1896 and at that time maintained a sports ground near the Avus racetrack. The pastel painting in the format 48 x 63 cm also appears under the titles Athletic Sports Field and Sports Field with Wooden Jumping Facility, Runners and Spectators. Tennis courts were among Büttner’s favorite motifs. Accordingly, the identification of his tennis-related works is difficult. Tennis Competition in Grunewald, aka Tennis at Rot/Weiß is a 20 x 28 cm etching from 1912. Most of the top German players played for the LTTC Rot-Weiß Berlin, which was founded as early as 1897. Whether the 1928 and 1932 entries under the title Tennis Competition at Heringsdorf are the same work is questionable. With regard to the used technique, there is divergent information in various sources.