Erwin Hollsteinartist • painterDuitsland 1892-1966

Not much is known about the life of the German artist Erwin Hollstein. It is through his paintings that we get a glimpse of his life and travels. From the cityscapes he painted of Danzig (now Gdańsk) and Berlin we know he must have spent some time there. And this interior of a cafe in Paris bears witness to his stay in the French capital. Like many other young artists of his generation, Hollstein was probably visiting Paris in the first decades of the 20th century to become acquainted with the pioneering developments in the visual arts at that time. This intriguing painting of a free-spirited lady with cigarette in the company of a well-dressed black man, was created there.