View of Szczecin Harbour

In the first half of the 20th-century artists most often presented views of the harbour with the castle hill and the panorama of the Old Town, with the today's Wały Chrobrego (Hakenterrasse) built in 1901, and views from the side of the river island with granaries - Łasztownia (Lastadie). These works documented not only the changes in the appearance of the port but also its organisation since at the Łasztownia large sea vessels were moored, from which goods were transported inland, while flat fishing boats, whose goods were delivered directly to the stalls located there, anchored at the quay of the Old Town. Such an organisation of the quays can be seen in a 1905 impressionist landscape by the German artist Marie Elisabeth Moritz-Lübben (1860-1925). The pastel painting of the harbour in Szczecin indicates the painter's interest in the Baltic landscapes. However, her aim was not to depict the harbour view in detail and faithfully but to capture the mood prevailing at the quays. The group of buildings, treated conventionally and not corresponding to the lifelike appearance, presents granaries, a characteristic element of the quay in the Łasztownia area. Boats are also shown schematically, but one can recognise a typical Pomeranian fishing boat thanks to its specific brick red sails in the foreground. The pastel may be identical to the painting Regentag (Stettiner Hafen), which the artist presented in the winter of 1913/1914 at the third exhibition of the Pommerschen Verein für Kunst und Kunstgewerbeek exposed in the category Verschiedene Kollektionen. It should be added that the iconography of Szczecin dating from the very beginning of the 20th century is now very rare.

Małgorzata Peszko