Manfred K. Schwitteck

Still life with fish bones and champagne corks / - Behind still life -

1992

Manfred K. Schwitteck (*1948), Still life with fish bones, pencil and pencil sharpener, 1992. watercolor over pencil on handmade paper, 31.5 x 45 cm (visible size), 47 x 61 cm (frame...

Paul Friedrich Meyerheim (1842 Berlin - 1915 ibid.). Sketch of a female torso with hands and an umbrella. Pencil on paper, 27.5 x 22.5 cm (visible size)...

Hans Richard von Volkmann (1860 Halle (Saale) - 1927 ibid.), Clay jug on a bench. Pencil and Watercolour on paper. 20 x 26,7 cm (visible size), 37 x 45 cm (frame), dated and monogrammed lower left "Februar 1890 - HR. V. V." - Minimally tanned. Framed behind glass in a passepartout. About the artwork Using the technique of his early youth - pencil and watercolour - Hans Richard von Volkmann depicts a still life. However, this is not a conventional indoor still life, but an open-air depiction, painted outdoors and not in the studio. It is therefore an open-air painting, characteristic of von Volkmann's oeuvre, which could have been painted in the Willingshausen colony of painters, where open-air painting was programmatically practised there and the artist stayed there that year. And indeed, this painting is a manifesto of open-air painting. Von Volkmann demonstrates that leaving the studio for the light of nature leads to an entirely new quality of art. To prove this, he uses the genre of still life, which can be described as the studio subject par excellence. Moreover, light plays an essential role in the classical still life. It is the real protagonist of the still life. And it is precisely this moment, essential to the still life, that von Volkmann exploits to demonstrate the potential of plein-air painting: He presents the objects as they appear in the sunlight. The date of February and the bare branches in the foreground make it clear that this is a clear winter day in bright sunlight. The delicate plant in the foreground casts a clearly defined shadow, as does the jug. However, the shadow is most pronounced on the jug itself: The underside of the handle appears almost black, making the top, and therefore the jug itself, shine all the more brightly. The shining of the objects in the sunlight is also visible on the bench. As complementary phenomena to the shadow zones, light edges can be seen on the boards of the seats and the upper foot of the bench shines entirely in the light. To achieve this intensity of light, von Volkmann activated the bright white of the painting ground. By depicting the objects in glistening sunlight, von Volkmann demonstrates that this quality of light is only to be found outdoors. And this light leads to a new way of looking at the objects themselves. The jug on the bench seems like an accidental arrangement, as if the artist had stumbled upon this unintentional still life and captured it with fascination. And in this fascination there is a moment of realisation that refers to the objects themselves. It is only when they shine brightly in the sunlight that their true nature is revealed. In this way, sunlight allows the objects to come into their own, so to speak. Sunlight, which is not present in the studio, gives the still life an entirely new dimension of reality, which is also reflected in the colours interwoven by the sunlight: The bench and the jug stand in a harmonious grey-pink contrast to the green of the implied meadow. The emphasis on the jug as the central subject of the picture also implies that the watercolour has not been completed. This non finito inscribes a processuality into the picture, making it clear that something processual has been depicted, the temporality of which has been made artistically permanent. This is why von Volkmann signed the painting and dated it to the month. About the Artist Von Volkmann made his first artistic attempts at the age of 14. He painted many watercolours of his home town of Halle. This laid the foundation for his later outdoor painting. In 1880 his autodidactic beginnings were professionalised with his admission to the Düsseldorf Art Academy. There he studied under Hugo Crola, Heinrich Lauenstein, Johann Peter Theodor Janssen and Eduard von Gebhardt until 1888. Von Volkmann then moved to the Karlsruhe Academy, where he was Gustav Schönleber's master pupil until 1892. In 1883 he came for the first time to Willingshausen, Germany's oldest painters' colony, at the suggestion of his student friend Adolf Lins...

Alexander Frenz (1861 Rheydt - 1941 Düsseldorf). Plant impression in Locarno. Gouache and watercolour. 35 x 23,5 cm (visible size), 49,5 x 38,5 cm (fra...

Hans Dvořák (19th century). Shady hollow way in a sunny forest. Watercolour and pen-and-ink drawing, 58.5 x 43 cm (visible size), 70 x 55.5 cm (frame), signed and dated "Hans Dvořák ...

Adalbert Holzer (1881 Munich - 1966 Munich). Wettersteinkamm. Watercolour, 29 x 34.5 cm (visible size), 37.5 x 43 cm (frame), signed and dated at lower right 'ADALBERT HOLZER [19]23'. Framed behind glass. Frame shows signs of wear. - The blue of the mountains - About the artwork The Wetterstein ridge is revealed to the viewer from a gentle, snow-covered hill. In contrast to conventional depictions of mountains, the painting is composed entirely of shades of blue, which condense into the blue-grey of the rock or fade into the white of the snow. As a complementary colour to the blue, Holzer virtuously activates the ochre ground. The uniform yet exciting polarity of the colours emphasises the massive majesty of the mountains and at the same time underlines the special character of the Wetterstein ridge. Holzer transferred the translucency of glass painting, in which he was originally trained, to watercolour and developed a pictorial language related to the art of Ferdinand Hodler, which earned him the nickname 'Master of Blue' and led to the appreciation of his watercolours in particular. About the artist After an apprenticeship as a stained glass painter at the Kunstgewerbeschule, Adalbert Holzer studied at the Munich Art Academy under Carl von Marr...

Drawings of skulls are often called vanitas, which often contain collections of objects symbolic of the inevitability of death and the transience and vanity of earthly achievements and pleasures; it exhorts the viewer to consider mortality and to repent. This still life vanitas drawing is matted with a heavy white mat and framed in a bronze toned wooden frame measuring 15.75 x 16.25 inches. John Hrehov Skull and Ornament colored pencil on paper 7h x 8w in 17.78h x 20.32w cm JHR006 John Hrehov Education 1985 MFA-Painting, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 1981 BFA-Painting, Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland, OH. Solo Exhibitions 2017 John Hrehov, Paintings and Drawings. Tom Thomas...

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