Arcadia Art

Irmgard Biernath (1905 Waldheim in Saxony - 1998 Mainz), Hommage à Kahnweiler, 1984. Terracotta relief, burnished red body, 43.5 x 38 cm, mounted on support plate, in wooden frame 57 x 49.5 cm, monogrammed "IB" at lower right. - Isolated patina losses, but overall good condition, frame slightly bumped. - The Appearance of Genius- This homage to Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler shows the gallerist and art theorist as Pablo Picasso portrayed him in his lithographic portrait of 1957. As an innovative Parisian gallery owner, Kahnweiler had exclusively represented Picasso since 1911, while Picasso had painted his famous portrait of Kahnweiler the previous year as a major work of Cubism. And it is Picasso who appears at the centre of Irmgard Biernath's image. Here, his face echoes the features of the self-portrait he painted in 1907 in the Prague National Gallery. His eyes are wide open as he gazes into the distance, surrounded by the works of his artistic vision that have already taken shape. On the right is the bronze "Man with Sheep...

Ernst Fuchs (1930 Vienna - 2015 ibid), The Lost Trace, 1972. Vernis mou and aquatint etching, 46.8 x 36.4 cm (plate), 66 x 50 cm (sheet), 69.5 x 53.5 cm (frame), WVZ Hartmann no. 185...

Karl Stohner (1894 Mannheim - 1957 Paris), Ballerina in the dressing room, 1924. Pastel on painting cardboard, 65 x 45 cm, 77,5 x 59,5 (frame), signed lower left "Stohner" and dated "[19]24". Behind glass in gold stucco frame of the time. - Painting cardboard slightly warped, in the lower area minimally stained, frame with age patina and traces of abrasion. - The Naturalness of Artificiality - We see a ballerina putting on her right ballet shoe while the left one is still lying on the floor in front of her. It is precisely the casualness of the scene that gives it its intimacy: the blonde young woman is completely absorbed in the activity of getting ready for the dance, oblivious to us, while we are positioned right in front of her in the dressing room, inaccessible to the audience, watching her dress. Even though she does not yet perform a dance step, there is a graceful elegance in the action shown that seems quite natural in contrast to the rehearsed art form of dance. The young woman is not presenting herself to an audience in a perfectly formed movement, but is performing an everyday action, unaware that she is being watched. Concentrated, almost devotional, she pulls the ballet slipper over the verses, not noticing that one of the straps of the tutu has slipped off her shoulder, reinforcing the erotic moment of the scene. Inspired by Edgar Degas, Karl Stohner has painted the scene in strong pastel tones. The dominant blues and turquoises give the scene a magical, mysterious quality and, like the pink of the stockings and ballet slippers, are borrowed from Degas's dancers. Degas's colors, however, are cooler tempered, which is particularly evident in the light impasto applied incarnate. This is where the vividness of Auguste Renoir comes into play, making the dancer seem entirely flesh and blood. Karl Stohner, who has studied the pastels of Degas and Renoir intensively, combines the two artists here to create his own pictorial language. He has laid out the background in broad layers of strokes, ranging in color from white to turquoise to dark blue. The result is a dynamic, pattern-like structure that contrasts with the woman's calm, inward-looking posture. The fund anticipates the dynamics of the choreography of the dance for which the ballerina is preparing. At the same time, the broad pastel line in the background is an adequate means of painting to depict the soft, flowing elegance of the dancer. About the artist Against the wishes of his wealthy parents, Karl Stohner decided to become a painter. His talent was discovered by the director of the Mannheim Art Gallery, Fritz Wichert, who supported him from then on, including financing study trips to Paris. There he discovered the art of Degas, Cézanne and Renoir, which inspired his work. GERMAN VERSION Karl Stohner (1894 Mannheim - 1957 Paris), Ballerina im Ankleideraum, 1924. Pastell auf Malkarton, 65 x 45 cm, 77,5 x 59,5 (Rahmen), unten links mit „Stohner“ signiert und auf „[19]24“ datiert. Hinter Glas im Goldstuckrahmen der Zeit. - Malkarton leicht verzogen, im unteren Bereich minimal fleckig, Rahmen mit Alterspatina und Abriebspuren - Die Natürlichkeit der Kunstform - Wir sehen eine Ballerina, die sich den rechten Ballettschuh anzieht, während der linke noch vor ihr auf dem Boden liegt. Gerade aus der Beiläufigkeit der Szenerie speist sich ihre Intimität: Die blonde...

Conrad Kiesel (1846-1921), The gift of flowers. Oil on wood, 43 x 35 cm, 69 x 61 cm (frame), signed at lower left "Conrad Kiesel pxt [pinxit]", about 1900. In a magnificent gilt stuc...

Theodor Scheerbaum (1897 Reichenbach im Vogtland), Wind Dodgers at the Baltic Sea. Watercolor on strong yellowish grained paper, 44 x 56 cm, signed by hand "Th[eodor] Scheerbaum" at ...

Johannes Heisig (*1953 Leipzig), "Threatening to defeat me once and for all" - To the Christmas Oratorio by Johann Sebastian Bach. Lithograph on strong yellowish laid paper with wate...

Johannes Heisig (*1953 Leipzig), "My treasure, my sanctuary" - To the Christmas Oratorio by Johann Sebastian Bach. Lithograph on strong yellowish laid paper with watermark, 53 x 39.5...

Magda Kremer (*1942 Hengelo), Children with geese in the light of a summer evening. Oil on canvas, 40 x 50 cm (inside measurement), 52 x 62 cm (frame), signed by hand with "M.[agda] ...

Julius Paul Junghanns (1876 Vienna - 1958 Düsseldorf), Draft Horse with Cart. Charcoal drawing on paper, 23 x 23 cm (inside measurement), 49 x 50 cm (fram...

Arthur Claude Strachan (1865 Edinburgh - 1954 Minehead), Evening Cottage Scene. Watercolor on paper, mounted, 28 x 46 cm (visible size), 48 x 65 cm (fra...

Jan Hillebrand Wijsmuller (1855 Amsterdam - 1925 ibid.), Late Summer River Landscape, oil on canvas, relined, 34 x 56 cm (inside measurement), 43 x 64 cm (frame), signed J[an] H[illebrand] Wijsmuller at lower right. - in good condition, the frame with isolated bumped spots - Realistic Impression - About the artwork The panoramic landscape format shows a river landscape, with the course of the river, which curves to the right, leading the eye into the depths of the picture and tempting it to continue the landscape in the imagination beyond the visible area. At the same time, however, the fact that the landscape is not visible through the bend in the river focuses our gaze on the entirety of the landscape depicted, without prompting us to focus on distant details. Accordingly, the brushstroke is not designed to render details with realistic precision. In the front left area of the river there is even a completely free brushwork, trained by Impressionism, which nevertheless remains committed to representational and convincingly suggests the movement of the water. Regardless of the distance of the observer, the entire picture is painted with the same broad brushstroke, so that the landscape is given as an impression. And yet this impression is not ephemeral, as in the case of French Impressionism, to put it exaggeratedly, but reveals to us the essence of the landscape in all its richness. This is why the Dutch variant of Impressionism is always also a realism, although the pictures appear less progressive, but still contain a dimension of landscape painting that is lost with progress. In the impression, the reality of the landscape is revealed, and this happens as we experience the landscape in the visual impression. Wijsmuller does not depict houses or people in order to allow the experience of the landscape to fully unfold. The experience is determined first and foremost by the river, which does not flow into the picture from our point of view, but towards us. Where the river begins to bend, the water is churned by a rapids. Toward us, the riverbed widens and the water comes to rest, covering the entire width of the foreground like a mirror. The stillness of the water corresponds to the evening mood of the late summer landscape, in which the warm tones of the evening light blend with the yellow and brown tones of the plants. A gentle, almost idyllic reality, carried by the brushstroke, yet animated by a liveliness that is also made visible by the brushstroke. The broad, dynamically placed brushstrokes evoke the movement of the treetops and animate even the immobile reeds, while the trunks on the right bank, executed in virtuoso white strokes that seem like markings, make the sunlight shine. On the other bank, a carpet of light also spreads out, its energetic effect again expressed in the brushstroke. The dynamic of the landscape is further enhanced by the complementary color contrasts between the greens, yellows, and browns on the one hand and the blue of the all-encompassing sky on the other. A contrast that is intensified by the reflection in the water. The evening coming to rest of the landscape is thus at the same time an all-encompassing contrasting and yet in itself harmonious movement. This reality becomes accessible to us as an experience in the impression of the landscape. About the artist Jan Hillebrand Wijsmuller entered the Royal Academy of Arts in Amsterdam in 1876 and studied under the innovative Professor August Allebé, who was famous for the Amsterdam Impressionism, also known as the Allebé School. In 1877, Wijsmuller transferred to the Hague Academy of Art, and thus to the Hague School, and then completed his studies at the Brussels Academy of Art. Returning to the Netherlands, Wijsmuller opened his own studio in Amsterdam. In 1883 he won the prestigious Young Artist Award, donated by Willink van Collen, which made Wijsmuller a well-known and sought-after artist. Wijsmuller was a member of the Societät Arti et Amicitiae Amsterdam and the Pulchri Studio in The Hague. Wijsmuller belongs to the second generation of the Hague School. While Vincent van Gogh described the protagonists of the first generation to his brother Theo as "the great gray people," the second generation, and Wijsmuller in particular, used a much more colorful palette. His oeuvre makes him a major player in Dutch Impressionism...

Alfred Fuchs (1925 Saarbrücken - 2003 Prague), Lying Boy. Charcoal drawing on strong paper, 30 x 41.5 cm, signed A.[lfred] Fuchs and dated [19]96. - smal...