Jörg Olberg

Agony - The architecture of decay -

1987

Albert Ernst (1909 Fronhofen - 1996 Hamburg), View of a Coastal Town, etching, 30 x 37 cm (picture), 45 x 50.5 cm (frame), signed in pencil lower right "Albert Ernst", framed under g...

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...

Max Clarenbach (1880 Neuss - Cologne 1952), Evening. Etching, 18 x 41 cm (platemark), 33.5 x 57 cm (frame), inscribed "Abend" in pencil at lower left, signed and dated "M. Clarenbach. 28.III.[19]09". Framed and mounted under glass. - Somewhat browned and slightly foxed. About the artwork The horizontally elongated etching depicts the panoramic view of a small town as seen from the other side of the river. There are gabled houses on the left and a mighty church spire on the right. The bourgeois houses and the large religious building indicate the urban character. These buildings are rendered in dark tones to emphasise the lighter row of houses in the centre of the picture, closer to the water. The chiaroscuro contrast creates two parallel planes that open up a space for the imagination of what the city could be. The imagination is stimulated by the almost entirely dark, barely recognisable buildings, while the arm of the river leading into the city further stimulates the imagination. However, as the silhouette of the city as a whole is reflected in the water, the parallel planes are perceived as a band of houses that stretches across the entire horizontality of the etching and seems to continue beyond the borders of the picture. The reflection has almost the same intensity as the houses themselves, so that the band of buildings merges with their reflection to form the dominant formal unit of the picture. Only the parallel horizontal hatching creates the convincing impression of seeing water, demonstrating Max Clarenbach's mastery of the etching needle. The water is completely motionless, the reflection unclouded by the slightest movement of the waves, creating a symmetry within the formal unity of the cityscape and its reflection that goes beyond the motif of a mere cityscape. A pictorial order is established that integrates everything in the picture and has a metaphysical character as a structure of order that transcends the individual things. This pictorial order is not only relevant in the pictorial world, but the picture itself reveals the order of the reality it depicts. Revealing the metaphysical order of reality in the structures of its visibility is what drives Clarenbach as an artist and motivates him to return to the same circle of motifs. The symmetry described is at the same time inherent an asymmetry that is a reflection on art: While the real cityscape is cut off at the top of the picture, two chimneys and above all the church tower are not visible, the reflection illustrates reality in its entirety. The reflection occupies a much larger space in the picture than reality itself. Since antiquity, art has been understood primarily as a reflection of reality, but here Clarenbach makes it clear that art is not a mere appearance, which can at best be a reflection of reality, but that art has the potential to reveal reality itself. The revealed structure of order is by no means purely formalistic; it appears at the same time as the mood of the landscape. The picture is filled with an almost sacred silence. Nothing in the picture evokes a sound, and there is complete stillness. There are no people in Clarenbach's landscape paintings to bring action into the picture. Not even we ourselves are assigned a viewing position in the picture, so that we do not become thematic subjects of action. Clarenbach also refrains from depicting technical achievements. The absence of man and technology creates an atmosphere of timelessness. Even if the specific date proves that Clarenbach is depicting something that happened before his eyes, without the date we would not be able to say which decade, or even which century, we are in. The motionless stillness, then, does not result in time being frozen in the picture, but rather in a timeless eternity that is nevertheless, as the title "Abend" (evening), added by Clarenbach himself, makes clear, a phenomenon of transition. The landscape of the stalls is about to be completely plunged into darkness, the buildings behind it only faintly discernible. The slightly darkened state of the sheet is in keeping with this transitional quality, which also lends the scene a sepia quality that underlines its timelessness. And yet the depiction is tied to a very specific time. Clarenbach dates the picture to the evening of 28 March 1909, which does not refer to the making of the etching, but to the capture of the landscape's essence in the landscape itself. If the real landscape is thus in a state of transition, and therefore something ephemeral, art reveals its true nature in that reality, subject to the flow of phenomena, is transferred to an eternal moment, subject to a supra-temporal structure of order - revealed by art. Despite this supratemporality, the picture also shows the harbingers of night as the coming darkening of the world, which gives the picture a deeply melancholy quality, enhanced by the browning of the leaf. It is the philosophical content and the lyrical-melancholic effect of the graphic that give it its enchanting power. Once we are immersed in the image, it literally takes a jerk to disengage from it. This etching, so characteristic of Max Clarenbach's art, is - not least because of its dimensions - a major work in his graphic oeuvre. About the artist Born into poverty and orphaned at an early age, the artistically gifted young Max Clarenbach was discovered by Andreas Achenbach and admitted to the Düsseldorf Art Academy at the age of 13. "Completely penniless, I worked for an uncle in a cardboard factory in the evenings to pay for my studies.” - Max Clarenbach At the academy he studied under Arthur Kampf, among others, and in 1897 was accepted into Eugen Dücker...

Bernhard Pankok (1872 Münster - 1943 Baierbrunn), General Wilhelm von Blume, 1915, aquatint etching, 34 x 29.5 cm (sheet size), 26 x 22 cm (plate size), signed in the plate at upper left, in pencil at lower right and dated in pencil at lower left. - At lower left old collection stamp, at the right broad margin with a small spot, otherwise very good condition. About the artwork The 1915 aquatint etching of General Wilhelm von Blume is based on a 1912 oil painting in the LWL-Museum für Kunst und Kultur in Münster. A second oil portrait of the general by Pankok is in the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart. When Pankok painted the first oil portrait in 1912, the general had already been retired for 16 years. It is therefore a retrospective portrait. Accordingly, the orientation of his head is such that he is looking back in both the oil painting and the etching. Without fixing on anything in particular, he looks thoughtfully inwards and reflects on his life. Uniformed and highly endowed, it is his military activities in particular that he is reviewing attentively and, as his gaze reveals, quite critically. Pankok has literally written the sum of his experiences on Wilhelm von Blume's face: The physiognomy is a veritable landscape of folds, furrows, ridges and gullies, all the more striking against the flat background. It is clear that each of the medals was also won through suffering. However, by breaking the boundaries of the picture, his bust appears as an unshakable massif, which gives the general a stoic quality. The fact that the design of the portrait was important to Pankok can be seen from the different versions, the present sheet being the third and probably final revision, which Pankok dates precisely to 18 February 1915. Compared with the previous state, the light background now has a dark area against which the sitter's face stands out, the dark background in turn combining with the uniform to create a new tension in the picture. Pankok's taking up of the portrait of the high-ranking military veteran and its graphic reproduction can also be seen in relation to the First World War, which had broken out in the meantime. In the face of modern weapons of mass destruction, Wilhelm von Blume's warfare and military writings were relics of a bygone, more value-oriented era. About the artist After studying at the Düsseldorf Art Academy from 1889 to 1891 under Heinrich Lauenstein, Adolf Schill, Hugo Crola, and Peter Janssen the Elder, Bernhard Pankok went to Munich in 1892, where he worked primarily as a graphic artist for the two major Jugendstil magazines "Pan" and "Jugend," which established his artistic success. Through this work he met Emil Orlik, with whom he had a lifelong friendship. In 1897, he exhibited his first furniture, and in 1898, together with Richard Riemerschmid, Bruno Paul and Hermann Obrist...

Heinrich Haberl (1869 Passau to 1934 Munich), Sturmhaube, c. 1900. drypoint, 14 x 10 cm (platemark), 28 x 21 cm (sheet size), 39 x 29 cm (passe-partout), titled "Sturmhaube" in lead at lower left and inscribed "Kaltnadelradierung", signed and locally inscribed "Heinrich Haberl Mchn. [Munich]" at lower right, inscribed again in lead on verso and with old collection stamp. - slightly darkened, fixed and mounted - The target in sight - About the artwork The theatrical "role-portrait" is to be seen against the background of the Rembrandt cult, which reached its climax at the end of the 19th century. The soldier seems to have stepped straight out of Rembrandt's Night Watch (1642) to fix something outside the picture with an alert and ready gaze. The steeply rising brim of the morion frames the gaze and thus perspectivises it as the actual 'pictorial action'. The gaze represents both the vigilant defence and the visionary goal of the battle. Not only the subject, but also the style of the etching needle reflect Rembrandt's understanding of the times. Strong contrasts of light and dark are created in a virtuoso free stroke, without losing the effect of the reflections on the helmet and in the eyes. This shows a kinship with the early prints of Lovis Corinth, who also saw himself as an artist in the role of the knight. Against this background, Haberl's picture can also be seen as a representation of his artistic self-image. About the artist Heinrich Haberl first attended the art school in Nuremberg and from 1892 studied at the Munich Academy. There he was a master student of Johann Leonhard von Raab, Rudolf von Seitz, Franz von Defregger...

Carl Maria Plückebaum (1880 Düsseldorf - 1952 ibid.), Der Talismann (sog. Dukatenscheisser), partly colored etching, 11.5 x 8.5 cm (plate size), 26.5 x 20 cm (sheet size), signed by hand below the image on the right "C. Plückebaum" and inscribed by hand at lower left "Der Talismann". - left and right side of the sheet with browned stripes, otherwise good copy - The philosopher's stone - About the artist Here, Carl Plückebaum gives free rein to his anti-academic impulses and turns the subtle humor of his pictures into crudeness. Following Adrian Ostade's peasants as they go about their needy business, we see a cowardly fellow in a squatting position. His excrement, however, is not the organic remains of digestion, but - like the golden donkey in the Grimm fairy tale - ducats. However, they appear more brown than golden, which is emphasized by the discreet hand-coloring of the picture. The unattractive accumulation is countered by the blossoms decorating the crouching man's hat. Totally absorbed in his action, his activity is evident in the strained expression on his face, giving Plückebaum a whole new verisimilitude to the concept of naturalism. The title "The Talisman" then turns naturalism back to the miraculous, formulating in a humorous way that these legacies are also a "miracle of nature". About the artist Coming from a poor background, Carl Plückebaum, who had a walking disability and was of short stature, initially worked as a church restorer. He also took private drawing lessons. In 1901 he won the first prize of the Düsseldorf Museum of Decorative Arts, which enabled him to finance his studies at the Düsseldorf Academy. There he was a pupil of Eduard von Gebhardt and Peter Janssen the Elder, but began to doubt the academic teaching. In 1906 he took part in a group exhibition at the Städtische Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, which violated the academy's statutes and led to his dismissal. However, the extraordinary success with the public confirmed him as an artist and provided him with the financial means for a study trip to Italy. Enchanted by Florence, he retired to the Franciscan monastery of Fisole, where he worked as a fresco painter. Back in Düsseldorf, he turned increasingly to children's and animal drawings, and in 1907 he was a founding member of the Niederrhein Secessionist Artists' Group. In 1910 he travelled to Italy again, accompanied by his painter friends Walter Ophey and Carl Schmitz-Pleis, visiting Rome and Naples in particular. He then stayed in Munich to study the Old Masters at the Pinakothek. It was in the artistic circles of Schwabing that he met his future wife, the painter Meta Weber. In Düsseldorf, Carl and Meta Plückebaum...

Richard Haas City Service Building (70 Pine Street, Manhattan), 2005 Etching Signed, titled, dated and numbered 7/20 in pencil on the front 20 × 16 inches Unframed Rare print by Rich...

Jean-Emile Laboureur (1877-1943), Dimanche en Bretagne, etching, 1939, signed in pencil lower left and inscribed “ep d’artite” lower right. Reference: Laboureur 543, second state (of...

The etching was exhibited last year in the critical retrospective that the city of Milan promoted and set up to mark the tenth anniversary of her death. Milan's municipality has name...

Montagne by Sarah Duncan [2021] limited_edition Etching print on paper Edition number 10 Image size: H:60 cm x W:60 cm Complete Size of Unframed Work: H:70 cm x W:70 cm x D:0.2cm Sold Unframed Please note that insitu images are purely an indication of how a piece may look Montagne is a limited edition signed etching print on paper by Sarah Duncan of a black and white mountain...

Limited edition aquatint etching of the New York City skyline by Katherine E. Gallagher. This piece features the famous Chrysler Building prominently in the background along with a M...

This artwork titled "Vienna Scene, Austria" c. 1950 is a color etching on wove paper by noted Austrian artist Robert Kasimir, 1914-2002. It is hand signed in pencil by the artist at...