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Paul Meyerheim
Study with Torso, Hands, and Umbrella - The characteristic of the inconspicuous

c. 1890

About the Item

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), 23 x 29 cm (sheet), 44.5 x 34.5 cm (mount), inscribed with the signature "Paul Meyerheim Nachlass" at lower right. - somewhat stained and with light crease marks - The characteristic of the inconspicuous - About the artwork Like his close friend and mentor Adolph von Menzel, Paul Meyerheim, who was a generation younger, was a precise and equally humorous observer of everyday life. Both often captured seemingly insignificant things that, when artistically rendered, revealed their characteristics for society and the general human condition. Menzel pursued the realism initiated by Daniel Nikolaus Chodowiecki in Berlin of preserving and emphasizing the characteristic in the details of everyday life in a straightforwardly exaggerated manner, which was also practiced by Meyerheim. The present print is a prime example of the observation of such banalities. We see a lady screwing a decorative knob onto the top of a parasol. Although the lady's body is realistically sculpted and placed in the sunlight through the skillful use of light and shadow, the head and lower body are not included. The result is a concentration on the action shown, which also gains an independence through the omission of the only implied head. The action is not characteristic of a particular person, but will be performed in this or a similar way by any lady with such a problem. The method of representation alone transforms the characteristic particular into something general. When we see the action taking place in front of the lady's torso, Meyerheim has only depicted the action as such in front of this scenery. By zooming in, the performing hands seem to float before the viewer's eyes. They seem to be performing a kind of magic, in which the fingers of one hand elegantly handle the ball of the pommel. In this casual, entirely purposeful action, the elegance and skill of the ladies is shown, as well as the human need to protect oneself from the sun with a shady umbrella. About the artist Paul Meyerheim was born into a family of artists. His father, Friedrich Eduard Meyerheim, was a painter, as were his uncles Hermann and Wilhelm, while his mother, Caroline Friederike, was the brother of the sculptor Friedrich Drake. After receiving his first art lessons from his father, Paul Meyerheim studied at the Berlin Academy of Arts from 1857 to 1860, where he was strongly influenced by the animal painter Teutwart Schmitson. At the age of 18, Meyerheim began exhibiting at the Great Berlin Art Exhibition in 1860, which brought him recognition as an artist. His international breakthrough came when he won the gold medal at the Paris Salon in 1866 for his work Menagerie. After study trips to Switzerland, Belgium and Holland, Meyerherim spent a year in Paris in 1865/66, where he studied the new realistic art of Gustave Courbet and the landscape painting of the Barbizon School, which was created from nature. He then devoted himself primarily to landscape painting and made several trips to the Alps, accompanied by his close friend Adolph Menzel. He also shared with Menzel a predilection for the depiction of animals. Their joint studies at the Berlin Zoo resulted in numerous animal paintings, as well as Meyerheim's murals for the antelope house. Because of his virtuoso mastery of animal painting, he was appointed professor at the Berlin Academy in 1883 and entrusted with the direction of the animal painting class. By 1880, Meyerheim was in such demand as a portrait painter that he produced a life-size portrait of Kaiser Wilhelm I for the assembly hall of the German Reichstag. The success as artist led him to commission Alfred Messel, the builder of the Wertheim department store on Leipziger Platz, to build him his own house on Hildbrandstrasse, which he moved into in 1893 after an extended study trip to the Orient. Meyerheim's house became a social institution, with regular receptions and parties. Meyerheim was also in demand as a book illustrator. He designed an ABC for children, published in 1880, and illustrated the Grimm fairy tales in 1884. He was predestined for the pictorial design of the first volumes of Brehm's Tierleben. Also worthy of mention is the cycle Lebensgeschichte der Lokomotive (Life History of the Locomotive), seven paintings on copper, commissioned by Albert Borsig between 1873 and 1876, one of the earliest works of industrial painting. Paul Meyerheim's most important students were August Gaul and Wilhelm Kuhnert, who carried the artistic depiction of animals into the modern age. Selected Bibliography Kai Artinger: Von der Tierbude zum Turm der blauen Pferde, Berlin 1995. Gerhild Kaselow: Die Schaulust am exotischen Tier. Studien zur Darstellung des zoologischen Gartens in der Malerei des 19. und 20. Jahrhunderts, Hildesheim u.a. 1999. Mei-Hau Kunzi: „Dieses schöne Hilfsmaterial“. Paul Meyerheim und die Fotografie. In: Vorbilder – Nachbilder. Hrsg. v. Ulrich Pohlmann, Dietmar Schenk und Anastasia Dittmann, Köln 2020, S. 158-187. GERMAN VERSION Paul Friedrich Meyerheim (1842 Berlin - 1915 ebd.). Studienblatt mit Damentorso, Händen und Schirm. Bleistift auf Papier, 27,5 x 22,5 cm (Sichtmaß), 23 x 29cm (Blattgröße), 44,5 x 34,5 cm (Passepartout), rechts unten mit Signaturstempel als „Paul Meyerheim Nachlass" gekennzeichnet. - etwas fleckig und mit leichteren Knickspuren - Die Charakteristik des Unscheinbaren – zum Kunstwerk Wie sein enger Freund und Mentor Adolph von Menzel war auch der eine Generation jüngere Paul Meyerheim ein genauer und ebenso humorvoller Beobachter des Alltäglichen. Beide hielten oftmals scheinbar gänzlich Nebensächliches fest, das – künstlerisch ins Bild gesetzt – jedoch seine Charakteristik für die Gesellschaft und das Allgemeinmenschliche entfaltet. Den in Berlin von Daniel Nikolaus Chodowiecki initiierten Realismus, im Detail des Alltäglichen das Charakteristische zu gewahren und herauszustellen, verfolgt Menzel auf eine geradewegs exzessive Weise und wird auch von Meyerheim praktiziert. Das vorliegende Blatt ist geradewegs ein Musterbeispiel für die Beobachtung derartiger Alltäglichkeiten. Wir sehen, wie eine Dame einen Zierknauf auf die Spitze eines Sonnenschirms schraubt. Obwohl der Körper realistisch ausgeformt und aufgrund der gekonnten Licht- und Schattengestaltung im Sonnenlicht situiert ist, sind der Kopf und der Unterkörper nicht mit dargestellt. Dies hat eine Konzentration auf die gezeigte Handlung zur Folge, die durch das Weglassen des einzig angedeuteten Kopfes zudem eine Eigenständigkeit gewinnt. Die Handlung ist eben nicht für eine ganz bestimmte Person charakteristisch, sondern wird so oder so ähnlich von jeder Dame mit einem solchen Schirmproblem auf diese Weise ausgeführt werden. Bereits durch die Darstellungsmethode wird also das charakteristische Besondere zu etwas Allgemeingültigem. Sehen wir die ausgeführte Handlung vor dem Oberkörper der Dame, so hat Meyerheim vor dieser Szenerie einzig die Handlung als solche zur Darstellung gebracht. Durch dieses Heranzoomen scheinen die handelnden Hände vor den Augen des Betrachters zu schweben. Sie wirken, als würden Sie eine Art Zauberei vollziehen, bei der die Finger der einen Hand elegant mit der Kugel des Knaufs hantieren. In dieser nebensächlichen, gänzlich zweckorientierten Handlung zeigt sich also die Eleganz und das Geschick der Damenwelt und zugleich das menschliche Bedürfnis sich mit dem schattenspendenden Schirm vor der Sonne zu schützen. zum Künstler Paul Meyerheim entstammt einer Künstlerfamilie. Sein Vater, Friedrich Eduard Meyerheim, ist ebenso Maler wie seine Onkel Hermann und Wilhelm, während seine Mutter, Caroline Friederike, der Bruder des Bildhauers Friedrich Drake ist. Nach einem ersten Kunstunterricht seitens des Vaters, studierte Paul Meyerheim von 1857 bis 1860 an der Berliner Akademie der Künste, wo ihn der Tiermaler Teutwart Schmitson stark prägte. Mit gerade einmal 18 Jahren begann Meyerheim ab 1860 auf der Großen Berliner Kunstaustellung Werke zu präsentieren, die ihm als Künstler Anerkennung verschafften. Mit der Verleihung der Goldmedaille für sein Werk Menagerie im Pariser Salon von 1866 gelang ihm auch der internationale Durchbruch. Nach Studienreisen in die Schweiz, nach Belgien und nach Holland hielt sich Meyerherim 1865/66 ein Jahr in Paris auf, um insbesondere die neue realistische Kunst eines Gustave Courbet und die in der Natur entstandene Landschaftsmalerei der Schule von Barbizon zu studieren. Anschließend widmete er sich selbst vor allem der Landschaftsmalerei und reiste mehrfach in die Alpen, wohin ihn sein enger Freund Adolph Menzel begleitete. Mit Menzel verband ihn auch die Vorliebe für Tierdarstellungen. Aus den gemeinsamen Studien im Berliner Zoo erwuchsen neben zahlreiche Tierdarstellungen auch Meyerheims Wandmalereien für das Antilopenhauses. Aufgrund seiner virtuosen Meisterschaft in der Tiermalerei wurde er 1883 zum Professor an die Berliner Akademie berufen und mit der Leitung der Tiermalklasse betraut. Bereits 1880 war Meyerheim auch als Porträtmalerei so gefragt, dass er ein lebensgroßes Bildnis des Kaisers Wilhelm I. für den Sitzungsaal des Deutschen Reichtags anfertigte. Derart erfolgreich ließ er sich von Alfred Messel, dem Erbauer des Kaufhauses Wertheim am Leipziger Platz, in der Hildbrandstraße ein eigenes Wohnhaus errichten, das er 1893 nach einer ausgedehnten Studienreise in den Orient bezog. Das Haus Meyerheim wurde zu einer gesellschaftlichen Institution mit regelmäßigen Empfängen und Festen. Meyerheim war auch als Buchillustrator gefragt. Unter anderem gestaltete er ein 1880 erschienenes Kinder-ABC und illustrierte 1884 die Grimmschen Märchen. Für die bildliche Ausstattung der ersten Bände von Brehms Tierleben war er geradezu prädestiniert. Hervorzuheben ist auch der zwischen 1873 und 1876 im Auftrag von Albert Borsig geschaffene sieben auf Kupfer gemalte Bilder umfassende Zyklus Lebensgeschichte der Lokomotive, der zu den frühesten Werken der Industriemalerei gehört. Die wichtigsten Schüler Paul Meyerheims waren August Gaul und Wilhelm Kuhnert, die die künstlerische Tierdarstellung in die Moderne hineintrugen. Auswahlbibliographie Kai Artinger: Von der Tierbude zum Turm der blauen Pferde, Berlin 1995. Gerhild Kaselow: Die Schaulust am exotischen Tier. Studien zur Darstellung des zoologischen Gartens in der Malerei des 19. und 20. Jahrhunderts, Hildesheim u.a. 1999. Mei-Hau Kunzi: „Dieses schöne Hilfsmaterial“. Paul Meyerheim und die Fotografie. In: Vorbilder – Nachbilder. Hrsg. v. Ulrich Pohlmann, Dietmar Schenk und Anastasia Dittmann, Köln 2020, S. 158-187.
  • Creator:
    Paul Meyerheim (1842 - 1915, German)
  • Creation Year:
    c. 1890
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 11.03 in (28 cm)Width: 9.06 in (23 cm)Depth: 0.4 in (1 cm)
  • Medium:
  • Movement & Style:
  • Period:
  • Condition:
  • Gallery Location:
    Berlin, DE
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU2438212357622
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