Franz Xaver Gräßel

In the forest of Durlach - Quiet ripple in a secret place -

1881

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 ...

Stanislas Warnie (1879-1958), Summer Forest Landscape, 1915. Watercolor, 31.5 cm x 45 cm (passepartout), 50.5 cm x 63.5 cm (frame), signed "S. Warnie" at lower left and dated "1915"....

Wilhelm Feldmann (1859 Lüneburg - 1932 Lübeck), Sunny forest landscape, c. 1900. Oil on canvas, marouflaged on wood, 37 cm x 48 cm (inside dimensions), 42.5 cm x 53.5 cm (frame), sig...

Themistokles von Eckenbrecher (1842 Athens - 1921 Goslar), Norwegian pine grove, 1901. Watercolor on blue-green paper, 30 x 22 cm. Signed, dated and inscribed in his own hand "TvE. Fagermes [i.e. Fagermes]. 26.6.[19]01." - Slight crease throughout at left margin, otherwise in good condition. About the artwork Themistokles von Eckenbrecher often traveled to Norway to study the nature that fascinated him there. On June 26, 1901, near the southern Norwegian town of Fagernes, in the summer evening sun, he saw a small pine grove, which he immediately captured in a watercolor. He exposed the trees growing on a small hill in front of the background, so that the pines completely define the picture and combine to form a tense motif. The tension comes from the contrast of form and color. The trunks, growing upward, form a vertical structure that is horizontally penetrated by the spreading branches and the pine needles, which are rendered as a plane. This structural tension is further intensified by the color contrast between the brown-reddish iridescent trunks and branches and the green-toned needlework. Themistokles von Eckenbrecher, however, does not use the observed natural scene as an inspiring model for a dance of color and form that detaches itself from the motif and thus treads the path of abstracting modernism. Its inner vitality is to be brought to light and made aesthetically accessible through the work of art. It is precisely in order to depict the inner vitality of nature that von Eckenbrecher chooses the technique of watercolor, in which the individual details, such as the needles, are not meticulously worked out, but rather a flowing movement is created that unites the contrasts. The trees seem to have formed the twisted trunks out of their own inner strength as they grew, creatingthose tense lineations that the artist has put into the picture. The inner strength continues in the branches and twigs, culminating in the upward growth of the needles. At the same time, the trunks, illuminated by the setting sun, seem to glow from within, adding an almost dramatic dimension to the growing movement. Through the artwork, nature itself is revealed as art. In order to make nature visible as art in the work, von Eckenbrecher exposes the group of trees so that they are bounded from the outside by an all-encompassing contour line and merge into an areal unity that enters into a figure-ground relationship with the blue-greenish watercolor paper. The figure-ground relationship emphasizes the ornamental quality of the natural work of art, which further enforces the artwork character of the group of trees. With the presentation of Themistokles von Eckenbrecher's artistic idea and its realization, it has become clear that the present watercolor is not a study of nature in the sense of a visual note by the artist, which might then be integrated into a larger work context, but a completely independent work of art. This is why von Eckenbrecher signed the watercolor. In addition, it is marked with a place and a date, which confirms that this work of nature presented itself to him in exactly this way at this place at this time. At the same time, the date and place make it clear that the natural work of art has been transferred into the sphere of art and thus removed from the time of the place of nature. About the artist Themistocles' parents instilled a life of travel in their son, who is said to have spoken eleven languages. His father, who was interested in ancient and oriental culture, was a doctor and had married Francesca Magdalena Danelon, an Italian, daughter of the British consul in Trieste. During a stay in Athens - Gustav von Eckenbrecher was a friend of Heinrich von Schliemann and is said to have given him crucial clues as to the location of Troy - Themistokles saw the light of day in 1842. After an interlude in Berlin, where Themistokles was educated at the English-American School, the journey began again. From 1850 to 1857 the family lived in Constantinople, after which the father opened a practice in Potsdam, where Themistokles, who wanted to become a painter, was taught by the court painter Carl Gustav Wegener. In 1861 the von Eckenbrechers left Potsdam and settled in Düsseldorf. There Themistokles received two years of private tuition from Oswald Aschenbach, who greatly admired the talented young artist. After his artistic training, he undertook extensive travels, often accompanied by Prince Peter zu Sayn-Wittgenstein, which took him to northern and eastern Europe, but above all to the Middle East and even to South America. The paintings that resulted from these journeys established his artistic reputation and led to his participation in large panoramas such as the 118 x 15 metre Entry of the Mecca Caravan into Cairo, painted for the City of Hamburg in 1882. 1882 was also the start of a total of 21 study trips to Scandinavia, most of them to Norway, and the unique Norwegian landscape with its rugged fjords became a central motif in his work. Along with Anders Askevold and Adelsteen Normann...

Signed lower right, 'Arthur Parton' (American, 1842-1914) and painted circa 1885. This notable Hudson River School painter first studied under William Trost Richards, from whom he gained a grounding in the technical aspects of his craft, and, subsequently, at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. While in Philadelphia, he began to exhibit with success and, in 1864, moved to New York where he continued to exhibit before leaving for Europe in 1869. In France, he was influenced by the works of the Barbizon painters and then furthered his studies in Paris and London (1870) before continuing to Scotland (1871). Upon his return to America, he would go on to establish himself as a major figure in the art world, maintaining a studio at 51 West 10th Street from 1874 to 1893. Best known for his landscapes of the Adirondacks and Catskill Mountains, Parton also painted in England and Scotland. During his career, he explored several styles including Tonalism and Impressionism, but remained closely influenced by the Hudson River style including Luminism. Parton was a member of the American Watercolor Society, the Artists Fund Society and, from 1871, the National Academy of Design, becoming a National Academician in 1884. Parton exhibited widely and with success including at the Corcoran Gallery of Art (1907-1908, 1910), Brooklyn Artists Association (1866-85), Philadelphia Centennial Exposition (1876), Boston Art Club (1882-1909), New York City (1886 gold medal), Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (1889 Temple gold medal, 1891, 1896-97, 1905), Paris Exposition Universelle (1889 honorable mention), St Louis Exposition (1904 medal), the Art Institute of Chicago and, for more than 50 years, at the National Academy of Design (1862-1914, 1896 prize). Parton gained widespread recognition after his painting of the Shenandoah River (1872) was published in William Cullen Bryant...

Trees of Forest is an original painting in watercolor by an anonymous French Master of the XX century. The state of preservation is good and aged with si...

Rudolf Höckner, Forest Landscape. Hamburg, Wedel, Germany. Oil on canvas. Dimensions with frame in cm 63 x 82.5

A fine and carefully detailed landscape view of a forest, with a small pond and a wooden bridge leading down a wooded path, by the artist W. Hinchliff. The artist has added texture t...