Charlotte Morton Art

Colorful study of grape leaves in autumn with abstracted elements and a pink/magenta background by California artist Les (Leslie Luverne) Anderson (American, 1928-2009). From the est...

Marine Dutch School, 18th Century Coastal Scene with ships in a storm Gouache on prepared paper

A paper lantern explodes out of the water, as if propelled by an inner, unknown force. This surreal landscape is done in exacting detail with watercolor and gouache down to the smal...

Lovely abstracted floral watercolor painting of bearded irises by artist Jean Warren (American, b. 1945). Signed "J. Warren" lower edge, bi...

Delicate watercolor of lilies in a pond by an unknown artist (20th Century). Two flowers are blooming above lily pads in a pond. The flowers are rendered in a soft pink, whereas the ...

These elegant graphite dandelion drawings belie the rigor of their process. Once the surface of the paper is prepared, Glass uses a stylus to carefully delineate the lacy quality of ...

SECRET GARDEN 2 is a new watercolor on Fabriano paper by Fleur Thesmar. The artwork measures 22x30". It is custom framed with anti-UV and anti-glare glas...

SECRET GARDEN 1 is a new watercolor on Fabriano paper by Fleur Thesmar. The artwork measures 22x30". Note the complexity of the composition, the suggestion of one specific place in a...

This is a beautiful expressionist style drawing by Juanjo Saez. Juanjo's pictorial work is an exploration of color, texture, and movement, creating vibrant compositions that capture ...

Automobile and industrial designer George Hildebrand creates a conceptual illustration of a streamlined coupé design that epitomizes the Art Deco style of the 1930s, with aerodynamic...

Watercolor painting with blooming rhododendron. This watercolor is about a gentle expression of feelings conveyed through the delicate flowering of a rhododendron. This painting is ...

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...