Berlin - Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

The Sleep, 2022 collage, colour wax, acrylic, tempera on paper 50 H x 70 W cm Signed on reverse Raluca Arnăutu dreams the world through collages. A collage, dreamlike and surreal, ...

Body in the Field #3, 2022 coloured pencils on canvas 25 H x 16 W cm Signed on reverse Zsolt Berszán embodies in his works the dissolution of the human body through the prism of t...

Laboratory_Journal_Day 00200, 2022 black ink on white paper 27 9/16 H x 39 3/8 W cm 70 H x 100 W cm The drawings signed by Alina Aldea show the meticulousness and perfection of micr...

Body in the Field #8, 2022 coloured pencils on canvas 25 H x 16 W cm Signed on reverse Zsolt Berszán embodies in his works the dissolution of the human body through the prism of t...

The Headless Soldier, 2022 collage, tempera, spray on paper 50 H x 35 W cm Signed on right side down Raluca Arnăutu dreams the world through collages. A collage, dreamlike and surreal, populated by thousands of pieces of paper, textiles, pieces of plastic, found or made objects, which intertwine on the paper support and as in a well-controlled and thought puzzle give birth to a new universe. The new series of collages...

Samurai, 2021 Collage on paper 50.4 H x 35 W cm Signed on the right side down Raluca Arnăutu dreams the world through collages. A collage, dreamlike and surreal, populated by thousands of pieces of paper, textiles, pieces of plastic, found or made objects, which intertwine on the paper support and as in a well-controlled and thought puzzle give birth to a new universe. The new series of collages...

Body in the Field #2, 2022 coloured pencils on canvas 25 H x 16 W cm Signed on reverse Zsolt Berszán embodies in his works the dissolution of the human body through the prism of t...

Paper Mill, 2022 collage on paper 50 H x 35 W cm Raluca Arnăutu dreams the world through collages. A collage, dreamlike and surreal, populated by thousands of pieces of paper, textiles, pieces of plastic, found or made objects, which intertwine on the paper support and as in a well-controlled and thought puzzle give birth to a new universe. The new series of collages...

Body in the Field #1, 2022 coloured pencils on canvas 25 H x 16 W cm Signed on reverse Zsolt Berszán embodies in his works the dissolution of the human body through the prism of t...

Laboratory_Journal_Day 00204, 2022 black ink on white paper 27 9/16 H x 39 3/8 W cm 70 H x 100 W cm The drawings signed by Alina Aldea show the meticulousness and perfection of micr...

Body in the Field #9, 2022 coloured pencils on canvas 25 H x 16 W cm Signed on reverse Zsolt Berszán embodies in his works the dissolution of the human body through the prism of t...

Body in the Field #11, 2022 coloured pencils on canvas 25 H x 16 W cm Signed on reverse Zsolt Berszán embodies in his works the dissolution of the human body through the prism of ...

The Librarian, 2022 collage on paper 61.5 H x 56 W cm Signed on reverse Raluca Arnăutu dreams the world through collages. A collage, dreamlike and surreal, populated by thousands o...

Wounded Soldier, 2022 collage on paper 46 H x 31 W cm Signed on the right side down Raluca Arnăutu dreams the world through collages. A collage, dreamlike and surreal, populated by...

The Whale Hunter, 2022 collage, tempera on paper 70 H x 50 W cm Signed in the middle on the right side Raluca Arnăutu dreams the world through collages. A collage, dreamlike and su...

The Pilgrim, 2022 collage, tempera, ink on paper 56.5 H x 40.5 W cm Raluca Arnăutu dreams the world through collages. A collage, dreamlike and surreal, populated by thousands of pie...

The Reaper, 2022 collage, tempera on paper 56.5 H x 40.5 W cm Signed on reverse Raluca Arnăutu dreams the world through collages. A collage, dreamlike and...

Capricorn, 2022 collage, colour wax on paper 46 H x 37.5 W cm Signed on right side down Raluca Arnăutu dreams the world through collages. A collage, dreamlike and surreal, populate...

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 ...

Coloured city, 2014 acryl and colored fine liner on paper 19.68 H x 13.89 W in 50 H x 35.3 W Raluca Arnăutu creates a zoomorphic world, where animals f...

The Cartographer, 2021 collage on paper 50 H x 35 W cm Raluca Arnăutu dreams the world through collages. A collage, dreamlike and surreal, populated by thousands of pieces of paper,...

Remains (Body in the Field 2), 2022 oil on paper 16 17/32 H x 11 13/16 W in. 42 H x 30 W cm Signed on reverse Zsolt Berszán embodies in his works the dissolution of the human body...

The Scientist, 2022 collage, spray on paper 50 H x 35 W cm Signed on right side down Raluca Arnăutu dreams the world through collages. A collage, dreamlike and surreal, populated b...

Arthur Kampf (1864 Aachen - 1950 Castorp-Rauxel), Study to an allegory of victory, around 1900. Pencil on paper, 21 cm x 18 cm, signed lower left "A. Kampf". - slightly darkened, otherwise in good condition - A virtuoso victory - About the artwork The vertical-format sketch illustrates a plateau to which a staircase leads up from the right. Arthur Kampf thus takes up a typical baroque disposition for the depiction of allegories. And indeed, a female figure climbs the steps to hand the palm of victory to a figure that is probably also female. Other persons standing on the plateau pay homage to her, whereby the figure on the left edge of the picture may represent a warrior. The scene is framed by an ornamentally decorated arch field, which additionally emphasizes the allegorical-historical content of the depiction. An arch can also be seen under the staircase, suggesting that this may be a design for a supraport. The sheet could have been created in the wake of Arthur Kampf's appointment in 1899 as head of the studio for history painting at the Berlin Art Academy. The drawing style, which only outlines the idea of the picture and yet is determined by concise lines, corresponds to the sketchiness of the Baroque and testifies to Arthur Kampfs intensive study of this heyday of history painting. About the artist Arthur Kampf was the son of the Aachen painter and imperial court photographer August Kampf. His older brother Eugen and his son Herbert were also painters. Arthur Kampf studied at the Düsseldorf Academy of Art from 1879 under Eduard von Gebhardt and Peter Janssen the Elder, whose master pupil he was from 1883 to 1891. Influenced by the naturalistic paintings of Jules Bastien-Lepage, which Kampf saw on a trip to Paris in 1885, he created the painting "The Last Statement" in 1886, which was based on a personal experience. It shows a man mortally wounded by knife wounds. The oppressive drasticness of the almost life-size depiction caused a sensation and controversial criticism. The first successes were achieved: At the Berlin Jubilee Exhibition of 1886, Kampf received an honorable mention, and at the Munich Annual Exhibition of 1890, he was awarded a gold medal. Between 1886 and 1936, Kampf participated in all the major German exhibitions. In 1887 the artist painted his first fresco, which was the beginning of a series of monumental compositions. With the highly successful painting "The Burial of the Corpse of Kaiser Wilhelm I in the Berlin Cathedral" (1888), Kampf established himself as a painter of contemporary history, following in the footsteps of Adolph von Menzel, whose oeuvre he immediately took up with the painting "Speech by Frederick the Great to His Generals in Koeben" (1893). The pictures of his Liberation War cycle were included in school textbooks and distributed in large editions as postcards. As for his academic career, Kampf became an assistant professor at the Düsseldorf Academy of Art in 1887, and in 1894 he was appointed professor of the class for antiquities and nature, and in 1897 he became head of the painting class. In 1899 Kampf was appointed director of the history painting studio at the Berlin Academy of Art. In 1901 he became a full member of the academy and was its president from 1907 to 1912. As Anton von Werner's successor, Kampf directed the Academy of Fine Arts in Charlottenburg from 1915 to 1925. Among his monumental works is the painting of the assembly hall of the Aachen town hall, done between 1898 and 1902. It focuses on the social welfare of the state and the work of the people. Important subsequent commissions include the painting of the reading room of the new Royal Library in Berlin and the new auditorium of the University of Berlin with "Fichte's Speech to the German Nation". During World War I, at the request of General Ewald von Lochow, Kampf traveled to the Western theaters of war, including Warsaw in 1916. In addition to painting, Kampf was also intensively involved in printmaking and, together with his brother Eugen and artist friends such as Alexander Frenz and Olof Jernberg, was considered an innovator of lithography in Düsseldorf. From 1913 on, he worked continuously as an illustrator of historical works and literary classics such as Shakespeare and Goethe. Kampf remained a recognized artist after 1933. On the occasion of the retrospective of his complete works at the "Great German Art Exhibition", he was awarded the "Eagle Shield of the German Reich". During the final phase of World War II, Kampf was placed on Hitler's "Gottbegnadetenliste," which protected him from military service. After World War II, Kampf, whose work was largely destroyed, fell into obscurity. Arthur Kampf belonged to numerous artists' associations. He was a member of the "Rheinisch-Westfälischer Künstlerbund", the "Society of German Watercolorists", the "Association of German Illustrators", the "Malkasten", the "Künstlerclub St. Lucas", the "Düsseldorfer Künstlerbund", the "Freie Vereinigung Düsseldorfer Künstler" and the "Berliner Künstlerbund". Arthur Kampf's sister was married to the painter Alexander Frenz. "Kampf's public recognition in the German Empire later led to his being one-sidedly labeled as a history painter and representative of the Wilhelmine era. This classification does not do justice to the artist's oeuvre as a whole. His early talent did not experience a rapid development later on, but it reached an ever greater mastery in the sense of an impressively relaxed realism and extended thematically beyond history. Kampf was also an excellent draughtsman, etcher and lithographer. Many of his works have been destroyed or lost, and some lead a shadowy existence in museum storerooms." - Otto Zirk "His importance as a Wilhelminian painter and cultural politician has been forgotten in favor of an exaggerated reception of his work during the Third Reich. - Andreas Schroyen Selection of public collections that own works by Arthur Kampf: Altonaer Museum Hamburg, Berlinische Galerie, Burg Frankenberg Aachen, Busch-Reisinger Museum Cambridge/Mass., Deutsches Historisches Museum Berlin, Government Art Collection London, Kulturhistorisches Museum Magdeburg, Kunsthalle Hamburg, Museum für Kunst- und Kulturgeschichte Dortmund, Museum Kunstpalast Düsseldorf, Neue Nationalgalerie Berlin, Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum Aachen, Van der Heydt-Museum Wuppertal. Selected Bibliography Hans W...

Body in the Field #12, 2022 coloured pencils on canvas 25 H x 16 W cm Signed on reverse Zsolt Berszán embodies in his works the dissolution of the human body through the prism of ...

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...

Body in the Field #6, 2022 coloured pencils on canvas 25 H x 16 W cm Signed on reverse Zsolt Berszán embodies in his works the dissolution of the human body through the prism of t...

Emil Faesch (1865 Basel - 1915 Basel). Sketch of a head. Charcoal on painting cardboard, 60 x 47.5 cm (folio size), signed and dated at lower right "E. Faesch. 1888.". Minor browning. - Carved in stone - About the artwork The life-size head has an immensely present presence. This effect is due to the fact that Faesch took his cue from academic classical...

The War, 2023 collage on paper 46 H x 37.5 W cm Signed on right side down The artist wrote a text for this artwork. "I am looking out of the window. Beyond,...

Carl Friedrich Deiker (1838 Wetzlar - 1892 Düsseldorf). Vigilant fox. Pencil drawing on brown paper, 18 × 29.5 cm (inside measurement), 31.5 x 43.5 cm (mount), signed and dated "Deiker [18]54" at lower right. - a little bit stained, with a light water stain at lower right About the artwork Carl Friedrich Deiker's consummate ability to depict animals is already evident in this early work. He brought a whole new psychological dimension to animal painting, so that one could literally speak of animal portraits. The naturalistic appearance of the fox alone makes it seem alive. Every strand of muscle, even every hair, is captured, which requires an intensive artistic study of animal anatomy and physiology. But the fox's real liveliness comes not from its natural appearance, but from its internal movement: Stretched out, it has been brought out of rest. It turns around and, with its ears pricked up, looks intently in the direction from which it has seen something. His mouth is slightly open and his pointed teeth are bared, as if he were growling. Tension gradually takes hold of his whole body. While the hind legs were still in a relaxed position, closely observed by Deiker, one front leg was already raised, ready to begin a rising movement. The fox seems so alarmed with all its senses that one gets the impression that, at any moment, its tail will move jerkily and the animal will jump up. While wild animals have traditionally been portrayed as beasts or anthropomorphised, often for caricatural purposes, Deiker explores their inherent nature by attempting to capture their psychic impulses. The wild animal is neither bestial nor human, but a creature in its own right, valued by Deiker for its own sake. In this way, he brought the dignity of the animal into representation and raised animal painting to a whole new artistic level. About the artist Carl Friedrich Deiker was the son of the drawing teacher Christian Friedrich Deiker and the younger brother of the animal painter Johannes Deiker. In addition to the family art lessons, Christian Friedrich shared a studio with his brother Johannes at Braunfels Castle, Deiker attended the drawing academy in Hanau, and from 1858 he was a student at the Karlsruhe Art Academy, where he studied under the landscape painter Johann Wilhelm Schirmer. Carl Friedrich Deiker was already in demand as an artist during his first year: Grand Duke Frederick I of Baden, Margrave Max of Baden and Grand Duke Michael of Russia bought hunting scenes by him. In 1859 he went on a study trip to the Reinhardswald. Just as the Barbizon School had rediscovered the landscape, Deiker opened up the forest for animal painting. From 1861-64 Deiker had his own studio in Karlsruhe, then moved to Düsseldorf, where his brother Johannes followed four years later. Deiker married a daughter of the landscape painter Karl Hilger and remained in Düsseldorf until his death. In 1868 he finally achieved international fame with his painting 'Pursued Noble Deer' and was regarded as a virtuoso new founder of animal painting. "Deiker brought for the first time a truly great artistic quality to animal painting [...]". - Hans Vollmer From 1870 he participated in the academic art exhibitions in Berlin, Dresden, Munich and Hanover. He was also very busy as an illustrator. He drew for the Gartenlaube, the Salon, the Universum, and produced many of the finely illustrated hunting and animal books of the period. He also worked as a printmaker, while his oil paintings circulated as reprints by Franz Dinger. From 1865 to 1892 Deiker was a member of the artists' association Malkasten. Carl Friedrich Deiker's life's work was honoured with a large posthumous memorial exhibition at the Düsseldorf Kunsthalle in 1892. His son Carl Deiker, born in 1879, also became a painter. Selection of art museums that own works by Carl Friedrich Deiker: Hamburger Kunsthalle / Kunsthalle Karlsruhe / Kunstmuseum Düsseldorf / Wallraff Richartz Cologne. Selected Bibliography H. Schmidt: Johannes and...

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...

Otto Günther-Naumburg (1856-1941), The Ruins of St. Clement's Church in Visby, Sweden. Watercolor and ink, heightened with white, on sand-colored paper, mounted on cardboard, 33 x 24...

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 ...

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...

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)...

Manfred K. Schwitteck (*1948), Still life with fish bones, pencil and pencil sharpener, 1992. watercolor over pencil on handmade paper, 31.5 x 45 cm (visible size), 47 x 61 cm (frame...

Untitled_Dead Body on the Field #2, 2022 coloured pencils on paper 39 3/8 H x 27 9/16 W inches 100 H x 70 W cm Signed on reverse Zsolt Berszán embodies in ...

Untitled_Body on the Field #4, 2022 coloured pencils on paper 39 3/8 H x 27 9/16 W inches 100 H x 70 W cm Signed on reverse Zsolt Berszán embodies in his works the dissolution of t...

Charles Edward Brittan Jr (1870 Plymouth - 1949). High moor landscape in the fog. Gouache, signed at lower left "Charles E. Brittan", 18 x 34.5 cm (passepartout), 45 x 62 cm (frame)....

Ernst Albert Fischer-Cörlin (1853 Körlin - 1932 Persante). Feeding the Kittens, 1893. Pencil on painting cardboard, 38 x 29 cm. Signed and dated by the artist at lower left "E[rnst] A[lbert] Fischer=Cörlin 1893". - Lightly stained, somewhat dusty and minimally foxed. - Little cat mother - About the artwork Daughter, mother and grandmother gather in the sunlight to feed a litter of kittens. The mother and grandmother hold the lively, playful animals in their arms, while the young girl feeds two of the four kittens with cookies. There is also a small bucket of milk and a bowl of milk. The women and the girl watch as the cute, still blind animals eat. It is a scene taken from everyday life, but it also has an allegorical dimension, bringing maternal care into the representation. Three generations are represented, with the grandmother and the mother already mothers. They not only offer the kittens to the youngest, but also proudly observe the maternal care that the youngest gives to the kittens. Like the kittens, she will grow up and become a mother herself, so the image is also an allegory of life's ever-new beginnings. In keeping with this, the morning sun shines into the picture from the right. Fischer-Cörlin has masterfully worked out the quality of the light, with its light and dark areas, with the pencil used...

Manfred K. Schwitteck (*1948), Still life with fish bones and champagne corks, 1992. watercolor over pencil on handmade paper, 31.5 x 45 cm (visible size), 47 x 61 cm (frame), signed...

Hermann Prell (1854 Leipzig - 1922 Dresden-Loschwitz). Half-length portrait of a Pharisee, 1885. Sketch for the right-hand figure in the painting Judas Iscariot, 1886. Pencil drawing heightened with opaque white and black chalk on beige-grey wove paper (papier vélin), 34 x 27.8 cm (visible size), 52 x 45 cm (mount), signed, dated and inscribed "H. PRELL 1885 zu 'Judas'". Minor browning, collection stamp on the reverse. - In the shadow of betrayal - About the artwork This painting is the sketch for the head of the Pharisee offering the coins to Judas in one of Herrmann Prell's major works, the painting Betrayal of Judas, completed in 1886. The painting belongs to the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden and is illustrated in Adolf Rosenberg: Prell, Bielefeld and Leipzig 1901, p. 21 (Fig. 19). It is especially highlighted in Thieme-Becker (vol. 27, p. 376). Hermann Prell, Betrayal of Judas, 1886 The monumental head, which fills the picture and is distinguished by its ornamented robe, is almost a lost profile, which in the executed painting is justified by the Pharisee's turning towards Judas. Despite the fact that the sitter withdraws from the viewer by turning away, it was necessary to artistically elaborate the motivation for the purchase of one of Christ's disciples, which is why the drawing focuses on the expression of the face, while the 'accessories' are treated in a more summary manner. In characterising the face, Hermann Prell performs a balancing act: since the Pharisee, despite his destructive actions, is an actor in the history of salvation, the head must show a dignity appropriate to the event, but at the same time the physiognomy must also bear witness to the scheming attitude that led to the betrayal. To solve this dilemma, Prell draws on the traditional depictions of the heads of the apostles, shading the face to indicate the obdurate darkness of the spirit and moving the base of the nose slightly upwards while the mouth falls away, thus giving a physiognomic expression to the motivation of the action. The fatal drama of the betrayal is expressed in the monumentalisation of the head and in the thunderous white highlights that contrast with the darkness of the chalk. As a study, considered by the artist to be a work in itself, this drawing reveals the pictorial problems and brainstorming of monumental painting. About the artist In 1872 Prell, who was one of the most important exponents of monumental painting of his time, began studying painting with Theodor Grosse at the Dresden Academy of Art and continued with Carl Gussow at the Berlin Academy in 1876. Hans von Marées taught him in Rome in 1878. More influential on his work, however, were Arnold Böcklin and Max Klinger, with whom Prell had been friends since his student days and with whom he worked together on several occasions. Prell's first major work, which established his reputation as a monumental painter, were the frescoes in the banqueting hall of the Architektenhaus in Berlin in 1881/82, commissioned by the state and depicting the different periods of architecture. Prell then went to Italy for two years to study fresco painting. Other major commissions followed. These included monumental frescoes in the town halls of Worms (1884), Hildesheim (1882-92), Gdansk (1895) and Dresden, the staircase of the Silesian Museum of Fine Arts in Breslau (1893/94), the throne room of the German Embassy in Rome (1896-99) and the staircase of the Albertinum in Dresden (1900-1904). From 1886 Prell taught at the academy of arts in Berlin and in 1892 he was appointed professor at the academy of arts in Dresden. His students included Osmar Schindler and Hans Unger...

Adalbert Holzer (1881 Munich - 1966 Munich). Wettersteinkamm. Watercolour, 29 x 34.5 cm (visible size), 37.5 x 43 cm (frame), signed and dated at lower right 'ADALBERT HOLZER [19]23'. Framed behind glass. Frame shows signs of wear. - The blue of the mountains - About the artwork The Wetterstein ridge is revealed to the viewer from a gentle, snow-covered hill. In contrast to conventional depictions of mountains, the painting is composed entirely of shades of blue, which condense into the blue-grey of the rock or fade into the white of the snow. As a complementary colour to the blue, Holzer virtuously activates the ochre ground. The uniform yet exciting polarity of the colours emphasises the massive majesty of the mountains and at the same time underlines the special character of the Wetterstein ridge. Holzer transferred the translucency of glass painting, in which he was originally trained, to watercolour and developed a pictorial language related to the art of Ferdinand Hodler, which earned him the nickname 'Master of Blue' and led to the appreciation of his watercolours in particular. About the artist After an apprenticeship as a stained glass painter at the Kunstgewerbeschule, Adalbert Holzer studied at the Munich Art Academy under Carl von Marr...

Johannes Friedrich Heinrich Hänsch (1875-1945), Red blooming war landscape with dead soldier, 1918. Watercolor and gouache on paper, 15 x 24.5 cm (image), 27 x 37 cm (sheet size / frame), monogrammed and dated "19JH18" at lower left. - Paper slightly darkened About the artwork Despite the relatively small format, the watercolor with an internal frame depicts a panoramic view of a flat landscape stretching to the horizon. As far as the eye can see, the poppies bloom in flaming red. The flowers are not rendered individually, however, creating an almost cohesive red surface. The bright red is interspersed with vegetal green. A complementary contrast that creates an intense color effect. In this color contrast, a white area breaks through from the middle ground, widening towards the foreground and surrounding a brown hole. Next to it, in blue, is the actual protagonist of the painting, the first thing that catches the eye: a dead soldier. Next to him is his helmet, revealing the empty interior. The brown, hollow shape corresponds to the hole in the ground. A shell funnel is surrounded by bright ash, which, like the inverted helmet, becomes a sign of death. The soldier's arms point to the funnel, while the empty helmet paraphrases the calotte of the skull and, like the funnel, thematizes the empty darkness of death. The soldier's body, however, is intact and not - as in Otto Dix's triptych "The War" - a dismembered corpse. Instead, Johannes Hänsch activates the landscape, especially the color, to illustrate a blooming landscape of death that extends from the shell funnel in the foreground to the rising column of smoke on the horizon. If the soldier's body is intact, the tangle of barbed wire emblematically placed over the empty helmet also appears tattered. On the right side of the picture, the barbed wire even seems to stretch its arms to the sky in horror. Against the background of this allegory, the content of the bright red also becomes clear: the landscape is drenched in blood, literally a sea of blood, and the single unknown soldier stands pars pro toto for all those who died on the battlefield. Dying in war is not dying in community, but in solitude. In order to emphasize the isolation in death, Johannes Hänsch has set the blue of the soldier in the axis given by his body in the middle ground of the picture into the red sea. A master of landscape painting, Hänsch succeeds in creating a natural-looking landscape allegory that illustrates the horror and death of war, without depicting the brutality of war itself. This singular 'war memorial' of the unknown soldier is the opposite of heroization and yet the dignity of the deceased soldier is preserved through the integrity of his body. About the artist As the son of the sculptor Adolf Haensch, the young Johannes received his first artistic training in his father's Berlin studio. However, he eventually decided to become a painter, and in 1897 he entered the Berlin Academy of Arts. He initially studied under Paul Vorgang and Eugen Bracht, and was particularly influenced by Bracht's increasingly colourful landscape painting. In 1901 he moved to the class of Friedrich Kallmorgen, with whom he spent several weeks on excursions into nature. In 1905 he became a master pupil of Albert Hertel, who taught him watercolour painting. From 1903 to 1933 he exhibited annually at the Great Berlin Art Exhibition, the exhibitions of the Berlin Artists' Association and the Munich Glaspalast. In 1905 he was awarded the Carl Blechen...

Bruno Paul (1874 Seifhennersdorf - 1968 Berlin). Self-portrait, c. 1895. Pencil on paper, mounted on cardboard, 53.5 x 35 cm, signed 'Paul' at upper left. - Homo nudus - About the artwork In a mirrored situation, Bruno Paul looks at himself in the picture. While his body, which is the size of the format, is shown in profile parallel to the picture, he turns his head into the picture in order to become aware of himself there, whereby the lighter use...

Untitled_Body on the Field #6, 2022 coloured pencils on paper 39 3/8 H x 27 9/16 W inches 100 H x 70 W cm Signed on reverse Zsolt Berszán embodies in his works the dissolution of t...

Body in the Field #5, 2022 coloured pencils on canvas 25 H x 16 W cm Signed on reverse Zsolt Berszán embodies in his works the dissolution of the human body through the prism of t...

Body in the Field #4, 2022 coloured pencils on canvas 25 H x 16 W cm Signed on reverse Zsolt Berszán embodies in his works the dissolution of the human body through the prism of t...

Untitled_Body on the Field #2, 2022 coloured pencils on paper 39 3/8 H x 27 9/16 W inches 100 H x 70 W cm Signed on reverse Zsolt Berszán embodies in his works the dissolution of t...

Untitled_Remains. The Dead Body on the Field, 2022 coloured pencils on paper 39 3/8 H x 27 9/16 W inches 100 H x 70 W cm Signed on reverse Zsolt Berszán em...

Untitled_Body on the Field #7, 2022 coloured pencils on paper 39 3/8 H x 27 9/16 W inches 100 H x 70 W cm Signed on reverse Zsolt Berszán embodies in his works the dissolution of t...

Body in the Field #7, 2022 coloured pencil on canvas 9.84 H x 6.29 W in. 25 H x 16 W cm Signed on reverse Zsolt Berszán embodies in his works the dissolution of the human body throu...

Remains (Body in the Field 1), 2022 oil on paper (signed on reverse) 16 17/32 H x 11 13/16 W in. 42 H x 30 W cm Zsolt Berszán embodies in his works the dissolution of the human body...

Untitled 05, 2022 coloured pencils on paper 39 3/8 H x 27 9/16 W inches 100 H x 70 W cm Signed on reverse Zsolt Berszán embodies in his works the dissolution of the human body throu...

Untitled_Body on the Field #3, 2022 coloured pencils on paper 39 3/8 H x 27 9/16 W inches 100 H x 70 W cm Signed on reverse Zsolt Berszán embodies in his works the dissolution of t...

Untitled_Body on the Field #8, 2022 coloured pencils on paper 39 3/8 H x 27 9/16 W inches 100 H x 70 W cm Signed on reverse Zsolt Berszán embodies in his works the dissolution of th...

Untitled_Body Remains on the Field, 2022 coloured pencils on paper 39 3/8 H x 27 9/16 W inches 100 H x 70 W cm Signed on reverse Zsolt Berszán embodies in his works the dissolution...

Untitled_Body on the Field #1, 2022 coloured pencils on paper 39 3/8 H x 27 9/16 W inches 100 H x 70 W cm Signed on reverse Zsolt Berszán embodies in his works the dissolution of th...