Bare Conifers, Christian Rohlfs
Christian Rohlfs
Bare Conifers
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Christian Rohlfs

Bare Conifers, 1921


Blatt
614 x 480 mm
Physical Description
Water tempera on wove paper (perforations in the corners)
Inventory Number
17908
Object Number
17908 Z
Acquisition
Acquired in 2019 as a bequest from Ulrike Crespo from the Karl Ströher Collection
Status
Can be presented in the study room of the Graphische Sammlung (special opening hours)

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About the Work

A vivid blue dominates the composition. It is the sky, crisscrossed with low clouds and bare conifer trunks. Rohlfs applied it with dynamic brushwork: layers of wide, intersecting strokes create a rhythmic web. He also introduced streaks of light by removing the blue in places, and integrated the earthy hues of the vegetation. The impression of nature thus becomes a colour composition. The water temperas he used almost exclusively from 1920/21 onwards enhance the subtle plays of colour and light.

About the Acquisition

The Städel Museum has the photographer, psychotherapist, philanthropist, and long-time Frankfurt resident Ulrike Crespo (1950–2019) to thank for more than ninety works ranging from classical modernism to American pop art. The paintings, drawings, and prints by Wassily Kandinsky, Otto Dix, Oskar Schlemmer, Max Ernst, Jean Dubuffet, Cy Twombly, and others originally belonged to the holdings of her grandfather, the Darmstadt-based industrialist Karl Ströher (1890–1977), who amassed an extensive art collection after World War II.

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Last update

26.11.2024