Eduard Peithner Von Lichtenfels, Forest, Mixed Media Drawing, 1884

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Description

Eduard Peithner von Lichtenfels (1833 Vienna - 1913 Berlin), Woodland, 1884. Watercolor and pen and ink on drawing paper, 30.4 … Read more Eduard Peithner von Lichtenfels (1833 Vienna - 1913 Berlin), Woodland, 1884. Watercolor and pen and ink on drawing paper, 30.4 cm x 22.5 cm, signed, dated and inscribed by the artist at lower left.
- in good condition



- The Inner Drama of the Landscape -



During his excursions, Eduard Peithner von Lichtenfels repeatedly discovered the inexhaustible richness of nature. Using a combination of pen-and-ink drawing and watercolor, techniques in which the artist specialized, he captured particularly impressive scenes. Here, we see a group of nearly uprooted conifers standing on a slope, extending the terrain's descending line upwards. Their uprooting appears all the more dramatic this way, especially since the two trees standing in a line — viewed from right to left — perform a tilting movement that increases the tension in the picture even more. The movement of the branches, heightened by the interplay of light and shadow, adds to the drama. The location and exact date suggest that this is not an artistic composition but rather an accurate depiction of the inner drama of the natural world before the artist's eyes.




About the artist


Eduard Peithner von Lichtenfels began studying at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts in 1854. In 1857, he moved to the Düsseldorf Academy of Art, where he was particularly influenced by Carl Friedrich Lessing's landscape paintings. In 1868, he became a member of the Academy in Vienna, where he taught landscape painting as a professor from 1872 to 1907. He also served as rector of the academy from 1878 to 1880 and from 1897 to 1899. As a landscape painting teacher, he promoted close study of nature and regularly took excursions to the Wachau. This led to the Wachau becoming a popular subject in Austrian landscape painting, and some of his students settled there. His students included Ferdinand Andri, Wilhelm Bernatzik, Eduard Zetsche, Heinrich Tomec, Hans Wilt, Johann Nepomuk Geller, and Maximilian Suppantschitsch. After retiring, Peithner von Lichtenfels lived in Nuremberg and Berlin for a time, where he died. See less