Wiederholung des Hundes vom Recto c. 1790

Curator: Here we have Wilhelm von Kobell's "Wiederholung des Hundes vom Recto," or "Repetition of the Dog from the Recto," created around 1790. It’s currently housed at the Städel Museum. The artwork seems to be watercolor on paper. What are your initial thoughts? Editor: My first impression? Faint. Ghostly. It feels like peering at a half-formed memory. You almost miss the little dog; he’s so delicately rendered. It’s incredibly subtle and evocative, wouldn't you agree? Curator: I do. The materiality is fascinating, considering the period. Kobell’s use of watercolor on paper in this drawing showcases a direct engagement with Romanticism, which valued both direct observation and idealized representation. Notice how the minimal application creates a sense of ethereal beauty. How do you think that plays into artistic and market value? Editor: It's interesting you bring that up because there's almost an unfinished quality to it, right? It invites me, the viewer, to collaborate in its completion. Maybe that open space hints at freedom, like a sketch left behind by a wandering soul in love with nature. Curator: Precisely! The artwork becomes a stage for individual projection, engaging directly with changing ideas around Romantic individualism and what labor an artwork should signify. How did unfinished work inform aesthetic judgment then and now? Editor: Ah, a touch of social commentary perhaps. And a dog, chosen, perhaps, as an everyman—everydog?—in a changing landscape. Did Kobell create art that speaks to our anxieties surrounding production and consumption, making his sketches, perhaps, even more appealing than the full realization. He shows us his labor by seemingly withholding it. Clever, no? Curator: That interpretation resonates deeply, especially when thinking about labor as value, with labor so deftly concealed. Ultimately, whether he fully intended it or not, his subtle layering transforms mundane materials and actions, drawing, paper, and watercolor into much more. Editor: So, Kobell's dog trots lightly off the page and into our minds, provoking, puzzling, and definitely intriguing, wouldn't you say? Curator: Absolutely.