Illustration til "Sehnsucht", et digt af Joseph von Eichendorff 1843 - 1846

Curator: Hermine Stilke created this enchanting etching, "Illustration til 'Sehnsucht', et digt af Joseph von Eichendorff," sometime between 1843 and 1846. It resides here at the SMK. It immediately whispers of fairytales and secret gardens, doesn't it? Editor: Absolutely, it’s visually quite intricate. The first thing that strikes me is the level of detail achievable with etching— such fine lines building a complete Romantic narrative in miniature. I mean, what paper stock was even available then to accomplish this? Curator: Knowing Hermine, it probably felt less like "accomplishing" and more like conjuring! It’s a true romantic work. You see the wistful figures, the crumbling architecture overrun with vines, it's pure longing embodied. Etching was key to democratizing images then, letting these fables enter many homes. It could hardly have been a very material process for her as it has the style from Romanticism that is far to think about reality! Editor: Still, the process is undeniably material. Think of the labour, the copper plates, the acids involved, even the paper pulp. Etching provided access but relied on industrializing craft practices. Curator: That industrial backbone supported a flowering of dreams! The narrative unfurls beautifully around Eichendorff’s poem. Imagine sitting by the window as the night deepens reading, the work mirroring that sweet ache of melancholy... It feels deeply, deeply personal. Editor: I get it, that era loved its moody introspective scenes, and Hermine really evokes it. But even in those emotions, materials dictate so much. What inks she used would give certain tonality which contributes on viewer interpretation. This "longing" would shift. The composition is really compelling and invites for introspection. The way elements get composed for one piece affects on message from art and emotion viewers take on it. Curator: Well, now I’m picturing her grinding pigments with those delicate hands! Although her world expanded thanks to more available media and material processes and industrial support, she truly took off to the point she managed to master them to put pure, unfettered yearning onto paper, not just record a landscape. It resonates across centuries! Editor: Point taken. It is captivating, a beautiful dialogue between craft, poem, image, and all with echoes of industry shaping its form. A lasting conversation between emotion and form, then and now.