Flusslandschaft mit Dorf c. 1890

Adolf Hölzel captured this ‘River Landscape with Village’ with oil paints, applied with loose brushwork onto what appears to be canvas. You can see how the artist allowed the inherent qualities of the oil paint - its fluidity and capacity for layering - to dictate the form of the work. Notice how the paint creates depth and texture; areas of thick impasto convey the foliage and the rough terrain, with thin washes suggesting the atmospheric sky. The visible brushstrokes reveal Hölzel’s process, but also the rural labor in the landscape. It is important to remember that the production of oil paints involves industrial processes and global trade networks, a fact that is in stark contrast with the scene he depicts, perhaps commenting on rural life being consumed and transformed by industrialization. The beauty of ‘River Landscape with Village’ lies not just in its aesthetic appeal, but in its capacity to remind us of the materials, labor, and social context embedded within it, inviting us to reconsider the boundaries between art and the wider world.