Flügel der Elfe mit Grashalm c. 1867 - 1868

Curator: Here at the Städel Museum, we have "Flügel der Elfe mit Grashalm," or "Elf Wing with Blade of Grass," a pencil drawing on paper by Paul Konewka, dating from around 1867-1868. The work features the delicate, thinly sketched wings of an elf, as indicated by its title. Editor: My first thought? It looks ephemeral, like a butterfly pinned to old paper. The light pencil work almost fades into the aged tone of the ground. Curator: Absolutely. Consider the period, the Romantic era, when the natural world was heavily laden with spiritual significance. Elves and fairies populated artistic visions, embodiments of the soul residing within the forest. The wings suggest ethereal qualities. Editor: And I'm immediately struck by the material presence, though. This isn't some high-gloss academy study. Look at the visible imperfections of the homemade paper and smudges that stain the support; the way that Konewka experiments with shading gives a valuable insight to their method of making. Curator: Precisely. Fairy wings aren’t just decorative. In folklore, wings often symbolize freedom, transcendence, even transformation – a move between worlds or states of being. What the Romantic eye is looking at, or really yearning to know, is often inaccessible, out of reach... Editor: That longing becomes even more pronounced, doesn't it, when you see it manifested so plainly in these humble materials? There is no separation between this cultural myth, and the artist laboring with these rudimentary, almost crude tools to capture this fleeting, fragile idea. I can only imagine the artist using found materials. Curator: Indeed. Perhaps what is interesting here, finally, is the synthesis. We witness both the reaching for something transcendent, embodied by the symbolism, as well as a dedication to something quite earthly: the materiality and texture that roots this longing to a specific historical reality. Editor: I agree. There's beauty in seeing how cultural imaginaries are worked out with pencil on whatever paper comes to hand.