KÜSTENLANDSCHAFT 

Curator: Let’s turn our attention to this “Küstenlandschaft,” or “Coastal Landscape,” an oil painting believed to be by Carl Spitzweg. What’s your immediate reaction? Editor: It’s all sky, isn’t it? An oppressive sky. Makes you feel rather small, looking at that churn of grey. You almost taste the salt and wet wool. It’s melancholic but somehow… grand? Curator: Absolutely. Spitzweg captures a certain feeling through deceptively simple means. We know Spitzweg worked primarily with oil paint and, in keeping with Realism, a core tenet was truthfulness. But it also sought a middle ground, reconciling realism with established pictorial traditions of landscape. I believe, for the middle class of the time. Editor: Right, the middle class consumer. And think of the paint itself: ground pigments, linseed oil. The accessibility of oil paint helped democratize landscape painting, moving it away from pure, academic history painting. You get the feeling Spitzweg actually stomped around in landscapes a little like this; to feel what the lower-middle classes felt: being in the middle. Curator: Yes, and despite what looks like quick strokes, he meticulously captures details - look at the small structures nestled in the coastlines; so, tellingly isolated. Do you think he tried to evoke specific emotion through this contrast between vast landscape and minor signs of dwelling, or labor? Editor: Probably, it must speak volumes to the 19th century man or woman of small standing in society. Look at those dabs of red to emphasize rooflines against dark shades. Color as…dare I say, morale-boosting industrial product, for painter and proletariat! Not so different as an urban street scene if you ask me. Curator: An intriguing read indeed! Even the scale - compact but panoramic - suits that narrative. We are both embracing its realism and, in ways, how much artistic invention goes into that vision. Editor: Indeed. A small painting carrying the weight of societal and environmental concerns… the more things change, eh?