Erinnerung an… 1940

Karl Wiener made this drawing, Erinnerung an…, in 1940, probably with charcoal or conté crayon. The palette is very dark, almost nocturnal. It's as if the artist let the image slowly emerge from the darkness by rubbing the charcoal, like a memory gradually surfacing into consciousness. I imagine him sitting in the dark, looking out of the window, and sketching what he saw; a moon, a window frame, the suggestion of a bed. The image is softened, maybe by his fingers, gently smudging the marks and veiling the view. There is a softness and quietness to the piece that feels very intimate. It makes me think of other artists who have looked to capture the world through a window, like Caspar David Friedrich. Artists are always looking at each other, riffing off each other, engaging in one big conversation through the ages! Each of them embracing this ambiguity, expressing something which words simply cannot.