Wasserfall 1770

Curator: Here we have Ferdinand Kobell’s “Wasserfall,” created around 1770. It’s a stunning example of a Romantic landscape drawing using watercolor. What’s your first take? Editor: It’s bleak, almost desolate. The muted colors give the scene a heavy, somber feel, as though the very air is saturated with dampness and gloom. Curator: Indeed. Kobell’s masterful use of line and wash certainly evokes a palpable mood. Notice how he utilizes the verticality of the falls and rock formations to emphasize the sublime power of nature. There's a certain drama in the light playing off the cascading water. Editor: What strikes me is the simplicity of the medium, juxtaposed with the grandiosity of the subject. Watercolor drawings from this time, often considered preliminary studies, reveal an economy of artistic labor. How many hours did it actually take Kobell to depict this dramatic scene, and who commissioned the work? I'm always thinking about how the process reflects social context. Curator: A fair question. And yet, despite the speed of execution you’ve suggested, Kobell constructs a structured composition with purpose. The artist uses layers of dilute wash, in browns and grays, building tonal variation which contributes to the atmosphere. Consider how each stroke is essential; the minimal means yielding maximum emotive expression. Editor: That emotional resonance interests me as well. Romanticism idealized a certain wildness. But it was often the product of an artistic or literary workshop, as opposed to a real experience of wild nature. Think of the paper's origin and processing too. Its materiality connects it to wider colonial networks for resources and production of art supplies during this era. Curator: So, you are inviting us to think about both nature and its representation as human constructs. Still, consider the ways Kobell manipulates visual structure: the interplay of shadow and light suggests that even something produced could provoke an overwhelming emotional response in its viewer. Editor: Perhaps, it reminds us how nature and art are commodities created under a certain form of industrialized labor. This drawing encapsulates contradictions central to that moment of nascent Romanticism, in material, in technique, in intent. Curator: An apt reflection that contextualizes both our experience and, indeed, Kobell’s artistic gesture. Editor: Yes, and from all this we see a waterfall becomes a meditation.