Winter landscape (1860) by Stowerroffsky von Friedrich ErnstCity Museum of Wrocław
Landscape is still quite a young genre of painting
While beautiful views were often the background for the unfolding events, the landscape itself only appeared as the main theme in the 17th century!
Landscape painting evolved over time. While artists initially relied on studio work based on nature sketches, the Impressionists later revolutionized the genre by painting outdoors.
1. Caspar David Friedrich
In Silesia, the most popular subject of landscapes was the Karkonosze Mountains. They were made famous by the journey of Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840) in the early 19th century.
After that, the artist's paintings began to feature numerous mountain motifs taken from the Karkonosze Mountains.
Since then, this mountain range has become a common source of inspiration for romantic imagery, which often depicted mountain nooks.
Riverside landscape in the forest (1880) by Dressler AdolfCity Museum of Wrocław
2. Adolf Dressler
In the beginning, Silesia was dominated by romantic landscapes, that is, landscapes that did not accurately reflect the nuances of the surroundings.
Artists of this period focused on capturing the specific atmosphere created by a given place. Consequently, landscapes were often composed from several different views so as to achieve the most interesting effect.
The forerunner of realistic landscape painting was Adolf Dressler (1833-1881), who is considered the most outstanding artist of this genre.
The artist, on the one hand, was fascinated by the richness of details of the surrounding world and, on the other hand, was very sensitive to the charm of nature.
As a result, he created realistic - romantic paintings of idyllic corners of the Karkonosze Mountains. In addition, he was the first major artist in the region who began to popularize plein-air work.
View of a rural stream (1909) by Staats GertrudCity Museum of Wrocław
3. Gertrud Staats
Among the numerous students of Adolf Dressler, Gertrud Staats (1859-1938), one of the most interesting Silesian painters, deserves special attention.
Like her master, the artist greatly appreciated the Karkonosze Mountains, which she often visited during painting plein-airs, which were traditionally attended by mainly men.
Staats liked to capture anonymous, atmospheric views. Initially, they were kept in the Dressler style, but later the artist developed her own, more impressionistic, painting language.
Her paintings quickly gained wide recognition among critics, who were reluctant to look down on women's art. The greatest compliment testifying to the high quality of the art was the statement that no female hand, female sentimentality or dilettantism was visible in the work.
All the more admiration for the artistic career of Gertrud Staats, who enjoyed a high reputation in this female-unfriendly environment.
View of Śnieżne Kotły (literally Snow Cauldrons) and Łabski Peak (1910) by Morgenstern Carl ErnstCity Museum of Wrocław
4. Carl Ernst Morgenstern
With the growth of interest in landscape painting among artists, the most important art school in Wrocław, the Royal School of Arts and Crafts, later the Academy of Fine Arts, decided to create a special class dedicated just to this painting.
It was to be headed by Adolf Dressler himself, but he died before the class was established.
It was decided to entrust the teaching there to Munich-born Carl Ernst Morgenstern (1847-1928), who reportedly accepted the position only after being promised permission to go on plein-air trips with students.
Almost all professional Silesian landscape painters of the next generation passed through his studio. Morgenstern himself had strong ties to the Karkonosze Mountains and was the author of the most extensive collection of depictions of these mountains.
Śnieżne Kotły (literally Snow Cauldrons) (1943) by Weimann PaulCity Museum of Wrocław
5. Paul Weimann
Morgenstern's class was left by painters with different artistic personalities. An artist who achieved significant financial success by maintaining a realistic style in his works was Paul Weimann (1867-1945).
He became famous for his views of the Karkonosze Mountains, of which he most often repeated the motif of the Śnieżne Kotły - Snow Cauldrons.
Weimann, unlike the previous generation of landscape painters, created his paintings primarily outdoors and only finished them in the studio.
Outside of Wrocław, Weimann also studied in Berlin, but he did not feel well in big cities. From 1900, he lived in Silesian villages or in small towns. Eventually, he and his family moved to Jelenia Góra, where he could admire the Karkonosze Mountains from his studio's windows.
Thanks to this, even when painting in the studio, the artist did not have to use sketches, instead he had the opportunity to observe the natural landscape.
Śnieżne Kotły (literally Snow Cauldrons) in winter (1929) by Wichmann GeorgCity Museum of Wrocław
6. Georg Wichmann
A completely different style was adopted by Georg Wichmann (1876-1944), another student of Morgenstern. Initially, his paintings also showed great influences of realism, but over time the artist modernized his approach to painting.
He created subsequent images in the impressionist style, which was gaining more and more dynamics. His late paintings were painted directly on unprimed boards, which appear here and there between the layers of paint.
Wichmann was called the "painter of the Karkonosze Mountains" due to the dominant presence of these mountains in his work. Like the first French Impressionists, he often returned to the same places to capture them at different times of the day and year.
He painted his works with strong brush strokes and kept them in expressive colors.
The Giant Mountains (1920) by Nickisch AlfredCity Museum of Wrocław
7. Alfred Nickisch
Painters Alfred Nickisch (1872-1948) and Heinrich Tüpke (1876-1951), who became friends during their studies, approached landscape subjects with tremendous dedication. Both were students in Morgenstern's landscape class.
Fascinated by the winter aura of the Karkonosze Mountains, they began to go there for plein-air trips. The trips became a small tradition of the friends and took place from 1898 to 1909. From 1900 they were also joined by another painter, Dresden-born Otto Fischer (1870 - 1947).
In those years, tourism in the Karkonosze Mountains was dying down in winter. To get to unheated wooden huts, painters used snowshoes or skis.
In reports, they described how, while sleeping in the huts, they woke up with their hair and beards frozen to the bed and the water frozen in their jugs. In one of the local newspapers it was reported that during one of the trips the painters miraculously avoided an avalanche.
The landscape of the Karkonosze Mountains - windbreaks (1929) by Tüpke HeinrichCity Museum of Wrocław
8. Heinrich Tüpke
The painters painted directly under the open sky during their trips. At first there were strong influences of realism in their works, but soon the style changed. The paintings became more and more dynamic.
Paint was laid down in quick and sweeping movements and the compositions ceased to be static. The artists arrived at similar results to the Impressionists, but in their case the change was largely due to independent work, as they did not have intensive contact with French art.
The winter plein-air trips lasted several months at a time until the beginning of spring, which came much more slowly in the mountains. The painters were very interested in the season of snowmelt - the moment between seasons, just before the rebirth of nature.
Often their paintings depicted views in a scene of slowly receding snow caps. Gradually, the paths of these friends diverged. Tüpke traveled outside Silesia more often and visited Egypt. Nickisch, on the other hand, remained in the region until the end of World War II.
The landscape of the Karkonosze Mountains (1940) by Jackowski von FranzCity Museum of Wrocław
9. Franz von Jackowski
Also of great importance for the development of the landscape was the St. Luke's Artists Association, which was founded in Upper Szklarska Poreba in 1922. One of the founding members was the very Nickisch, who lived in the village for some time.
Two other Morgenstern students - Franz von Jackowski (1885-1974) and Hans Oberländer (1885-1945) - moved there at a similar time.
Various associations and art colonies have been popular for some time. The painters decided to form their own organization focused on the cultural heritage of the Karkonosze Mountains.
The goal of "the Lukeers", as its members soon came to be called, became to capture the natural beauty of the mountains through their own art and to help promote and protect regional folklore.
Landscape in Szklarska Poręba (1942) by Oberländer HansCity Museum of Wrocław
10. Hans Oberländer
The artists affiliated with the "St. Luke's Artists Association" did not develop a common style. Although its activities were very focused on art, their demands were not about how the works should ultimately look.
The artists were united by their fascination with nature in general and the Karkonosze Mountains, which they tried to reflect in their works. As a result, artists with different personalities belonged to the "Association".
Despite these differences, there is one common tendency among the "the Lukeers" - a move away from classical realism to moderate impressionism. Some artists used quick, dynamic brushstrokes, while others preferred to operate with broad, flat patches of color.
All of them also worked in the open air and their paintings often decorated Karkonosze Mountains shelters. Popular subjects included Śnieżka Mountain, the Snowy Cauldrons, the Wielki Szyszak Mountain – the Great Shoshock Mountain or the Sokolnik Mountain – the Falconer Mountain
View of Szrenica Mountain (1910) by Nickisch AlfredCity Museum of Wrocław
The Lower Silesian mountains have been an important source of inspiration for many artists both in the past and now. We invite you to discover other landscapes or other objects from the collection of the Wroclaw City Museum.
Natalia Bobryk-Mauer
