Franz Radziwill — Landschaft mit gelben Bäumen (1922)

Description

CharacteristicsSigned bottom left – monogrammed ‘FR’ in red.

Overall in good condition.

Frame size98 × 93 cm
38.6 × 36.6 in

Catalogue raisonnéFirmenich/Schulze: 123

The Story BehindThe painting, created in 1922, is an impressive manifesto of Franz Radziwill’s engagement with Expressionist painting. A strong two-dimensionality, plunging perspectives and a palette emphasising the fundamental tones show the impression that the works of “Brücke” artists such as Karl Schmidt-Rottluff and Erich Heckel must have made on the artist. It was also Schmidt-Rottluff who recommended that he discover Dangast. After Radziwill had initially commuted between Bremen, Hamburg, Berlin and Dangast, he settled in the village on the Jadebusen in 1922.

The “Landschaft mit gelben Bäumen” (“Landscape with Yellow Trees”) shows that Franz Radziwill did not simply imitate the Expressionism of the “Brücke”, but received and developed it further. Thus he extends the palette, which is characterised by complementary contrasts, to include grey-black sections, which together create an atmospheric picture that heralds the mysticism of later phases of his work. This dark landscape scene appears unreal, almost uncanny, in which the viewer no longer seems to have any secure footing. The mill on the country road south of Dangast serves as the main motif.