Roots of an alder

Details

Nicht bei Grummt.

Literatur:
Christina Grummt, Caspar David Friedrich. Die Zeichnungen. Das gesamte Werk, München 2011, S. 529, vgl. Kat.-Nr. 559.

Provenienz:
Woldemar Kunis (1872-1928), Dohna bei Dresden, verso mit dem Sammlerstempel (Lugt 2635);
thüringischer Adelsbesitz;
Kunsthandel Ralph R. Haugwitz, Berlin, 2014 von obigem erworben;
Privatsammlung, Sachsen, in obigem Kunsthandel 2016 erworben.

Description

Caspar David Friedrich often used pencil as a drawing medium, which was still in its infancy at the time, particularly frequently in his sketchbooks for nature studies. Our sheet, in which Friedrich observes the growth of a tree root, is one such nature study. The concentration of the drawing on the centre, on the detailed observation of the vividly protruding roots from which the trunk develops, and the lessening of the drawing’s attention towards the periphery, where the roots merge into the surface, reveal a focus on the observation of nature that is characteristic of Romanticism. Detailed, differentiated sections are juxtaposed with more fleeting areas – presented here in a particularly subtle way in the use of a pointed, possibly harder pencil and a softer pencil used in a painterly manner. Harder in the outline, softer in the regular hatching of the inner drawing, which alternates with the white paper ground left blank, creating a finely tuned, almost delicate interplay of light and shadow.
Friedrich had already explored the theme of tree roots early on after his arrival in Dresden, but there they usually remained part of a larger pictorial ensemble. Tree roots as an independent pictorial theme first appear in his Dresden sketchbook (Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, Kupferstich-Kabinett, inv. no. C 1933-276), which Friedrich used between 1807 and 1812. In addition to mountain and river landscapes and studies of trees, branches and foliage, it also contains roots of various tree species. The closest to our sheet is a pencil drawing made on 21 April 1808, which shows the same root from the same angle (Grummt 559). In addition to the date, Friedrich described it in more detail as an alder standing by the water – the proximity to the water may have caused the “almost surrealistic” (Werner Sumowski) exposure of the roots.
On this sheet there are a total of three root studies, one below the other – the day before he had already photographed the same root from a slightly different angle. It would therefore be reasonable to assume that our sheet was also created in April 1808, but this must remain open for the time being, as Friedrich certainly worked on the same subject several times over a long period of time – in her expert opinion, Christina Grummt refers to a plant study with coltsfoot created in 1799 (Grummt 121), which Friedrich repeated at the beginning of 1807 (Grummt 526). And for his paintings – as the recent exhibition in the Hamburger Kunsthalle impressively demonstrated – Friedrich repeatedly drew on his nature studies, but no painting with the alder root is known to date. Werner Sumowski wanted to recognise a “hieroglyphic charm” in the three root studies in the Dresden sketchbook, and it may have been this special pictorial effect that prompted Friedrich to return to the alder root on a separate sheet. – Slight foxing. The lower right corner somewhat unevenly trimmed. Verso in upper margin with mounting hinge. In good condition.
Dr Peter Prange

 
With a written certificate by Prof. Dr Helmut Börsch-Supan, Berlin, dated 23 June 2014 and by Dr Christina Grummt, Bülach, dated 10 August 2016.