Pastel Journal - USA (2020-04)

Anatomy of a Painting

“Reasoning Out an Object”

AdolphvonMenzeldreweveryday,thebetter

to understandhisworld.

By JerryN.Weiss

A

dolphvonMenzel(1815–

1905)wasthebestGerman

artistofhisera,whichisto

say, theentiresecondhalfofthe19th

century.Menzel’sinitialpopularity

was basedonpaintingsofhistorical

subjects,andhelaterexcelledasa

genrepainter.Asgooda painterashe

was,he’smosthighlyregardedtoday

as a draftsman.Itseemshedrew

almosteverythinghesawwithjour-

nalisticfervor.“Whilebeingperfectly

healthy,”wroteartcriticEdmond

Duranty,“hehastheneurosisof

truthfulness.”Menzeldrewusing

bothhands—thoughhepreferred

the left—andsewedextrapockets

into hiscoattocarrysketchbooks.

Hisskillforrealisticrenderingis

all themoreimpressivegivenhislack

of traditionalschooling.Hebriefly

drewfromplastercastsattheBerlin

AcademyofArtandthenneverstud-

ied formallyagain.Menzelcalledthe

processofdrawing“reasoning

out anobject,”a pithywayofsaying

he drewtobetterunderstand.Instead

of followinga prescribedcourseof

study,heinsteadspenthislifefinding

his voice,sotospeak,onhisown.

Becauseofhisart,anddespitehis

socialawkwardness,Menzelwaswell

knowninBerlin.Heattendedsoirées

and founda devotedpatroninthe

Kaiser.Healsoenjoyedthefriendship

TheArtist’sSisterEmilie

(1851;blackchalkandstumpingwith

pastelonbrownwovepaper,

123⁄₁₆x97⁄₁₆) byAdolphvonMenzel

of writers and artists; Degas consid-

ered him the greatest of his peers.

Menzel’s objective vision produced

a frank self-assessment in his last

will and testament. He never mar-

ried, nor, by his account, did he ever

have any romantic experiences. “In

short,” he wrote, “there is a lack of

any kind of self-made bond between

me and the outside world.” Menzel

stood 4 feet 6 inches tall and had a

large head. His unusual appearance

at the very least contributed to a

sense of “otherness.”

His closest attachment was

most likely to his younger sister,

Emilie. Menzel drew and painted

her more than 100 times, often

while she napped. Th e Artist’s Sister

Emilie is notable for the implication

that Emilie halted her housework

long enough to hold a pose for her

brother. For his part, Menzel created

an unusually tender and sympathetic

depiction of his sibling. PJ

Jerry N. Weiss is a contributing writer to

fi ne art magazines. He teaches at the

Art Students League of New York.

“While being perfectly healthy, he has

the neurosis of truthfulness.”

—EDMOND DURANTY

Menzel’s father died whenthe

artist was 16 years old;the

teenager thereafter became

the family’s breadwinner.

After Emilie married one ofher

brother’s friends, she and Adolph

maintained their closeness, living

in adjacent apartments.The

warm portrayal of The Artist’s Sister

Emilie speaks to their connection.

Menzel’s handling of pastel

shows great rangeof

expression. He beganthe

drawing with a light outlinein

black chalk. Skin tones were

applied with a lightly smudged

touch, except for theside

plane of the head and nose,

where color was laid down

more crisply. Accents were

dashed on with black chalkin

the hair and around the eyes.

In the 1840s and ’50s, Menzel

sometimes used pastelto

draw on brown paper.For

this work, the paletteis

characteristically limited,the

paper left as background

tone. A half-dozen colorscan

be discerned here, including

perhaps two differentskin

tones; red on the mouth;

brown and blue-gray inthe

hair; and white for the dress.

8 Pastel Journal APRIL 2020