Illies brings forgotten romantics to light

Created: 07/10/2022, 15:12

Exhibition “The Last Romantic.

Albert Venus” in the Kupferstich-Kabinett.

© Robert Michael/dpa/ZB

With the exhibition “The Last Romantic.

Albert Venus” in the Dresden Kupferstich-Kabinett fulfills a long-held need for author and journalist Florian Illies: to bring the Dresden painter and pupil of Ludwig Richter (1803-1884) out of obscurity.

"The love for Venus is 15 years old, it started tenderly, then became more and more intense and is now reaching its climax," said the 51-year-old, who initiated and co-curated the show, on Friday before the opening in Dresden.

Dresden - The exhibition brings together everything "that one knows about Venus".

The team found pictures and people "who are just as ardent admirers".

It is the first major solo exhibition of works by the landscape painter, who lived from 1842 to 1871.

He was only 29 years old.

With Venus, Dresden Romanticism "comes to its shining end," said Illies, who is also an art historian.

During trips to Italy in 1866 and 1869, naturalistic and impressionistic tones made him “a highly interesting artist figure in the midst of a great aesthetic turning point”.

At first he thought Venus was an invention because of the surname, Illies said.

His pictures seemed "as poetic as if conceived by some Venus".

More than 120 drawings, oil studies on paper, studies and paintings on canvas provide insights into the work of the artist, who was wrongly overshadowed by his teacher and other romantics.

54 are from the collection, including eight oil studies and 16 drawings that recently came into the collection as a gift from the Circle of Friends.

62 works are prominent loans from museums and private collections that the curators discovered.

The successful discovery of unknown letters that promote further research on Venus will be shown for the first time, said Senior Conservator Petra Kuhlmann-Hodick.

The artist's correspondence from the years 1865 to 1869 with numerous letters to his future wife Cäcilie Paul and to artist friends and his teacher Ludwig Richter formed an important source.

There is great appreciation among connoisseurs, said Illies.

The exhibition throws a new light "on this Saxon art in the 19th century", which shows how "this Biedermeier character" in Richter's art was overcome "through painting".

With Venus there are no more figures in the landscape, as they were typical of his teacher.

"And suddenly these landscapes get unbelievable immediacy and freshness".

On the works discovered in museums and private collections, Venus' name is written in small letters and the "student of Ludwig Richter" in large letters as the seal of quality at the time, which then tipped over and became a shadow "from which he could no longer get out," explained Illies.

The discovery in Dresden in 1932 was followed by the "unfortunate boom" of the 19th century under National Socialism.

It then took a very long time “to recover from these false friends”.

Illies is betting that more Venus images will appear.

The catalog raisonné presented with the show includes around 150 works between 1859 and his death and thus around ten pictures per creative year.

"That certainly does not correspond to reality." dpa