ALPSPITZE PEINT PAR WASSILY KANDINSKY

 

WASSILY KANDINSKY (1866-1944)
Alpspitze (2,628 m - 8,622ft)
Allemagne (Bavière)

In Kochel, Gerade Straße, 1909, Huile sur carton, 32.9 x 44.6 cm. Lenbachhaus, Munich  

A propos de cette toile

 La Montagne bleue (1908-1909) -  on devrait dire d'ailleurs LES montagnes bleue car Kandinsky a peint  plusieurs  fois  ce même sujet à cette époque - montre sa nette évolution vers l'abstraction en moins de deux années. La large utilisation de la couleur dans ces tableaux illustre l'inclination de Kandinsky vers un art dans lequel la couleur commence à s'affranchir de la forme, et où chaque couleur est représenté avec la même attention, la même importance.

La montagne
L'Alpspitze (2,628 m - 8,622ft) est une montagne de Bavière, en Allemagne. Son sommet pyramidal connu sous le nom de Montagne Bleue, est le symbole de Garmisch-Partenkirchen et  l'un des plus repérables des Alpes du Nord. Il est constitué principalement de calcaire de Wetterstein du Trias supérieur.
Plusieurs routes permettent l'ascension de l'Alpspitze. La  plus courte commence à la station d'Osterfelderkopf (2 033 m) au téléphérique Alpspitze de Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Depuis l'Osterfelderkopf, l'Alpspitze peut être escaladé soit directement le long de l'Alpspitz-Ferrata, une route facile, protégée et très fréquentée (à environ 2 heures de l'Osterfelderkopf), soit le sommet peut être atteint par la montée de la face nord (Nordwandsteig), qui tourne en courbe vers l'est dans le cirque d'Oberkar et de là longe le bord gauche du cirque jusqu'au sommet.
Une autre ascension part du col de Grießkarscharte (2 460 m), que l'on atteint soit depuis le refuge Höllentalanger dans la vallée de Höllental via le cirque de Mathaisenkar soit depuis le lac de Stuibensee via le cirque de Grießkar.

Le peintre
Wassily Wassilyevich Kandinsky (Васи́лий Васи́льевич Канди́нский) était un peintre franco-russe et théoricien de l'art. On lui attribue la peinture de l'une des premières œuvres purement abstraites reconnues. Né à Moscou, Kandinsky a passé son enfance à Odessa, où il est diplômé de l'école d'art Grekov. Il s'est inscrit à l'Université de Moscou, étudiant le droit et l'économie. Il se voit rapidement offrir une chaire de professeur (chaire de droit romain) à l'Université de Dorpat. Kandinsky commence des études de peinture (dessin d'après nature, croquis et anatomie) à l'âge de 30 ans.
En 1896, Kandinsky s'installe à Munich, étudiant d'abord à l'école privée d'Anton Ažbe puis à l'Académie des Beaux-Arts.
Entre 1906 à 1908, il voyagea  beaucoup à travers l'Europe jusqu'à ce qu'il s'installe dans la petite ville bavaroise de Murnau. En 1908, il acheta un exemplaire de Thought-Forms d'Annie Besant et de Charles Webster Leadbeater. En 1909, il rejoint la Société Théosophique. Après le déclenchement de la Première Guerre mondiale, Kandinsky quitte l'Allemagne pour Moscou. Indifférent aux théories officielles sur l'art dans la Russie communiste, il rentre rapidement en Allemagne en 1920, quelques années après la Révolution. Là, il a enseigné à l'école d'art et d'architecture du Bauhaus de 1922 jusqu'à ce que les nazis la ferment en 1933. Il s'installe ensuite en France, où il vécut pour le reste de sa vie, devenant citoyen français en 1939 et produisant certains de ses plus art de premier plan. Il meurt à Neuilly-sur-Seine en 1944.

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2023 - Wandering Vertexes ....
Errant au-dessus des Sommets Silencieux...
Un blog de Francis Rousseau

LE MASSIF DU WETTERSTEIN PEINT PAR EDWARD H. COMPTON

EDWARD H. COMPTON  (1861-1960)
Le Wetterstein (2 ,962 m)
Allemagne- Autriche

In  Un blick auf Wettersteingebirge, darunter schloss elmaug, huile ur toile

 

 La montagne

Le Wetterstein (littéralement Pierre dy temps ) est un massif des Préalpes orientales septentrionales. Il s'élève entre l'Autriche (Land du Tyrol) et l'Allemagne (Bavière). La Zugspitze est le point culminant du massif, ainsi que de l'Allemagne. Le massif est entouré par les Préalpes bavaroises au nord-est, les Karwendel à l'est, les Alpes de Stubai au sud, les Alpes de l'Ötztal au sud-ouest, les Alpes de Lechtal à l'ouest et les Alpes d'Ammerg au au nord-ouest. Il est bordé au sud par l'Inn et à l'ouest et au nord-ouest par le Loisach. Il est également traversé en direction de l'est par le Leutascher AcheAu sud de ce dernier, on distingue habituellement le chaînon de Mieming (Mieminger Kette) du reste du massif.

Le peintre 

Edward Harrison Compton est un peintre et illustrateur allemand d'origine britannique. Né  Bavière, il est le second fils du peintre Edward Theodore Compton  (1849-1921) né en Angleterre. Il a contracté la poliomyélite à l'âge de 20 ans, et a été en fauteuil roulant les 20 dernières années de sa vie. Ses œuvres ont été exposées en particulier à l'Académie Royale de Londres, ainsi qu'à Munich et Berlin. Il a deux sœurs, Marion Compton, peintre de fleurs, et Dora Keel-Compton, peintre de fleurs et de montagnes.

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2023 - Wandering Vertexes ....
Errant au-dessus des Sommets Silencieux...
Un blog de Francis Rousseau

LA MONTAGNE BLEUE PEINTE PAR WASSILY KANDINSKY

 

WASSILY KANDINSKY  (1866-1944)

"Der Blue Berge" - Alpspitze (2,628 m - 8,622ft)

Allemagne (Bavière)

In Paysage d'hiver, 1909 Huile sur carton,  70 x 97 cm. Musée de l'Hermitage Saint Petersbourg

La montagne
L'Alpspitze (2,628 m - 8,622ft) est une montagne de Bavière, en Allemagne. Son sommet pyramidal connu sous le nom de Montagne Bleue,  est le symbole de Garmisch-Partenkirchen et  l'un des plus repérables des Alpes du Nord. Il est constitué principalement de calcaire de Wetterstein du Trias supérieur.
Plusieurs routes permettent l'ascension de l'Alpspitze. La  plus courte commence à la station d'Osterfelderkopf (2 033 m) au téléphérique Alpspitze de Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Depuis l'Osterfelderkopf, l'Alpspitze peut être escaladé soit directement le long de l'Alpspitz-Ferrata, une route facile, protégée et très fréquentée (à environ 2 heures de l'Osterfelderkopf), soit le sommet peut être atteint par la montée de la face nord (Nordwandsteig), qui tourne en courbe vers l'est dans le cirque d'Oberkar et de là longe le bord gauche du cirque jusqu'au sommet.
Une autre ascension part du col de Grießkarscharte (2 460 m), que l'on atteint soit depuis le refuge Höllentalanger dans la vallée de Höllental via le cirque de Mathaisenkar soit depuis le lac de Stuibensee via le cirque de Grießkar.

Le peintre
Wassily Wassilyevich Kandinsky (Васи́лий Васи́льевич Канди́нский) était un peintre franco-russe et théoricien de l'art. On lui attribue la peinture de l'une des premières œuvres purement abstraites reconnues. Né à Moscou, Kandinsky a passé son enfance à Odessa, où il est diplômé de l'école d'art Grekov. Il s'est inscrit à l'Université de Moscou, étudiant le droit et l'économie. Il se voit rapidement offrir une chaire de professeur (chaire de droit romain) à l'Université de Dorpat. Kandinsky commence des études de peinture (dessin d'après nature, croquis et anatomie) à l'âge de 30 ans.
En 1896, Kandinsky s'installe à Munich, étudiant d'abord à l'école privée d'Anton Ažbe puis à l'Académie des Beaux-Arts.
Entre 1906 à 1908, il voyagea  beaucoup à travers l'Europe jusqu'à ce qu'il s'installe dans la petite ville bavaroise de Murnau. En 1908, il acheta un exemplaire de Thought-Forms d'Annie Besant et de Charles Webster Leadbeater. En 1909, il rejoint la Société Théosophique.
La Montagne bleue (1908-1909) -  on devrait dire d'ailleurs LES montagnes bleue car il a peint  plusieurs  ce même sujet à cette époque - montre sa nette évolution vers l'abstraction en moins de deux années. La large utilisation de la couleur dans ces tableaux illustre l'inclination de Kandinsky vers un art dans lequel la couleur commence à s'affranchir de la forme, et où chaque couleur est représenté avec la même attention, la même importance.
Après le déclenchement de la Première Guerre mondiale, Kandinsky quitte l'Allemagne pour Moscou. Indifférent aux théories officielles sur l'art dans la Russie communiste, il rentre rapidement en Allemagne en 1920, quelques années après la Révolution. Là, il a enseigné à l'école d'art et d'architecture du Bauhaus de 1922 jusqu'à ce que les nazis la ferment en 1933. Il s'installe ensuite en France, où il vécut pour le reste de sa vie, devenant citoyen français en 1939 et produisant certains de ses plus art de premier plan. Il meurt à Neuilly-sur-Seine en 1944.

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2023 - Wandering Vertexes ....
            Errant au-dessus des Sommets Silencieux...
            Un blog de Francis Rousseau

LE WATZMANN PEINT PAR ADALBERT STIFTER

ADALBERT STIFTER (1805-1868),
Le Watzmann (2,713m - 8,901ft)
Allemagne (Alpes bavaroises)

In Der Königsee mit dem Watzmann,1837, huile sur toile

La montagne
Le Watzmann (2,713m - 8,901ft)) est massif montagneux  des Alpes bavaroises situé au sud de Berchtesgaden. C'est le troisième plus haut d'Allemagne et le plus élevé qui soit entièrement situé sur le territoire allemand. Il se compose de trois principaux sommets  disposés sur un axe Nord-Sud : le Hocheck (2651 m),  le Mittelspitze (2713 m) et  le Südspitze ( 2712 m). Le massif de Watzmann comprend également cinq sommets inférieurs situés entre les sommets principaux : le Watzmannfrau (2307 m), le  Watzmann Wife, également connu sous le nom de Kleiner Watzmann ou Petit Watzmann), et le Watzmannkinder (Les enfants Watzmann). Cet alignement sur modèle d'une famille comme une famille qui serait en rang.doit son origine à une légende selon laquelle le pays aurait été autrefois dominé par un cruel roi nommé Watzmann qui répandait avec sa femme et ses enfants la peur et l'effroi parmi les paysans. Alors que le roi rossait un paysan, la femme de celui-ci leur jeta un sort et aussitôt, la terre s'ouvrit, cracha du feu et transforma le roi et sa famille en pierres. La légende dit aussi que le Königssee et l'Obersee sont remplis du sang de la cruelle famille royale.

L'ensemble du massif est aujorud 'hui portégé  à l'intérieur du Parc national de Berchtesgaden. Le glacier du Watzmann situé sous la célèbre face-est du Watzmann dans le cirque de Watzmann, est entouré par l'arête du Watzmanngrat, le Watzmannkindern et le Kleiner Watzmann. La première ascension du sommet central (Mittelspitze) a été réalisée en 1799 ou août 1800 selon les sources par le slovène Valentin Stanic. La première ascension des trois pointes (Hocheck, Mittelspitze, Südspitze) a été réalisée en 1868 par le guide de Ramsau am Dachstein Johann Grill et Johann Punz. La face orientale du Watzmann (paroi la plus haute des Alpes orientales) a été également conquise pour la première fois par Johann Grill en 1881.

L'artiste
Adalbert Stifter, est un écrivain, peintre et pédagogue autrichien, l'un des auteurs les plus remarquables de la période Biedermeier. Fils d'un tisseur, Adalbert Stifter est né sur la Moldau, en Bohême méridionale. L'année suivant la mort accidentelle de son père en 1817, il commence ses études à l'école latine de l'abbaye bénédictine de Kremsmünster en Haute-Autriche, où l'enseignement et la formation sont imprégnés de l'esprit du siècle des Lumières. Après avoir accompli sa scolarité en 1826, il entreprend des études de droit à l'université de Vienne. Stifter  hésite d'abord entre la peinture et la littérature, mais la publication de sa première nouvelle Der Kondor le rend tout de suite célèbre. Il vit alors de sa plume, tout en donnant des leçons particulières. Cependant il restera toujours partagé entre ses deux passions la littérature et la peinture d'un style très romantique proche de celui de Caspar Freidrich.   Selon Michel Foucault, c'est Stifter qui aurait écrit le plus beau livre de la langue allemande : L'Arrière-saison.  Thomas Bernhard par contre détestait Stifter, qu'il  trouvait bavard et  insupportable et s'exprimant avec un style négligé : « La prose de Stifter, qui est réputée précise et concise, est en réalité vague, impuissante et irresponsable, et d'une sentimentalité et d'une lourdeur  petite-bourgeoise »
 En 1868, Stifter se tranchéela gorge à Linz.

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2022 - Wandering Vertexes ....
            Errant au-dessus des Sommets Silencieux...
            Un blog de Francis Rousseau

LE LEMBERG PEINT PAR ALBERT BIRKLE

 

 

 

ALBERT BIRKLE  (1897-1966)

Le Lemberg (1,015m -3,330 ft) 

Allemagne  (Jura Spoiabe) 

 

In Petersfelsen bei Beuron- Upper Danube Valley, 1922, huile sur carton, 70cm x 51cm

La montagne
Le Lemberg  (1,015m -3,330 ft) est la plus haute montagne du Jura souabe. Elle se situe à l'est de Rottweil, dans le district de Tuttlingen près de la commune de Gosheim, dans le Bade-Wurtemberg en Allemagne. A son sommet se dresse une tour de 30 m de haut, culminant au-dessus des arbres environnants, et offrant par beau temps une perspective atteignant les Alpes.
Comme la plupart des montagnes du Jura souabe, le Lemberg est une " butte témoin ",  c'est à dire un vestige d'un massif qui s'est érodé, faisant ressortir les sommets dans un matériau plus dur.
A partir du 8e siècle av. J.-C. au 5e siècle av. J.-C. (à l'époque de Hallstatt), la montagne abritait une colonie celtique. On trouve encore à son sommet les ruines des murs et des tombes d'une ancienne forteresse. À l'est et à l'ouest, le sommet a été aplati. Des traces d'activité celtique peuvent être trouvées dans les montagnes environnantes, comme dans toute la région de Heuberg.
Le nom Lemberg vient de la langue celtique, dans laquelle Lem signifie marécage ou tourbière. Son origine est probablement la rivière Bära, qui prend naissance au pied de la montagne. On pense qu'à l'époque préhistorique, son débit d'eau était plus important, rendant les environs marécageux.
Aujourd'hui, la tour Lemberg  à son sommet est une tour en acier de 34 mètres de haut au sommet de la montagne, construite en 1899.

Le peintre
Albert Birkle est né à Charlottenburg, alors ville indépendante et depuis 1920 partie de Berlin. Son grand-père et son père, Carl Birkle, étaient tous deux peintres, originaires de Souabe. Albert Birkle a été formé comme peintre décorateur dans l'entreprise de son père. De 1918 à 1924, il étudie à la Hochschule für die bildenden Künste/College of Fine Arts, prédécesseur de l'actuelle Universität der Künste Berlin. Birkle a développé un style unique inspiré par l'expressionnisme et la Nouvelle Objectivité/Neue Sachlichkeit. Ses sujets étaient des paysages solitaires et mystiques, des scènes typiques du Berlin des années 20 et 30, telles que des scènes du parc Tiergarten, des scènes de bar, etc., des portraits de personnages et des scènes religieuses. Dans son style de portrait, il était souvent comparé à Otto Dix et George Grosz. En 1927, Birkle a eu son premier one man show à Berlin, qui s'est avéré être un grand succès. il décide de refuser un poste de professeur à l'Académie des Arts de Koenigsberg afin de continuer à travailler de manière indépendante en tant qu'artiste et de se consacrer à des missions dans le domaine de la décoration d'églises, dont il est devenu un spécialiste. Alors que le national-socialisme était en route vers le pouvoir, Birkle s'installa à Salzbourg, en Autriche, en 1932. Néanmoins, il représenta l'Allemagne à la Biennale de Venise jusqu'en 1936. En 1937, son œuvre fut déclarée "entartée", ses œuvres furent supprimées. de collections publiques, et une interdiction de peindre lui a été imposée. En 1946, Birkle a reçu la nationalité autrichienne. Dans l'année d'après-guerre, il gagne sa vie en peignant des fresques religieuses pour diverses églises et en faisant des peintures à l'huile. Au cours de sa dernière année, il est de plus en plus revenu à ses thèmes berlinois des années 20 et 30.
Les premiers travaux d'Albert Birkle étaient associés à Otto Dix et Grosz, ce qui ne semble pas vraiment juste à la lumière de sa propre originalité, car les thèmes sociaux et autres sont régulièrement teintés d'éléments fantaisistes, grotesques et lunatiques dans son wirk. Dans le cas de Birkle, la peinture typique de la Nouvelle Objectivité est plutôt une exception.

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2022 - Wandering Vertexes ....
            Errant au-dessus des Sommets Silencieux...
            Un blog de Francis Rousseau

THE BASTEI CLIFF PAINTED BY CASPAR DAVID FRIEDRICH

 

CASPAR DAVID FRIEDRICH (1774-1840)
The Bastei Cliff (194 m - 636 ft)
Germany  / Czech Republic border

 In "Felsenschlucht", oil on canvas , 1822

 

The rock
The Bastei (194 m - 636 ft) is a rock formation rising 194 metres above the Elbe River in the Elbe Sandstone Mountains  (723 m - 2,372 ft) of Germany. Reaching a height of 305 metres above sea level, the jagged rocks of the Bastei were formed by water erosion over one million years ago. They are situated near Rathen, not far from Pirna southeast of the city of Dresden, and are the major landmark of the Saxon Switzerland National Park. They are also part of a climbing and hiking area that extends over the borders into the Bohemian Switzerland (Czech Republic). The Bastei has been a tourist attraction for over 200 years. In 1824, a wooden bridge was constructed to link several rocks for the visitors. This bridge was replaced in 1851 by the present Bastei Bridge made of sandstone. The rock formations and vistas have inspired numerous artists, among them Caspar David Friedrich in "Felsenschlucht" (above)
The spa town of Rathen is the main base for visiting the Bastei; the town can be reached from Dresden by paddle steamer on the river Elbe.
The Bastei is one of the most prominent lookout points in Saxon Switzerland. In 1819 August von Goethe extolled the views: "Here, from where you see right down to the Elbe from the most rugged rocks, where a short distance away the crags of the Lilienstein, Königstein and Pffafenstein stand scenically together and the eye takes in a sweeping view that can never be described in words." Today the Bastei still has the highest number of visitors of all the lookout points in Saxon Switzerland. In addition to the actual vista, there are also other points of interest. At the Jahrhundertturm, a rock pinnacle on the Bastei Bridge, there are tablets commemorating the first mention of the Bastei in travel literature (in 1797) as well as the memory of Wilhelm Lebrecht Götzinger and Carl Heinrich Nicolai. These last two were amongst the pioneers of tourism in Saxon Switzerland, thanks to their descriptions of their journeys and their other works. Another tablet commemorates the Saxon court photographer, Hermann Krone, who took the first landscape photographs in Germany at the Bastei Bridge in 1853. From the Ferdinandstein, part of the Wehltürme rock towers, there is a famous view of the Bastei Bridge. It is reached over a branch from the route to the bridge. Another well-known rock formation in the vicinity of the Bastei is the Wartturm, a large piece of which broke off in 2000. Neurathen Castle, the largest rock castle in Saxon Switzerland, may be reached from the Bastei by crossing the Bastei Bridge. The ruins of the castle, some timber rebates, rooms carved out of the rock, a cistern and stone shot from a medieval catapult or slingshot may be viewed on a self-conducted circular walk. A replica slingshot was put on display in the castle in 1986. The finds from excavations in the area, especially pottery, can also be seen. The climb from Rathen to the Bastei runs past an open-air museum dedicated to Slavic settlement in the region and also past the path leading to the Rathen Open Air Stage. Another famous landmark in the local area is the fortress of Königstein.

The painter
Caspar David Friedrich was a 19th-century German Romantic landscape painter, considered as the most important German artist of his generation. He is best known for his mid-period allegorical landscapes which typically feature contemplative figures silhouetted against night skies, morning mists, barren trees or Gothic ruins. His primary interest as an artist was the contemplation of nature, and his often symbolic and anti-classical work seeks to convey a subjective, emotional response to the natural world. Friedrich's paintings characteristically set a human presence in diminished perspective amid expansive landscapes, reducing the figures to a scale that, according to the art historian Christopher John Murray, directs "the viewer's gaze towards their metaphysical dimension".
Friedrich was born in Pomerania, where he began to study art. He studied in Copenhagen until 1798, before settling in Dresden. A disillusionment with materialistic society was giving rise everywhere in Europe. This shift in ideals was often expressed through a reevaluation of the natural world, as artists such as J. M. W. Turner (1775–1851) and John Constable (1776–1837) sought to depict nature as a "divine creation, to be set against the artifice of human civilization"....


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2022 - Wandering Vertexes...
Un blog de Francis Rousseau

THE WATZMANN PAINTED BY JOHAN CHRISTIAN DAHL

JOHAN CHRISTIAN DAHL  (1788-1857)
The Watzmann (2,713m - 8,901ft)
Germany (Bavarian Alps)

In The Watzmann (1825), Oil on canvas, 45 x 33 cm, Nasjonalgalleriet, Oslo

The mountain
The Watzmann (2,713m - 8,901ft) is a mountain in the Bavarian Alps south of the village of Berchtesgaden. It is the third highest in Germany, and the highest located entirely on German territory. Three main peaks array on a N-S axis along a ridge on the mountain's taller western half: Hocheck (2,651 m), Mittelspitze (Middle Peak, 2,713 m) and Sьdspitze (South Peak, 2,712 m).
The Watzmann massif also includes the 2,307 m Watzmannfrau (Watzmann Wife, also known as Kleiner Watzmann or Small Watzmann), and the Watzmannkinder (Watzmann Children), five lower peaks in the recess between the main peaks and the Watzmannfrau.
The entire massif lies inside Berchtesgaden National Park.
The Watzmann Glacier is located below the famous east face of the Watzmann in the Watzmann cirque and is surrounded by the Watzmanngrat arête, the Watzmannkindern and the Kleiner Watzmann. The size of the glacier reduced from around 30 hectares (74 acres) in 1820 until it split into a few fields of firn, but between 1965 and 1980 it advanced significantly again and now has an area of 10.1 hectares (25 acres). Above and to the west of the icefield lie the remains of a transport-bomber that crashed in October 1940.
Amongst the other permanent snow and icefields the Eiskapelle ("Ice Chapel") is the best known due to its easy accessibility from St. Bartholomä. The Eiskapelle may well be the lowest lying permanent snowfield in the Alps. Its lower end is only 930 metres high in the upper Eisbach valley and is about an hour's walk from St. Bartholomä on the Königssee. The Eiskapelle is fed by mighty avalanches that slide down from the east face of the Watzmann in spring and accumulate in the angle of the rock face. Sometimes a gate-shaped vault forms in the ice at the point where the Eisbach emerges from the Eiskapelle. Before entering there is an urgent warning sign that others have been killed by falling ice.
In the east face itself is another icefield in the so-called Schöllhorn cirque, called the Schöllhorneis, which is crossed by the Kederbach Way (Kederbacher-Weg). The cirque and icefield are named after the Munich citizen, Christian Schöllhorn, who was the first victim on the east face. On 26 May 1890 he fell at the upper end of the icefield into the randkluft and was fatally injured. Another small nameless snowfield is located several hundred metres below the Mittelspitze also in the east face. 

ZUGSPITZE & WAXENSTEIN BY EDWARD H. COMPTON

 

EDWARD H. COMPTON (1861-1960)
Die Zugspitze (2, 962 m - 9, 718 ft) 
Die Waxenstein (2,277m - 7,470ft)
Germany (Bavaria)

In  Blick vom wank auf Alpspitze, Zugspitze und Waxenstein, 1949

The mountain 
The Zugspitze (2,962m -9,718 ft) above sea level, is the highest peak of the Wetterstein Mountains as well as the highest mountain in Germany. It lies south of the town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, and the border between Germany and Austria runs over its western summit. South of the mountain is the Zugspitzplatt, a high karst plateau with numerous caves. On the flanks of the Zugspitze are three glaciers, including the two largest in Germany: the Northern Schneeferner with an area of 30.7 hectares and the Höllentalferner with an area of 24.7 hectares. The third is the Southern Schneeferner which covers 8.4 hectares.
More about the mountain 

The Waxenstein (2,277m - 7,470ft) is an Alpine summit, at an altitude of 2,227 m, in the Wetterstein, Germany (Bavaria). It is composed of five points: the Großer Waxenstein ; the Vorderer Waxenstein  ; the Zwölferkopf ; the Mittagscharte and  the Männ.

The painter 
Edward Harrison Compton (1881–1960) not to be confused with his father Edward Theodore Compton (1849-1921) was a German landscape painter and illustrator of English descent. Compton was born in Feldafing in Upper Bavaria, Germany, the second son of notable landscape painter Edward Theodore Compton. He received his early art training from his father, and after a period of study in London at the Central School of Arts and Crafts settled back in Bavaria. Like his father he was inspired by the Alps to become a mountain painter ("bergmaller") working in both oils and watercolour. However, an attack of Polio at the age of 28 meant that he had to find more accessible landscapes to paint in Germany, England northern Italy and Sicily. He also provided illustrations for several travel books published by A & C Black. Compton exhibited at galleries in Munich and Berlin, and also in England at the Royal Academy in London and in Bradford. He died in Feldafing in 1960.
He had two sisters, both of whom were artists: Marion Compton, the flowers and still-life painter, and Dora Keel-Compton, flower and mountain painter.

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2020 - Wandering Vertexes...
Un blog de Francis Rousseau 

THE WATZMANN AND KÖNIGSEE PAINTED BY FREDERIC EDWIN CHURCH

 

FREDERIC EDWIN CHURCH (1826-1900)
The Watzmann  (2,713 m -8,901 ft)
Germany

In Konigsee, Bavaria, 1868, oil and pencil on thin board, Cooper Hewitt Museum, NYC

The mountain and lake
The Königssee is a natural lake in the extreme southeast Berchtesgadener Land district of the German state of Bavaria, near the Austrian border. Most of the lake is within the Berchtesgaden National Park.
The Watzmann (2,713 m - 8,901 ft) is a mountain in the Bavarian Alps south of the village of Berchtesgaden. It is the third highest in Germany, and the highest located entirely on German territory. Three main peaks array on a N-S axis along a ridge on the mountain's taller western half: Hocheck (2,651 m), Mittelspitze (Middle Peak, 2,713 m) and Südspitze (South Peak, 2,712 m).
The Watzmann massif also includes the 2,307 m Watzmannfrau (Watzmann Wife, also known as Kleiner Watzmann or Small Watzmann), and the Watzmannkinder (Watzmann Children), five lower peaks in the recess between the main peaks and the Watzmannfrau.
The entire massif lies inside Berchtesgaden National Park.

The Painter
The second generation of the Hudson River School took landscape painting to a new level. Foremost among them was Frederic Edwin Church (1826–1900), who expanded the size and grandeur of his canvases and broadened their scope by traveling far afield. His adventurous spirit led him from the high peaks of the Andes to the icebergs of Newfoundland. His skills as an artist and showman complemented his dramatic compositions and spectacular use of light and color. The resulting paintings appealed to the expansionist, scientific, and religious sensibilities at mid-century and remain nationalistic icons of America and her art.
More about Frederic Edwin Church 

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2020 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

THE ROTWAND BY EDWARD H. COMPTON

 EDWARD H. COMPTON  (1861-1960)

Rotwand (1,884 m - 6,181 ft) 

Germany (Bavaria)

The mountain 
The Rotwand ("Red Wall")  (1,884 m - 6,181 ft) is a high peak in the Mangfall Mountains in Bavaria, the highest summit in the Spitzingsee region and one of the most popular of Munich's local mountains. The summit may be reached in an easy hike from the lake of Spitzingsee on various routes. The summit can be attained even more easily from the nearby mountain station on the Taubenstein and, as a result, can often become rather overcrowded on summer's days.
In winter the Rotwand is frequently climbed by skiers. The classic Rotwand-Reib’n runs from the Spitzingsee to the Rotwand, then over the Kümpflscharte arête (1,695 m) to the Auerspitz summit (1,811 m), continuing via the alpine pasture of Großtiefentalalm (1,500 m), the Miesing saddle (1,704 m; with detours to the Hochmiesing), Kleintiefentalalm and Taubensteinhaus and back to the Spitzingsee. This tour is also possible with snowshoes.
The "problem bear", JJ1 (also known as Bruno), was believed to be the first wild bear on German soil for 170 years. He was declared a threat to humans and killed on 26 June 2006 around 4.50 am in the Rotwand area after he had been seen at the Rotwandhaus.

The painter
The painter Edward Harrison Compton (1881–1960) not to be confused with his father Edward Theodore Compton (1849-1921) was a German landscape painter and illustrator of English descent. Compton was born in Feldafing in Upper Bavaria, Germany, the second son of notable landscape painter Edward Theodore Compton. He received his early art training from his father, and after a period of study in London at the Central School of Arts and Crafts settled back in Bavaria. Like his father he was inspired by the Alps to become a mountain painter ("bergmaller") working in both oils and watercolour. However, an attack of Polio at the age of 28 meant that he had to find more accessible landscapes to paint in Germany, England northern Italy and Sicily. He also provided illustrations for several travel books published by A & C Black. Compton exhibited at galleries in Munich and Berlin, and also in England at the Royal Academy in London and in Bradford. He died in Feldafing in 1960.
He had two sisters, both of whom were artists: Marion Compton, the flowers and still-life painter, and Dora Keel-Compton, flower and mountain painter.

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2020 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

THE HÖHER GÖLL PAINTED BY CARL ROTTMANN

CARL ROTTMANN (1797-1850)

Höher Göll (2,522 m (8,274 ft) 

Germany- Austria Border  

In "Hoher Göll im Alpenglühen ", 1846, Oil on canvas, 88 × 112 cm 

Nuremberg Germanisches Nationalmuseum

The  mountain 
The Höher Göll is a 2,522 m (8,274 ft) mountain in the Berchtesgaden Alps, the highest peak of the Göll massif, which straddles the border between the German state of Bavaria and Salzburg, Austria.
Rising above Obersalzberg near Berchtesgaden, the massif is situated between the Königssee and the Königsseer Ache in the west, opposite the Watzmann, and the Salzach Valley of the Tennengau region in the east. Neighbouring peaks include Hohes Brett, Jenner and the Kehlstein spur with the famous Kehlsteinhaus, linked with the Hoher Göll via the Mannlgrat ridge.
The first documented ascent was made by the ordinand Valentin Stanič from Bodrež in Gorizia and Gradisca, who at that time studied theology at the nearby University of Salzburg and had also climbed the Watzmann peak.
A wide variety of routes lead to its summit, ranging from UIAA Grade I on a Klettersteig up the Mannlgrat ridge to UIAA Grade VIII up the West face.  The Kehlsteinhaus is located on the German side, at 1,834 m. A trail leads from it to the Mannlgrat, the easiest route to the top.
Another popular round-trip ascent of the Hoher Göll is from the Purtschellerhaus mountain hut up to the summit and down to the Stahl-Haus.

The painter
Carl Anton Joseph Rottmann was a German landscape painter and the most famous member of the Rottmann family of painters. Rottmann belonged to the circle of artists around the Ludwig I of Bavaria, who commissioned large landscape paintings exclusively from him. He is best known for mythical and heroising landscapes. The landscape painter Karl Lindemann-Frommel belonged to his school. Rottmann received his first drawing lessons from his father, Friedrich Rottmann, who taught drawing at the university in Heidelberg. He formed himself chiefly through the study of nature and of great masterworks. In his first artistic period, he painted atmospheric phenomena. After gaining prominence with Heidelberg at Sunset (a water color), and Castle Eltz, he settled in Munich in 1822 and devoted himself to Bavarian scenery. Here his second period began, and in 1824 he married Friedericke, the daughter of his uncle, Friedrich Ludwig von Sckell, who served as an attendant at court. Through this connection, he made the acquaintance of King Ludwig I of Bavaria, who in 1826/27 sponsored his travels in Italy in order to widen his repertoire, which up to that point consisted solely of domestic, German, landscapes. In Italy, Rottmann made sketches for the 28 Italian landscapes in fresco which he was commissioned to paint in the arcades of the Hofgarten at Munich. The cycle, completed in 1833, gave visual expression to Ludwig’s alliance with Italy, and raised the genre of landscape painting to the height of history painting, the preferred mode of the King’s other great commissions for monumental painting. The frescos unfortunately deteriorated under climatic influences. The cartoons for them are in the Darmstadt Gallery.
In 1834 Rottmann traveled to Greece to prepare for a commission from Ludwig for a second cycle; one might mark here the beginning of his third period. At first also intended for the Hofgarten arcade, the 23 great landscapes (of which the one above) were eventually installed in the newly built Neue Pinakothek where they were given their own hall.

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2019 - Wandering Vertexes...

by Francis Rousseau 

THE WATZMANN BY JOHAN CHRISTIAN DAHL

JOHAN CHRISTIAN DAHL  (1788-1857) 

The Watzmann (2, 713m - 8, 901ft) 

Germany 

In Der Watzmann, 1825, oil on canvas, 45 x 33 cm, Nasjonalgalleriet,  Oslo

The mountain 
The Watzmann (2,713m - 8,901ft) is a mountain in the Bavarian Alps south of the village of Berchtesgaden. It is the third highest in Germany, and the highest located entirely on German territory. Three main peaks array on a N-S axis along a ridge on the mountain's taller western half: Hocheck (2,651 m), Mittelspitze (Middle Peak, 2,713 m) and Sьdspitze (South Peak, 2,712 m).
The Watzmann massif also includes the 2,307 m Watzmannfrau (Watzmann Wife, also known as Kleiner Watzmann or Small Watzmann), and the Watzmannkinder (Watzmann Children), five lower peaks in the recess between the main peaks and the Watzmannfrau.
The entire massif lies inside Berchtesgaden National Park.
The Watzmann Glacier is located below the famous east face of the Watzmann in the Watzmann cirque and is surrounded by the Watzmanngrat arête, the Watzmannkindern and the Kleiner Watzmann. The size of the glacier reduced from around 30 hectares (74 acres) in 1820 until it split into a few fields of firn, but between 1965 and 1980 it advanced significantly again and now has an area of 10.1 hectares (25 acres). Above and to the west of the icefield lie the remains of a transport-bomber that crashed in October 1940...
Full entry  =>

The painter
Johan Christian Claussen Dahl, often known as J. C. Dahl or I. C. Dahl, was a Norwegian artist who is considered the first great romantic painter in Norway, the founder of the "golden age" of Norwegian painting, and, by some, one of the greatest European artists.  He is often described as "the father of Norwegian landscape painting". He was the first to acquire genuine fame and cultural renown abroad. As one critic has put it, "J.C. Dahl occupies a central position in Norwegian artistic life of the first half of the 19th century.
Although Dahl spent much of his life outside of Norway, his love for his country is clear in the motifs he chose for his paintings and in his extraordinary efforts on behalf of Norwegian culture generally. Indeed, if one sets aside his own monumental artistic creations, his other activities on behalf of art, history, and culture would still have guaranteed him a place at the very heart of the artistic and cultural history of Norway. He was, for example, a key figure in the founding of the Norwegian National Gallery and of several other major art institutions in Norway, as well as in the preservation of Norwegian stave churches and the restoration of the Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim and Håkonshallen in Bergen
Many of his works may be seen in Dresden, and in The Bergen Kunstmuseum in Bergen, as well as in  The National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design  The National Gallery in  Oslo  which has a large collection of Dahl's.

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2019 - Wandering Vertexes...

by Francis Rousseau 

THE WATZMANN BY WILHELM STEINFIELD

WILHELM  STEINFIELD (1816-1854)
The Watzmann  (2, 713m - 8, 901ft) 

Germany 

In  Watzmann-Mittelspitze - Motiv aus Unterstein im Bayrischen, oil on canvas 

The mountain
The Watzmann (2,713m - 8,901ft) is a mountain in the Bavarian Alps south of the village of Berchtesgaden. It is the third highest in Germany, and the highest located entirely on German territory. Three main peaks array on a N-S axis along a ridge on the mountain's taller western half: Hocheck (2,651 m), Mittelspitze (Middle Peak, 2,713 m) and Sьdspitze (South Peak, 2,712 m).
The Watzmann massif also includes the 2,307 m Watzmannfrau (Watzmann Wife, also known as Kleiner Watzmann or Small Watzmann), and the Watzmannkinder (Watzmann Children), five lower peaks in the recess between the main peaks and the Watzmannfrau.
The entire massif lies inside Berchtesgaden National Park.
The Watzmann Glacier is located below the famous east face of the Watzmann in the Watzmann cirque and is surrounded by the Watzmanngrat arête, the Watzmannkindern and the Kleiner Watzmann. The size of the glacier reduced from around 30 hectares (74 acres) in 1820 until it split into a few fields of firn, but between 1965 and 1980 it advanced significantly again and now has an area of 10.1 hectares (25 acres). Above and to the west of the icefield lie the remains of a transport-bomber that crashed in October 1940.
Amongst the other permanent snow and icefields the Eiskapelle ("Ice Chapel") is the best known due to its easy accessibility from St. Bartholomä. The Eiskapelle may well be the lowest lying permanent snowfield in the Alps. Its lower end is only 930 metres high in the upper Eisbach valley and is about an hour's walk from St. Bartholomä on the Königssee. The Eiskapelle is fed by mighty avalanches that slide down from the east face of the Watzmann in spring and accumulate in the angle of the rock face. Sometimes a gate-shaped vault forms in the ice at the point where the Eisbach emerges from the Eiskapelle. Before entering there is an urgent warning sign that others have been killed by falling ice.
In the east face itself is another icefield in the so-called Schöllhorn cirque, called the Schöllhorneis, which is crossed by the Kederbach Way (Kederbacher-Weg). The cirque and icefield are named after the Munich citizen, Christian Schöllhorn, who was the first victim on the east face. On 26 May 1890 he fell at the upper end of the icefield into the randkluft and was fatally injured. Another small nameless snowfield is located several hundred metres below the Mittelspitze also in the east face.

The painter
Wilhelm Steinfeld was an Austrian 19th century painter most known during his life for his landscape and mountains paintings. Strangely enough no informations are available about him except he was the son of Franz Steinfeld (1787-1868), very famous himself for his historical paintings.

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2019 - Wandering Vertexes...

by Francis Rousseau 

ROTWAND PAINTED BY WASSILY KANDINSKY

WASSILY KANDINSKY (1866-1944) 

Rotwand (1,884 m - 6,181 ft) 

Germany (Bavaria) 

In Spitzingsee, oil on canvasboard, 1901, 24 x42 cm, 

Private collection (sold by Christie's NYC in 2016) 

The mountain 
The Rotwand ("Red Wall")  (1,884 m - 6,181 ft) is a high peak in the Mangfall Mountains in Bavaria, the highest summit in the Spitzingsee region and one of the most popular of Munich's local mountains. The summit may be reached in an easy hike from the lake of Spitzingsee on various routes. The summit can be attained even more easily from the nearby mountain station on the Taubenstein and, as a result, can often become rather overcrowded on summer's days.
In winter the Rotwand is frequently climbed by skiers. The classic Rotwand-Reib’n runs from the Spitzingsee to the Rotwand, then over the Kümpflscharte arête (1,695 m) to the Auerspitz summit (1,811 m), continuing via the alpine pasture of Großtiefentalalm (1,500 m), the Miesing saddle (1,704 m; with detours to the Hochmiesing), Kleintiefentalalm and Taubensteinhaus and back to the Spitzingsee. This tour is also possible with snowshoes.
The "problem bear", JJ1 (also known as Bruno), was believed to be the first wild bear on German soil for 170 years. He was declared a threat to humans and killed on 26 June 2006 around 4.50 am in the Rotwand area after he had been seen at the Rotwandhaus.

The painter

Wassily Wassilyevich Kandinsky (Васи́лий Васи́льевич Канди́нский,) was a Russian painter and art theorist, generally credited as the pioneer of abstract art.

 Kandinsky's creation of abstract work followed a long period of development and maturation of intense thought based on his artistic experiences. He called this devotion to inner beauty, fervor of spirit, and spiritual desire inner necessity ; it was a central aspect of his art.

Born in Moscow, Kandinsky spent his childhood in Odessa, where he graduated at Grekov Odessa Art school. He enrolled at the University of Moscow, studying law and economics. Successful in his profession—he was offered a professorship (chair of Roman Law) at the University of Dorpat—Kandinsky began painting studies (life-drawing, sketching and anatomy) at the age of 30.
In 1896, Kandinsky settled in Munich, studying first at Anton Ažbe's private school and then at the Academy of Fine Arts. He returned to Moscow in 1914, after the outbreak of World War I. 

Following the Russian Revolution, Kandinsky "became an insider in the cultural administration of Anatoly Lunacharsky" and helped establish the Museum of the Culture of Painting.  However, by then "his spiritual outlook... was foreign to the argumentative materialism of Soviet society",  and opportunities beckoned in Germany, to which he returned in 1920. There he taught at the Bauhaus school of art and architecture from 1922 until the Nazis closed it in 1933.

He then moved to France, where he lived for the rest of his life, becoming a French citizen in 1939 and producing some of his most prominent art. He died in Neuilly-sur-Seine in 1944.

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2019 - Wandering Vertexes...

by Francis Rousseau 

THE WATZMANN BY EDWARD T. COMPTON

EDWARD T. COMPTON (1849-1921) 

The Watzmann (2, 713m - 8, 901ft) 

Germany 

In The Watzmann seen from the Hotel Post in Berchtesgaden, Bavaria, watercolour, 26 x 23, 5cm) 

Courtesy William Mitchell Gallery, London 

The mountain
The Watzmann (2,713m - 8,901ft) is a mountain in the Bavarian Alps south of the village of Berchtesgaden. It is the third highest in Germany, and the highest located entirely on German territory. Three main peaks array on a N-S axis along a ridge on the mountain's taller western half: Hocheck (2,651 m), Mittelspitze (Middle Peak, 2,713 m) and Sьdspitze (South Peak, 2,712 m).
The Watzmann massif also includes the 2,307 m Watzmannfrau (Watzmann Wife, also known as Kleiner Watzmann or Small Watzmann), and the Watzmannkinder (Watzmann Children), five lower peaks in the recess between the main peaks and the Watzmannfrau.
The entire massif lies inside Berchtesgaden National Park.
The Watzmann Glacier is located below the famous east face of the Watzmann in the Watzmann cirque and is surrounded by the Watzmanngrat arête, the Watzmannkindern and the Kleiner Watzmann. The size of the glacier reduced from around 30 hectares (74 acres) in 1820 until it split into a few fields of firn, but between 1965 and 1980 it advanced significantly again and now has an area of 10.1 hectares (25 acres). Above and to the west of the icefield lie the remains of a transport-bomber that crashed in October 1940.
Amongst the other permanent snow and icefields the Eiskapelle ("Ice Chapel") is the best known due to its easy accessibility from St. Bartholomä. The Eiskapelle may well be the lowest lying permanent snowfield in the Alps. Its lower end is only 930 metres high in the upper Eisbach valley and is about an hour's walk from St. Bartholomä on the Königssee. The Eiskapelle is fed by mighty avalanches that slide down from the east face of the Watzmann in spring and accumulate in the angle of the rock face. Sometimes a gate-shaped vault forms in the ice at the point where the Eisbach emerges from the Eiskapelle. Before entering there is an urgent warning sign that others have been killed by falling ice.
In the east face itself is another icefield in the so-called Schöllhorn cirque, called the Schöllhorneis, which is crossed by the Kederbach Way (Kederbacher-Weg). The cirque and icefield are named after the Munich citizen, Christian Schöllhorn, who was the first victim on the east face. On 26 May 1890 he fell at the upper end of the icefield into the randkluft and was fatally injured. Another small nameless snowfield is located several hundred metres below the Mittelspitze also in the east face.


The painter
Edward Theodore Compton, usually referred to as E. T. Compton was an English-born, German artist, illustrator and mountain climber, not to be confused with his son Edward Harrison Compton, also a mountain painter. He is well known for his paintings and drawings of alpine scenery, and as a mountaineer made 300 major ascents including no fewer than 27 first ascents.

Initially painting in the English romantic tradition, Compton later developed a more realistic representation of nature, being guided by his true artistic ideas while retaining topographical accuracy. Even his early watercolors show the great importance of brightness and light and his work is also remarkable for its portrayal of the elements such as water and air, including ascending mist and fog. He can be regarded as an impressionist.
He attended various art schools, including, for a time, the Royal Academy in London, but otherwise he was mainly self-taught in art. In 1867, wanting the best education for their artistically-talented son, and due to the high cost of schooling in England, the family decided to emigrate to Germany settling in Darmstadt. The city at that time was the seat of the Grand Duchy of Hesse under Grand Duke Ludwig III, and a community of artists had sprung up there. Entries in Compton's diary show that both he and his father were art teachers - Alice, the Princess of Hesse numbered amongst Edward's students.
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2019 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

THE ZUGSPITZE AND THE WAXENSTEIN BY EMIL NOLDE

EMIL NOLDE (1867-1956) 

Die Zugspitze (2,962m - 9,718 ft) 

Die Waxenstein (2,277m - 7,470ft)

 Germany (Bavaria)

  In  The Zugspitze and Waxenstein, postcard 

About this work 

The postcards series date from  pre-expressionist phase of Nolde’s career (though he was around 30 when he created them). After hiking in the Swiss Alps, Nolde did a painting, Mountain Giants, presenting the mountains in human form. Nolde wrote : “The picture went to the annual exhibition in Munich in 1896. Ferdinand Hodler’s picture “Night”  which established his fame, was also there. But my “Mountain Giants" was soon returned, rejected… In those days there was a general and stormy derision and ridicule about each of Hodler’s pictures. ‘And his colors are as ugly as can be possible!’ What help was my contradiction and my firm conviction that his sinuous, pushing, wry bodies are part of the character of the mountain folk, just as the firs on the mountain slopes are gnarled and grown oddly.” From then, he painted practically every Swiss Alps Summit in human form: the Zugspitze, the Waxenstein, the Eiger, the Monch, the Jungfrau, the Grand Saint- Gothard, Piz Bernina, the Morteratch, the Ortler, the Finsteraarhorn... they will be posted one after one in this blog, the Cervin / Matterhorn being the first one.

The mountain 

The Zugspitze (2,962m -9,718 ft) above sea level, is the highest peak of the Wetterstein Mountains as well as the highest mountain in Germany. It lies south of the town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, and the border between Germany and Austria runs over its western summit. South of the mountain is the Zugspitzplatt, a high karst plateau with numerous caves. On the flanks of the Zugspitze are three glaciers, including the two largest in Germany: the Northern Schneeferner with an area of 30.7 hectares and the Höllentalferner with an area of 24.7 hectares. The third is the Southern Schneeferner which covers 8.4 hectares.

The Waxenstein (2,277m - 7,470ft) is an Alpine summit, at an altitude of 2,227 m, in the Wetterstein, Germany (Bavaria). It is composed of five points: the Großer Waxenstein ; the Vorderer Waxenstein  ; the Zwölferkopf ; the Mittagscharte and  the Männ.

The painter 

Emil Nolde (born Emil Hansen) was a German-Danish painter and printmaker. He was one of the first Expressionists, a member of Die Brücke (The Bridge) of Dresden in 1906, and was one of the first oil painting and watercolor painters of the early 20th century to explore color. He is known for his brushwork and expressive choice of colors. Golden yellows and deep reds appear frequently in his work, giving a luminous quality to otherwise somber tones. His watercolors include vivid, brooding storm-scapes and brilliant florals.

2018 - Wandering Vertexes...
Un blog de Francis Rousseau, #BlogWanderingVertexes, #mountainpaintings

THE WATZMANN BY FREDERIK SØDRING (1809–1862)

FREDERIK SØDRING (1809- 1862)
The Watzmann (2,713m - 8,901ft)
Germany (Bavarian Alps)


In Berchtesgaden mit dem Watzmann Öl auf Leinwand,1830, oil on canvas, Private collection

The mountain
The Watzmann (2,713m - 8,901ft) is a mountain in the Bavarian Alps south of the village of Berchtesgaden. It is the third highest in Germany, and the highest located entirely on German territory. Three main peaks array on a N-S axis along a ridge on the mountain's taller western half: Hocheck (2,651 m), Mittelspitze (Middle Peak, 2,713 m) and Sьdspitze (South Peak, 2,712 m).
The Watzmann massif also includes the 2,307 m Watzmannfrau (Watzmann Wife, also known as Kleiner Watzmann or Small Watzmann), and the Watzmannkinder (Watzmann Children), five lower peaks in the recess between the main peaks and the Watzmannfrau.
The entire massif lies inside Berchtesgaden National Park.
The Watzmann Glacier is located below the famous east face of the Watzmann in the Watzmann cirque and is surrounded by the Watzmanngrat arête, the Watzmannkindern and the Kleiner Watzmann. The size of the glacier reduced from around 30 hectares (74 acres) in 1820 until it split into a few fields of firn, but between 1965 and 1980 it advanced significantly again and now has an area of 10.1 hectares (25 acres). Above and to the west of the icefield lie the remains of a transport-bomber that crashed in October 1940.
Amongst the other permanent snow and icefields the Eiskapelle ("Ice Chapel") is the best known due to its easy accessibility from St. Bartholomä. The Eiskapelle may well be the lowest lying permanent snowfield in the Alps. Its lower end is only 930 metres high in the upper Eisbach valley and is about an hour's walk from St. Bartholomä on the Königssee. The Eiskapelle is fed by mighty avalanches that slide down from the east face of the Watzmann in spring and accumulate in the angle of the rock face. Sometimes a gate-shaped vault forms in the ice at the point where the Eisbach emerges from the Eiskapelle. Before entering there is an urgent warning sign that others have been killed by falling ice. In the east face itself is another icefield in the so-called Schöllhorn cirque, called the Schöllhorneis, which is crossed by the Kederbach Way (Kederbacher-Weg). The cirque and icefield are named after the Munich citizen, Christian Schöllhorn, who was the first victim on the east face. On 26 May 1890 he fell at the upper end of the icefield into the randkluft and was fatally injured. Another small nameless snowfield is located several hundred metres below the Mittelspitze also in the east face.

The artist
Frederik Hansen Sødring was a Danish landscape painter and founder of an endowment. Sødring spent some time living in Norway with his parents before studying at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen beginning in 1825. There he initially studied under Jens Peter Moller, but his greatest influence was from Johan Christian Dahl. In Sodring's first exhibition, he displayed two paintings. Between 1829 and 1831 Sodring travelled to Norway and Germany, taking time to study in Munich. He continued to work, sending several paintings back to Denmark. These travels influenced Sшdring's later works. Upon his return, he continued to paint, exhibiting landscapes from the Rhine, Southern Germany, and Tyrol. In 1832, he was painted by Christen Kobke; the portrait is now part of the Hirschsprung Collection. He established a scholarship, to be awarded at the annual Charlottenborg Exhibition, and provided funds to support elderly landscape artists and widows of such painters.


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2018 - Wandering Vertexes
A blog by Francis Rousseau

 

HOHE ACHT BY CARL FRIEDRICH LESSING

CARL FRIEDRICH LESSING  (1808- 1880) 

Hohe Acht (747m - 2, 450ft) 

 Germany 

1 & 2. In  Landscape in the Eifel Mountains, 1834, Oil on canvas, National Museum of Warsaw, 

The mountain
The Hohe Acht  (747m - 2, 450ft) is the highest mountain in the Eifel mountains of Germany. It is located on the boundary between the districts of Ahrweiler and Mayen-Koblenz in Rhineland-Palatinate. The Hohe Acht is located in the High Eifel east of Adenau. The mountain is a tertiary volcano, whose cone is composed of Lower Devonian rock and whose summit is made of basalt.
Emperor William Tower.
In 1908/09 the Emperor William Tower (Kaiser-Wilhelm-Turm) was erected on the Hohe Acht. The reason for the construction of this stone observation tower, based on plans by the architect, Freiherr von Tettau, Berlin, was the silver wedding of Emperor William II and Empress Augusta Victoria as well as the commemoration of Emperor William I.
The tower is 16.30 metres (53.5 ft) high and its walls are one metre thick at ground level. The work was carried out by master masons, Karl and Johannes Leidinger, from Adenau using local stone. The cost of construction was 18,000 marks. The tower has been a protected monument since 1987.
The Emperor William Tower offers a superb view across the whole Eifel (including the mountains of Scharteberg, Dцhmberg, Michelsberg, Hochthьrmerberg, Schцneberg, the nearby Nьrburg Castle and Hochkelberg), as well as the Siebengebirge and its GroЯer Цlberg and, in conditions of good visibility, as far as the Westerwald, the Taunus, the Hunsrьck and the Lower Rhine.
There is a network of footpaths around the Hohe Acht and, at many places there are good views over the Eifel landscape. In winter the Hohe Acht has some very good winter sport facilities including prepared cross country skiing trails, toboggan runs and ski lifts.

The artist
Carl (or Karl) Friedrich Lessing was a German historical and landscape painter, grandnephew of Gotthold Ephraim Lessing. He was born near Breslau, and was a pupil of Heinrich Anton Dähling at the Berlin Academy. He first devoted himself to landscape. In this period of his artistic career Lessing was influenced by the landscapes of Caspar David Friedrich: his themes he depicted were castle ruins, forgotten cemeteries, rugged rock formations, which he inhabited with figures of monks, knights and thieves. In 1826 obtained a prize with his Cemetery in Ruins. He accompanied Friedrich Wilhelm Schadow to Düsseldorf, where he continued his studies, devoting himself to historical paintings. In 1830, when Schadow went to Italy, Lessing occupied his place as director of the academy, exercising great influence on the Düsseldorf school of painting. His picture Das trauernde Königspaar (Mourning Royal Couple) brought him great popularity. In 1837, he received a gold medal in Paris; he was a member of the Berlin Academy and was the recipient of several orders. In 1858 he was appointed director of the gallery in Karlsruhe, where he continued his activity as a painter until his death in 1880.

DIE ZUGSPITZE BY EDWARD H. COMPTON

EDWARD H. COMPTON (1861-1960) 

 Die Zugspitze  (2, 962 m - 9, 718 ft) 

Germany - Austria border  

 In Motif from the Wetterstein gebirge, oil on canvas, 1928 

The mountain 
The Zugspitze (2,962m -9,718 ft) above sea level, is the highest peak of the Wetterstein Mountains as well as the highest mountain in Germany. It lies south of the town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, and the border between Germany and Austria runs over its western summit. South of the mountain is the Zugspitzplatt, a high karst plateau with numerous caves. On the flanks of the Zugspitze are three glaciers, including the two largest in Germany: the Northern Schneeferner with an area of 30.7 hectares and the Höllentalferner with an area of 24.7 hectares. The third is the Southern Schneeferner which covers 8.4 hectares.
The Zugspitze was first climbed on 27 August 1820 by Josef Naus, his survey assistant, Maier, and mountain guide, Johann Georg Tauschl. Today there are three normal routes to the summit: one from the Höllental valley to the northeast; another out of the Reintal valley to the southeast; and the third from the west over the Austrian Cirque (Österreichische Schneekar). One of the best known ridge routes in the Eastern Alps runs along the knife-edged Jubilee Ridge (Jubiläumsgrat) to the summit, linking the Zugspitze, the Hochblassen and the Alpspitze. For mountaineers there is plenty of nearby accommodation. On the western summit of the Zugspitze itself is the Münchner Haus and on the western slopes is the Wiener-Neustädter Hut.
Three cable cars run to the top of the Zugspitze. The first, the Tyrolean Zugspitze Cable Car, was built in 1926 and terminated on an arête below the summit before the terminus was moved to the actual summit in 1991. A rack railway, the Bavarian Zugspitze Railway, runs inside the northern flank of the mountain and ends on the Zugspitzplatt, from where a second cable car takes passengers to the top. The rack railway and the Eibsee Cable Car, the third cableway, transport an average of 500,000 people to the summit each year. In winter, nine ski lifts cover the ski area on the Zugspitzplatt. The weather station, opened in 1900, and the research station in the Schneefernerhaus are mainly used to conduct climate research.
At the Zugspitze's summit is the Münchner Haus, a mountain hut (Alpenhütte), a facility built by the German Alpine Club (Deutscher Alpenverein). For more than a hundred years, the summit has also had a weather station, which nowadays also gathers data for the Global Atmosphere Watch.
Climbing up the Zugspitze can involve several routes. The large difference in elevation between Garmisch-Partenkirchen and the summit is 2,200 m (7,200 ft), making the climb a challenge even for trained mountaineers.

The painter 

Edward Harrison Compton (1881–1960) not to be confused with his father Edward Theodore Compton (1849-1921) was a German landscape painter and illustrator of English descent. Compton was born in Feldafing in Upper Bavaria, Germany, the second son of notable landscape painter Edward Theodore Compton. He received his early art training from his father, and after a period of study in London at the Central School of Arts and Crafts settled back in Bavaria. Like his father he was inspired by the Alps to become a mountain painter ("bergmaller") working in both oils and watercolour. However, an attack of Polio at the age of 28 meant that he had to find more accessible landscapes to paint in Germany, England northern Italy and Sicily. He also provided illustrations for several travel books published by A & C Black. Compton exhibited at galleries in Munich and Berlin, and also in England at the Royal Academy in London and in Bradford. He died in Feldafing in 1960.
He had two sisters, both of whom were artists: Marion Compton, the flowers and still-life painter, and Dora Keel-Compton, flower and mountain painter.

THE ZUGSPITZE BY MARSDEN HARTLEY

MARSDEN HARTLEY (1877-1943) 

Die Zugspitze  (2, 962 m - 9, 718 ft) 

Germany 

In Blue Mountain in Garmisch Partenkirchen, Zugspitze, 1933, drawing pastel

The painting

Sevral paintings by Marsden Hartley have the same title  "Blue Mountain". Hopefully Hartley put subtitle  to avoid any confusion. The painting above  Blue Mountain in Garmisch Partenkirchen, 1933 can't  be confused with Summer Camp Blue Mountain, 1909  a work in the collections of the de Young and Legion of Honor museums of San Francisco, or  Blue Mountain New Mexico, 1918.

The mountain 
The Zugspitze (2,962m -9,718 ft) above sea level, is the highest peak of the Wetterstein Mountains as well as the highest mountain in Germany. It lies south of the town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, and the border between Germany and Austria runs over its western summit. South of the mountain is the Zugspitzplatt, a high karst plateau with numerous caves. On the flanks of the Zugspitze are three glaciers, including the two largest in Germany: the Northern Schneeferner with an area of 30.7 hectares and the Höllentalferner with an area of 24.7 hectares. The third is the Southern Schneeferner which covers 8.4 hectares.
The Zugspitze was first climbed on 27 August 1820 by Josef Naus, his survey assistant, Maier, and mountain guide, Johann Georg Tauschl. Today there are three normal routes to the summit: one from the Höllental valley to the northeast; another out of the Reintal valley to the southeast; and the third from the west over the Austrian Cirque (Österreichische Schneekar). One of the best known ridge routes in the Eastern Alps runs along the knife-edged Jubilee Ridge (Jubiläumsgrat) to the summit, linking the Zugspitze, the Hochblassen and the Alpspitze. For mountaineers there is plenty of nearby accommodation. On the western summit of the Zugspitze itself is the Münchner Haus and on the western slopes is the Wiener-Neustädter Hut.
Three cable cars run to the top of the Zugspitze. The first, the Tyrolean Zugspitze Cable Car, was built in 1926 and terminated on an arête below the summit before the terminus was moved to the actual summit in 1991. A rack railway, the Bavarian Zugspitze Railway, runs inside the northern flank of the mountain and ends on the Zugspitzplatt, from where a second cable car takes passengers to the top. The rack railway and the Eibsee Cable Car, the third cableway, transport an average of 500,000 people to the summit each year. In winter, nine ski lifts cover the ski area on the Zugspitzplatt. The weather station, opened in 1900, and the research station in the Schneefernerhaus are mainly used to conduct climate research.
At the Zugspitze's summit is the Münchner Haus, a mountain hut (Alpenhütte), a facility built by the German Alpine Club (Deutscher Alpenverein). For more than a hundred years, the summit has also had a weather station, which nowadays also gathers data for the Global Atmosphere Watch.
Climbing up the Zugspitze can involve several routes. The large difference in elevation between Garmisch-Partenkirchen and the summit is 2,200 m (7,200 ft), making the climb a challenge even for trained mountaineers.

The painter 
Marsden Hartley was an American Modernist painter, poet, and essayist. Hartley began his art training at the Cleveland Institute of Art after his family moved to Cleveland, Ohio, in 1892.  He won a scholarship to the Cleveland School of Art.
In 1898, at age 22, he moved to New York City to study painting at the New York School of Art under William Merritt Chase, and then attended the National Academy of Design. Hartley was a great admirer of Albert Pinkham Ryder and visited his studio in Greenwich Village as often as possible. His friendship with Ryder, in addition to the writings of Walt Whitman and American transcendentalists Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson, inspired Hartley to view art as a spiritual quest.
Hartley first traveled to Europe in April 1912, and he became acquainted with Gertrude Stein's circle of Avant-garde writers and artists in Paris.  Stein, along with Hart Crane and Sherwood Anderson, encouraged Hartley to write as well as paint.
In 1913, Hartley moved to Berlin, where he continued to paint and befriended the painters Wassily Kandinsky and Franz Marc. He also collected Bavarian folk art.  His work during this period was a combination of abstraction and German Expressionism, fueled by his personal brand of mysticism.
In Berlin, Hartley developed a close relationship with a Prussian lieutenant, Karl von Freyburg. References to Freyburg were a recurring motif in Hartley's work, most notably in Portrait of a German Officer (1914). Freyburg's subsequent death during the war hit Hartley hard, and he afterward idealized their relationship. Many scholars believe Hartley to have been gay, and have interpreted his work regarding Freyburg as embodying his homosexual feelings for him.
Hartley finally returned to the U.S. in early 1916. He lived in Europe again from 1921 to 1930, when he moved back to the U.S. for good.  He painted throughout the country, in Massachusetts, New Mexico, California, and New York. He returned to Maine in 1937, after declaring that he wanted to become "the painter of Maine" and depict American life at a local level.  This aligned Hartley with the Regionalism movement, a group of artists active from the early- to-mid 20th century that attempted to represent a distinctly "American art." He continued to paint in Maine, primarily scenes around Lovell and the Corea coast, until his death in Ellsworth in 1943. His ashes were scattered on the Androscoggin River. Most of his mountains paintings of Maine are nowadays in the MET collections.