Tuesday, October 20, 2026

Fine Art Tuesday

 

Iceskating
Maximillien Clarenbach was born in 1880 in Germany and died in 1952.

He is notable for painting the same landscape hundreds of times from slightly different perspectives. He didn't make copies. He set up his easel and slapped out another painting.

The detail is coarse. The colors are muddy or nearly extinct. But a discriminating viewer can get a sense of the area that a single, highly detailed image cannot tell.

Fish net in the foreground. The shallow, sloping banks are clearly "flood-plains" likely the Erft River. The last image in this post is not a painting but an actual photo of the Erft River near Bergheim.


The trees  look like willows. The visual density of the tree canopies suggest the buds are swelling so the snow is likely a surprise, spring dusting of snow.

The trees are planted in rows. The branching of the trees in the foreground are not the usual willow-or-poplar. Perhaps elm or even Honey Locust.

This ground-level perspective accentuates the flatness. My best guess is that this is actually in the floodplains of the Rhine near Neuss.


I bet this area has a lot of insects during the warmer months.

A rare upland image


Another boat. More fishnets.

 

Actual photo. The brush along the river means that grazing animals are not pastured there any more, nor is it "bent to the plow".

Another actual photo of the Erft River. I have to admit that "Erft River" rates right up there with Ontario's "Nith River" for intriguing names.

3 comments:

  1. Nice Artwork shown. We don't have many rivers where I live except for the Rio Grande. Canals - yes.

    Thanks for the post ERJ.

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    Replies
    1. Euell Gibbons once wrote an essay about herding carp in the canals fed by the Rio Grande River.

      The cowboys (carpboys?) carried pitchforks and when the carp where pushed hard against the far end, they made a dash for freedom. The carpboys dismounted and used the pitchforks to toss as many of the carp up on the banks as they could.

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  2. Thanks for continuing the tradition as always, ERJ.

    There is something to seeing a landscape over decades that defies words but brings a world of understanding.

    ReplyDelete

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