Eleven silhouettes by the North German romantic Philipp Otto Runge The copper engraving cabinet of the Dresden State Art Collections (SKD) was acquired at an auction in Berlin. The purchase was made using our own funds and with the support of sponsors.
The SKD announced that the acquisition of the paper cutouts would close “a painful gap in the collection.” Despite its great relevance for Dresden Romanticism, Runge’s work has so far been barely represented in the SKD’s collection.
Paper cuts of plants as a parable
His paper cutouts show various plants, including violets, vine leaves, currants and a rose branch. Pursuing the beauty of plants in their diverse forms, the artist also shows the architecture of their organic formation laws, according to the SKD. Coming from the exact observation of nature, the paper cut subjects the natural form to an abstraction process.
For Runge, the plant as the basic building block of nature becomes a symbol of a divine plan of creation.
Information from the SKD on the silhouettes by Philipp Otto Runge
The director of the Kupferstichkabinett, Stephanie Buck, goes into raptures about the silhouettes: “They have a conceptual quality, a beauty of form. And they have that incredible sensuality of paper, which a body can have. When it starts moving , like Runge, it couldn’t be nicer.” Even as a child, Runge was interested in paper cutting and followed this artistic form of expression, which was popular in his time, throughout his life.
Contemporary of Caspar David Friedrich
Together with the painter Caspar David Friedrich, Runge is one of the main representatives of German early romantic art. Coming from Wolgast in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, he first met Friedrich in Greifswald.
Formative years in Dresden
In Dresden, Runge was able to build on this important encounter with Friedrich, because between 1801 and 1804 he stayed in the Elbe city for a relatively short time, but one that was formative for his artistic development. Here he also exchanged ideas with Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, the writer Ludwig Tieck and the natural philosopher Heinrich Steffens.
The painter Philipp Otto Runge was born on July 23, 1777 in Wolgast. Together with Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840), he is one of the protagonists of early German Romanticism. Runge’s main work is “Four Times of Day”, which he created as symbolism for the four times of day, year and life. Runge died in Hamburg on December 2, 1810 at the age of 33.
Source: Dresden State Art Collections, Munzinger Archive, Kunsthalle Hamburg
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