Kupferstich-Kabinett: Albert Venus and Raimund Girke

Albert Venus, Campagnalandschaft, ohne Datum

The Last of the Romanticists. Albert Venus

With Albert Venus, Dresden Romanticism reaches its luminous culmination.

This is the conclusion drawn by the art writer and journalist Florian Illies after his study of the Dresden artist Albert Venus (1842–1871), who died young and had hitherto been overshadowed by his teacher Ludwig Richter.

Exhibition Site Residenzschloss

DATES 08/10/2022—22/01/2023

In fact, the young artist succeeded in emancipating himself from his famous teacher, creating quite distinctive landscape paintings suffused with warm light. He preferred to work in small formats in oil and watercolour on paper. His works have a fine, drawing-like quality that emanates openness. Especially during his journeys to Italy in 1866/67 and 1869, naturalistic and impressionistic tones can already be discerned in Venus‘ work. The freshness of his colours signifies his shift away from the pictorial language of his predecessors and at the same time represents a final flourishing of Dresden Romanticism.

**Albert Venus, Felsen bei Ariccia, 7. August 1866** Feder in Sepia, laviert und leicht mit Wasserfarben gehöht, 486 x 342 mm, Kupferstich-Kabinett

**Albert Venus, Campagnalandschaft im Morgenlicht (Brücke beim To** Aquarell über Bleistift, 127 x 187 mm , Kupferstich-Kabinett

**Albert Venus, Selbstbildnis mit Raben, ohne Datum** Aquarell und Feder in Braun über Bleistift, Kupferstich-Kabinett

**Albert Venus, Felspartie an der Molle-Brücke, 25. Januar 1867** Aquarell, 360 x 640 mm, Kupferstich-Kabinett

**Albert Venus, Campagnalandschaft, 1866/1869** Aquarell, 127 x 187 mm, Kupferstich-Kabinett

In collaboration with Florian Illies, the Kupferstich-Kabinett dedicates a first monographic exhibition to Venus, who is still far too little known. More than 100 of his works from the museum‘s own rich holdings, as well as loans from numerous museums and private collections, provide fascinating insights into Venus‘ conception of art and nature. The three sections of the exhibition trace the various stages of the artist’s career. The first looks at his time in Dresden and his travels to Bohemia. The following sections present his two trips to Italy, where Venus recorded his very personal impressions of the places and people, and developed his characteristic view of the landscape.

Blick auf Bank vor einer Wand mit gerahmten Grafiken — **Blick in die Ausstellung "Gespannte Ruhe. Raimund Girke"**

Spiegelfläche mit Ausstellungstitel — **Eingang zur Ausstellung "Der letzte Romantiker. Albert Venus" und "Gespannte Ruhe. Raimund Girke. Werke auf Papier. 1957–2001"**

Frau gebeugt über Vitrine mit Briefen — **Detailansicht der Ausstellung "Der letzte Romantiker. Albert Venus"**

Frau steht vor Gemälde in goldenem Rahmen — **Blick in die Ausstellung "Der letzte Romantiker. Albert Venus"**

Frau steht vor gerahmten Grafiken — **Blick in die Ausstellung "Gespannte Ruhe. Raimund Girke"**

Blick in einen Ausstellungsraum und auf zwei Werke sowie Wandtext — **Blick in die Ausstellung "Gespannte Ruhe. Raimund Girke"**

Program

Currently no dates

Tense Calm. Raimund Girke. Works on Paper 1957—2001

Featuring more than fifty works on paper from its own collection, the Kupferstich-Kabinett shows a concentrated selection from the oeuvre of the painter and draughtsman Raimund Girke, who was born in Lower Silesia in 1930 and died in Cologne in 2002.

Exhibition Site Residenzschloss

DATES 08/10/2022—22/01/2023

In combination with works that the artist donated to the collection in 1990, a further large-scale donation now makes it possible to present an overview of all the phases of Girke’s artistic career, from his early period until shortly before his death. With his interest in monochrome painting and purism, Girke, along with Gotthard Graubner and Günther Uecker, was one of the radical innovators in art in West Germany after 1960. He developed his own abstract pictorial language, characterised by a concentration on white, grey, and blue tones, and by his preoccupation with elementary visual and pictorial experiences. Girke‘s analytical focus reflects an approach to nature that has surprisingly Romantic features.