Christopher Polentz Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Adolph Eduard Otto von Faber du Faur (1828 Ludwigsburg - 1901 Munich). Man sitting in the studio. Watercolour painting, 43 x 27 cm (visible size), 73 x 53 cm (frame), monogrammed at lower right, estate stamp. Upper right corner neatly repaired, small tear in the wall to the left of the sitter. - Thinking about art - About the artwork The sitter, an elderly man, is seated in a studio on a pedestal reminiscent of an academy hall. The earthy, dark tones give the scene a weighty quality. The lightest tones are found in the incarnate parts of the figure, which do not stand out from the other colours of the picture, but are linked to them. As a result, the sitter's face is both part of and the highlight of the colour references in the picture. The colour of the sitter's skin is reflected in his pink coat, while his white-grey hair matches the colour of the wall next to him. This almost monochrome wall surface, in turn, is connected across the portrait to the framed picture standing on the floor, which seems to have been erased by this correspondence with the empty wall surface. Through the palette, which is positioned directly behind the sitter's head, the reference to painting, which is already given by the studio space, is explicitly linked to the sitter, who thus seems to be contemplating the question of the meaning of art. This raises the question of whether Faber Du Faur, who had become lonely in his old age, might have painted a self-portrait here in his later years. In addition to the studio setting, the sitter's explicit reference to the palette and the fact that the picture was part of his estate, the only summary elaboration of the body suggests a self-portrait, while the representation of the face is concretised with the wide-open eyes typical of a self-portrait. This concentration on the face gives the impression of the artist's melancholy introspection, captured by the palette and related to the meaning of painting, whose dark character is reinforced by the concealment of the palette hanging on the right of the picture in the light tones so characteristic of Faber Du Faur. In the course of this resignation, Faber du Faur advises his son Hans, who has also become a painter: "Promise me one thing: never move to Munich, they'll kill you here!" Whoever the sitter may be, the references to painting make the portrait a resigned self-contemplation by Faber Du Faur, focused on art. About the artist After leaving school, Otto Faber du Faur entered the service of the Württemberg army, at the same time cultivating his artistic talent. In 1851, on the recommendation of his father Christian Wilhelm, who was himself a battle painter, he spent six months in Munich as an apprentice to Alexander von Kotzebue. In 1852 he was granted a year's leave of absence from military service to study battle painting in the studio of Adolphe Yvon...

watercolour portrait artist: Anastasia Aureum original watercolor painting on paper one-of-a-kind hand signed Abstract portrait painting "Thanks to this psychological analysis...

Alphonse BIRCK Metz, 1859 – Paris, 1942 Portrait of an Egyptian Woman from Cairo Watercolor 52 x 35 cm (65 x 41 cm with frame) Signed lower left, located and dated "A. Birck / Cairo ...

In this work, created using a mixed technique of acrylic and watercolor pencils, a mysterious forest mermaid is depicted. Her expressive face, surrounded by soft, flowing lines, sea...

Dina introduces a sense of movement to her gouache Bird by Bird series with her miniature portrait, Rufus Crested Coquette. Wings spread, beaks open wide, and legs hover in the air. ...

A haunting black-and-white portrait captures a five-year-old girl in profile, her face completely concealed beneath a neat bob that falls forward. She wears a striped pullover, addin...

Leonor Fini Portrait, ca. 1960 Ink on paper 14.5 x 10 cm 5 1/2 x 4 in. 37.5 x 33 cm 14 1/2 x 13 in. (Frame included) Unique work Exhibition history: Leonor Fini: Small Faces, Apri...

Powerful pencil study of Bachoo, Countess Woronzow. Tchelitchew exaggerates the sitter's features with abnormally large eyes for dramatic effect, Bachoo (Countess Bachoobai Woronzow-...

Dina Brodsky is a contemporary realist miniaturist painter and curator known for her detailed drawings of architecture, trees, and wildlife. Her miniatures carry with them the tradit...

Powerful pencil study of Bachoo, Countess Woronzow. Tchelitchew exaggerates the sitters features with abnormally large eyes for dramatic effect, Bachoo (Countess Bachoobai Woronzow-D...

"Crystal Study" is a powdered graphite illustration, detailed with acrylic created by the talented fantasy artist Babs Webb. Depicted in this piece is a standard crystal formation, f...

In the summer of 2019, Evgeniy Monahov was lucky to make a series of live sketches during the of St. George's Jousting Tournament in Moscow - for several days everyone had the opport...