German Artists' Writings in the XX Century - 4
Lovis Corinth
The Handbook 'Learning to Paint'. Part Two
Review by Francesco Mazzaferro
[Original Version: November 2014 - New Version: April 2019]
Go back to Part One
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| Fig. 9) L'edizione del manuale di pittura di Lovis Corinth pubblicato da Gerstenberg nel 1979 |
From nude to composition
What is the conceptual framework through
which we can progress from the study of the nude to the one of the composition?
A nude is not only a static element: the German technical term Akt (nudity), as noted by Corinth, comes
from the Latin verb agere, i.e. to
act, and cannot therefore be linked to the idea of immobility [70]. The
inclusion of the nude as a central feature of the painted image implies dynamic
and static elements at the same time: the human figure has always a certain
attitude (Auffassung), is construed (Konstruktives) and it is itself an
element of architecture (Architektonisches).
The attitude (Auffassung) is the expression of the figure [71] but also represents
the mental and abstract element that is displayed in the figured action [72].
The construction element (Konstruktives)
translates itself into the ability to represent the figure in its entirety, on
the basis of the skeleton, the muscles and the soft parts [73]. The
architectural element (Architektonisches)
is based on geometry, symmetry and harmony. Together, these three elements determine
the rhythmic quality and the lines’ flow in an image [74].
Not only movement, but also its absence, is an action. Movement can be parallel to the surface or transverse to it. And it is in this case that it is necessary to know how to draw a foreshortened body. [75]
The composition
of the picture passes through "the grouping of the figures, the effect of
colour spots and the size of the painting" [76]. The composition is
"a form of spiritual exercise (...) based on the history of art." [77] From classical mythology and religious
scriptures one can derive the best themes. [78]
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| Fig. 10) The Serbian translation of Lovis Corinth's handbook, published in 1979 by the Belgrad-based publishing company Saves amatera Srbije (translation by Evdokija Popović and introduction by Pavle Vasić) |
The local colour as the foundation of painting
The mastery of
the local colour (Lokalfarbe, from the
French term couleur locale, the colour
that naturally belongs to an object) is at the centre of the painting technique
[79]. Each area has a local colour, and the painter must learn to work alla prima (from Italian: immediately, then
"wet on wet"), so that he or she can immediately correct the use of
local colour (a subsequent correction is no longer possible) [80]. It is the
technique preferred by the Impressionists and, more generally, since the second
half of the nineteenth century. Michael Zimmermann also observes that the
technique alla prima is interpreted
by leading German art historians of that generation (Richard Muther, Julius
Meier-Graefe) as a symbol of individualism and freedom: to paint alla prima means having full control of
the stroke, which becomes unmistakably personal, as each individual's handwriting
is unique in terms of calligraphy [81]. They are critics whom Corinth
particularly appreciates.
| Fig. 11) The anonymous satirical edition "How to unlearn to paint, or the small Lovis Corinth", published in 1908 by the company Wedekind in Berlin |
As already said,
there is continuity between drawing and painting. Painting means to achieve the
same key elements, via colour: light, tones, shadows, reflections. If the
design has been made in an appropriate manner, by using shades of light and
colour on black and white, then applying on it the local colour can already be
sufficient. The local colour, however, is dominated by the effects that air,
light and environment have on it (here is the impressionist Corinth!) [82]
Outdoor
drawing and painting - light and transparency of objects
The transition from indoors to outdoors
requires learning how to depict light. Outdoor light is diffused. "It
comes from all sides, and creates reflections everywhere; thus, it becomes
impossible to define illuminated and shaded sections.” [84]
The human figure in the open air
Again, to depict
objects in the landscape, learning starts from the painting of a nude model:
"the light - writes Corinth - is distributed as a thin layer on the colour
of the model and thus makes that colour more toned and supple. On longer
distances, such as in the landscape, you see how objects are wrapped through light
in a blue powder." [85] And still, on the study of the outdoors nude:
"We will continue the exercise on the human model. Here the similarity in
character and proportions is fundamental. The tones in the drawing of the
figures must be differentiated, as well as the tones of the figures must be
distinguished from those of the environment. Utmost care must be devoted to
bass tones. The overall impression of the design must be precise and clear. In
painting, one must prefer light and shiny colours, and despite all the
overlays, one has to keep separate the various tones and different reflections." [86] "The
design continues to determine tones and colours, but its accuracy is not
enough: we must focus on the 'spot effect of colour' [87]: here is another
reference to Corinth as impressionist.
The inclusion of
the human figure in the landscape changes its relationship with the image as a
whole. Corinth is here referring to the German technical term Staffage, which indicates human figures
placed in the landscape when they have a role only decorative. Faithful to his
conception, he does not accept to give a secondary role to the human figure: since
it was the main element when not included in a landscape, figure and landscape
must now have the same importance [88]. He adds – in a rather enigmatic way -
that "today time requires the greatest reliability even in the
accomplishment of this type of painting" and gives instructions on the
need to make use also in this case of models, placing them exactly where they
should be represented in the picture [89].
The colours in the open air
If - outdoors -
the colours of the body must be diluted, those of the surrounding environment
are dominated by the most dazzling light strength and the splendour of colour (Farbenpracht) [90]. "There is no
limit to colouring." [91] Before
you paint, sketches (even fleetingly made ones) offer greater help than any compositional
technique learned when drawing and painting indoors. The techniques for
sketching are different from those for painting: if for painting one must
squint (in order to reach synthesis effects) for sketches one has to keep them
wide open to catch every detail. Sketches must be performed very quickly, and
thus in a small format [92].
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| Fig. 12) The edition published exactly 100 years after the first release of 1908: Lovis Corinth, “Learning to paint - A handbook", Witten, Ars Momentum, 2008, pp. 110 |
Foreground,
middle distance and background
For landscapes,
the painter must learn to distinguish between foreground, middle distance and
background [93]. The three levels are bound together by air perspective, to be
realised “adequately representing terrain and objects on it: the more you
approach the horizon, the more terrain and objects are wrapped in a dense and blue
veil, until the horizon itself disappears in a bluish distance [94]. "For
the rest, air and light have a direct effect on the local colour of individual
objects. [95]
The foreground
is "the most charged area of the landscape", while the "average
distance is consolidating. The groups of trees, the masses of houses get
smaller according to the laws of perspective, until everything dissolves in the
background and slips away in dusty fog" [96]. The essential in landscapes
are the trees, which must be treated differently when they are in the
foreground, middle distance or background [97]. Not surprisingly, the same rules
used for the nude should be enforced to draw a tree [98].
The painting
techniques are different depending on whether you are picturing in the
foreground, middle distance and background. "As for the middle distance
and the background, you have to paint alla
prima, i.e. wet on wet. Even the air - in its limpid and light forms -
should always be painted again alla prima,
to achieve a satisfactory result." [99] The foreground deserves a different treatment.
Here one should not use the wet on wet technique. Instead, it is even
appropriate to wait until the tint dries out and to paint again on it, correcting
if necessary, so that painting on multiple layers allows to give more shape to
the elements of the landscape (for example, leaves) [100].
The
light and the transparency of objects
If the focus
indoors was on four elements (light, shadow, reflected shadow and light reflection),
outdoors a fifth element has to be added: transparency. "Transparency is
the last feature (...) that light generates in the objects. It occurs when
there is a source of intense light (sun light or lamp) and in particular when
these objects are placed in front of the light source, and - due to their flat
and thin nature (Flachheit) - it is possible
to see through them." [101]. Examples
thereof are ears, fingers, and the leaves of the trees.
Learning
techniques for drawing and painting
During his
training, the artist has to devote three years to the fundamentals of drawing
and painting [102]. In this time, the goal of the course is to provide talented
students with the classical know-how necessary to achieve an independent style,
different from that of the teachers (again Corinth follows classical motifs:
that goal was already pursued by Cennino Cennini in his Book of the Art.
Cennino preached the need for a study under one single teacher for 12 years.
Corinth had a almost equally long academic curriculum, for 11 years, though
under many different masters).
From the
beginning, the painter warns (Corinth will write it again, sadly, in the Autobiography): "The greater the
talent of the artist, the more his way (individuality) will seem alien to the
public. The mass will not understand him, and the consequence is that his work
will not be recognised for the foreseeable future and will not find buyers. He
will need to impose himself and constrain the public; then his reputation will
become even stronger in the public and his fame will survive him. Only a better
equipped generation, often, will be able to agree with him, after death. " [103]
Achieve
autonomy of style
The third and
final part of the book is devoted to the construction of the image (Bild). Here the question arises if the
painter should follow the didactic path that, in academies, is intended to make
of the students real "Bildermaler",
painters capable of producing pictures. The response of Corinth is completely
negative. If the result of German academicism generated the strict division of
painters along thematic specializations (history painting, genre painting,
landscape painting), if it has produced generations of imitators, the goal of
the material learning process – according to Corinth - is rather that the
painter (and in the case of the school of Corinth, the paintress, i.e. the female
painter) achieves full independence, each one with "her
individuality", which is the greatest treasure of the artist. [104] While on the one hand the academy - as
a public body not subject to payment of fees - offers learning opportunities to
students in need, there is a necessity on the other hand to set up schools that
offer a different learning path [105]. Therefore, all that is contained in the
manual does not imply that new academic rules should be established for ever:
the text benefits from the experience accumulated by the artist, "but
still enough remains to warrant that everyone continues his own personal
search." [106]
The
iconographic themes
This does not
mean that one has necessarily to choose new iconographic themes. Quoting Anselm
Feuerbach, Corinth explains that the key point is not what is painted, but how
this happens [107]. "The same topic can be dealt with a hundred times. It
is how a given painter copes with it to create a new image and to make of it a
work of art." [107] Italian art is
witnessing it – says Corinth – as from Giotto to Raphael it repeated the same
religious themes always with extraordinary originality.
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| Fig. 13) The latest available edition, dated 2019 and edited by Werner B. Hohe-Dorst for Books on Demand (Verlag) |
The portrait
In a portrait,
the painter "refers to a specific person, and the first requirement is
similarity." [109] The ability to capture all aspects (not
only physical, but also those of the character) depends essentially on personal
knowledge. Better therefore portraying friends and acquaintances, or otherwise,
having a chance to get acquainted with the model. [110] It is useful to accentuate at most the
personal characteristics, particularly in the head and hands [111].
The Landscape
All pictorial
education of Corinth was oriented towards naturalism. It is therefore obvious
that the pages of the handbook on the landscape are particularly inspired. We
recognise in them the reasons why (in the German aesthetic debate of the time)
a distinction was made between naturalism and realism. Naturalism - of romantic
origin - is distinguished from realism for the subjective capacity to interpret
nature while reproducing it as it is, in the highest fidelity of reproduction;
realism instead tends to give an idealistic interpretation of the nature
(nature is painted as it should be). Therefore, realism sets itself the task of
offering an ideal interpretation of the nature, making it better than it is,
and paradoxically accentuating the criteria of reality, while the naturalism
want to give an interpretation of it at the same time faithful and poetic.
"The true
artist recognises the poetic in every landscape motive (...). No corrections of
nature are needed - taking away some pieces and adding new ones - but what is
needed is to cure with severity design and spiritual tone, just as it is in
nature. (...) Despite all the piety that we can nurture to nature, it is not
reality itself which can be mirrored in the image, but the man who produces it.
" [113]
Technical
issues - a few pages at the end of the handbook
We have already
said that all or most of the handbooks on drawing and painting of the time
focused their attention on teaching the use of materials. The three sections on
"Different forms of oil painting", "The treatment of the material
for the oil painting" and "Implementation" occupy only the last few
pages (pp. 98-106).
Conclusions
I started these
pages explaining that the main interest of Corinth is for the light, and in
particular for light as a tool for the identification of the shapes of objects.
The next step was to clarify that the nude human figure is considered the basic
unit of art, needed to identify and organize the space. The final step is to
combine light and space with nature, while the human figure and the light
remain the prevalent elements in the composition.
From the
technical point of view, Corinth recommends to the reader – in the penultimate
page (p. 108) - not to forget four points:
1 - The distribution
of space (what is needed is to adapt the theme to the space available on the
canvas);
2 - The
identification of sources of light and of the forms of the shadows (through the
method “clignez les yeux”);
3 - The
definition of the proportions (comparing the whole with individual parts, and
those parts between each other);
4 - The control
of the relative position of each relevant point through vertical and horizontal
parallel lines.
In a phase in which new 'grammar of art'
have been or are being written, to lay the foundation of new poetic languages,
Corinth entrusts the renewal of art to a rediscovery of classical antiquity.
Let me please go back to the phrase of
Walter Leistikow ("Who would have thought that this modern painter could
hide so much of academia?") with which introduces readers to the new
manual in the journal Kunst für alle in
1908.
It is obvious that the 'grammar of art' of
Corinth is characterized by a great ability to offer a new reading of classical
art and traditional teaching. However, the manual is not a new form of
academicism. And this is perhaps the reason why the volume is still available
today in the market.
The article by Leistikow was the last of his life. In 1908 he killed himself, under the pressure of a untreatable disease then - syphilis - that was worsening and that had forced him to live in a sanatorium. Corinth published his biography, in 1908. We will discuss in a future post.
[70] Corinth, Lovis - Das Erlernen der Malerei, quoted, p. 27
[71] Corinth, Lovis - Das Erlernen der Malerei, quoted, p. 27
[72] Corinth, Lovis - Das Erlernen der Malerei, quoted, p. 32
[73] Corinth, Lovis - Das Erlernen der Malerei, quoted, p. 32
[74] Corinth, Lovis - Das Erlernen der Malerei, quoted, p. 35
[75] Corinth, Lovis - Das Erlernen der Malerei, quoted, p. 28
[76] Corinth, Lovis - Das Erlernen der Malerei, quoted, p. 51
[77] Corinth, Lovis - Das Erlernen der Malerei, quoted, p. 51
[78] Corinth, Lovis - Das Erlernen der Malerei, quoted, p. 51
[79] Corinth, Lovis - Das Erlernen der Malerei, quoted, p. 39
[80] Corinth, Lovis - Das Erlernen der Malerei, quoted, p. 40-41
[81] Zimmermann, Michael F. – Lovis Corinth, quoted
[82] Corinth, Lovis - Das Erlernen der Malerei, quoted, p.40
[83] Corinth, Lovis - Das Erlernen der Malerei, quoted, p. 49
[84] Corinth, Lovis - Das Erlernen der Malerei, quoted, p. 55
[85] Corinth, Lovis - Das Erlernen der Malerei, quoted, p. 42
[86] Corinth, Lovis - Das Erlernen der Malerei, quoted, p. 55
[87] Corinth, Lovis - Das Erlernen der Malerei, quoted, p. 55
[88] Corinth, Lovis - Das Erlernen der Malerei, quoted, p. 62
[89] Corinth, Lovis - Das Erlernen der Malerei, quoted, p. 62
[90] Corinth, Lovis - Das Erlernen der Malerei, quoted, p. 56
[91] Corinth, Lovis - Das Erlernen der Malerei, quoted, p. 56
[92] Corinth, Lovis - Das Erlernen der Malerei, quoted, p. 56
[93] Corinth, Lovis - Das Erlernen der Malerei, quoted, p. 57
[94] Corinth, Lovis - Das Erlernen der Malerei, quoted, p. 57
[95] Corinth, Lovis - Das Erlernen der Malerei, quoted, p. 62
[96] Corinth, Lovis - Das Erlernen der Malerei, quoted, p. 57
[97] Corinth, Lovis - Das Erlernen der Malerei, quoted, p. 57
[98] Corinth, Lovis - Das Erlernen der Malerei, quoted, p. 46
[99] Corinth, Lovis - Das Erlernen der Malerei, quoted, p. 62
[100] Corinth, Lovis - Das Erlernen der Malerei, quoted, p. 62
[101] Corinth, Lovis - Das Erlernen der Malerei, quoted, p. 63
[102] Corinth, Lovis - Das Erlernen der Malerei, quoted, p. 48
[103] Corinth, Lovis - Das Erlernen der Malerei, quoted, p. 9. See also page 47.
[104] Corinth, Lovis - Das Erlernen der Malerei, quoted, p. 73
[105] Corinth, Lovis - Das Erlernen der Malerei, quoted, p. 73
[106] Corinth, Lovis - Das Erlernen der Malerei, quoted, p. 74
[107] Corinth, Lovis - Das Erlernen der Malerei, quoted, p. 74. See also pages 81-82.
[108] Corinth, Lovis - Das Erlernen der Malerei, quoted, p. 73
[109] Corinth, Lovis - Das Erlernen der Malerei, quoted, p. 74
[110] Corinth, Lovis - Das Erlernen der Malerei, quoted, p. 74
[111] Corinth, Lovis - Das Erlernen der Malerei, quoted, p. 75
[112] Corinth, Lovis - Das Erlernen der Malerei, quoted, p. 75
[113] Corinth, Lovis - Das Erlernen der Malerei, quoted, p. 82
In the same series:
1) Karl, Hofer, Erinnerungen eines Malers ('Memoirs of a Painter")
2) Max Pechstein, Erinnerungen ('Memoirs')
3) Lovis Corinth. Autobiographic Writings
5) Lovis Corinth, The Life of Walter Leistikow. A Fragment of the History of Culture in Berlin
5) Lovis Corinth, The Life of Walter Leistikow. A Fragment of the History of Culture in Berlin
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