Old Road

The subject matter of Adolph von Menzel’s small drawing could hardly be more low-key and miserable. The houses and roofs in this empty narrow alley are all at odd angles and the sunlight hardly finds its way in. Yet the contrast between the downbeat theme and the amazingly realistic portrayal makes the drawing so exciting. Menzel renders the coarse plasterwork with thick soft lines. With a moist finger he blurs the dark patches to create light spots, e.g., in front of the door to the house in the middle or on the façade in the background. He is a past master in shortening the perspective of the buildings sharply and using chiaroscuro to create a sense of depth. In the upper right corner there is the strongest contrast: between a piece of paper left untreated as the sky and the completely black roof seen from below. The drawing is thus completely ‘unclassical’ in terms of the motif and also points to the Object being abandoned in favour of non-figurative art. (Steffen Krautzig)