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I cannot remember the subject :-) , but a few weeks ago I read on someone's blog the comment: "If you have seen one, you have seen them all" - and I thought: "Oh no, you are absolutely wrong - and either you don't have any experience at all but want to appear blasé - or you are going through the world with eyes closed."
I don't appreciate the one or the other.
If you open your eyes - and, even better: your heart - you see that the world offers a gorgeous orchestra of choices of apparently (!) the same thing.
Now people are whining about the snow.
OK - I would prefer spring too - but: "It is as it is." So on Sunday I put on warm clothes and went outside into frost and snow. And found at a Berlin flea market a little picture which I liked.
"Many people have looked at it but put it back", said the man behind the table.
"Maybe because of the subject", I said, "nobody wants a picture with snow now."
But as I liked it, I asked "How much?", and the sum was so small that you wouldn't have got half a ticket to the Astor Lounge cinema.
I bought it (and felt a bit silly), because it looked simple, naive, childlike - but I liked the atmosphere.
A signature was scribbled with pencil beneath it (same writing as the words "Original Drawing") - that was beautiful, but almost unreadable.
Almost.
At home I looked with a magnifying glass - I am good at deciphering (and have a sort of eidetic memory) - and after a while I found out: the signature was F. Türcke.
The Internet informed me: Born 1877 in Dresden, deceased in Berlin 1957. A landcape painter who studied at the Berlin KA at Eugen Bracht.
Pictures (mostly oil) of him were sold at Christie's, Burchard Galleries Inc, and there are a lot of Americans who collect him. An auction house in Dresden offers to take anything of him to sell it.
I don't know whether that includes a little drawing like the one I have found. And I will not sell it.
I just want to look at it and feel happy because I like it - and had my eyes open.
It is a wonderful picture, and a wonderful find! I love it.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you like it! I'm always insecure with pictures - thus buying only what I would like to look it even if it is labeled 'trash' by a connoisseur.
DeleteA lesson to us all! The minute I spotted the little picture at the head of your post, I was sure it must be something very special. It reminds me off two lovely little reproductions of Japanese wood cuts my mother gave to me, lovingly framed. They wouldn't command anything at Christie's, but I know they're precious goods.
ReplyDeleteDear Sue,
Deletegifts from persons we love are always valuable because they delight our heart.
Japanese woodcuts was my first impression too - or illustrations I have in an old fairy-tale book. So: more decorative and colourful in a serene way - but that's what I am too :-)
Yes, it's that combination of colorful and serene that is so captivating, isn't it?
DeleteHi Sue,
DeleteI read your interesting new blog post. Thank you!
Ah, you're right, so many of us stumble through life blinkered, me included. That picture is beautiful, it reminds me of my childhood and innocence.
ReplyDeleteDear B&P,
ReplyDeleteI love to learn new words - now I put "blinkered" into my collection. And as you I was charmed by the simpleness of the drawing.
Here in the States there is a TV show called Antiques Roadshow. Your flea market find would probably wow the experts. I'm glad you were the one to make the purchase and preserve it for enjoyment rather than profit.
ReplyDeleteDear Walk2write,
ReplyDeleteAmerican TV shows are often copied in Germany, so here we have the Antiques Show too, and husband likes to watch it. Sometimes people are surprised - in one or the other direction. And yes: though I often have quite a good hand with choosing, I wouldn't make a job of it (I'm not speaking of paintings - there I am definitely no expert :-) Ah, and come to think of it: I did: matching young people with studies and vocation.