42. Brasov (At the Foot of Tampa) [cca. 1880]

Friedrich Miess is one of the prominent figures of Transylvanian painting at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, who distinguished himself through his contribution to the evolution of painting, especially in the field of Transylvanian landscape painting. Initially preparing himself in the field of commerce, Miess starts an artistic career at the age of 31 and attends between 1883-1885 the courses of the Vienna Art Academy, and then those within the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Munich, where under the guidance of his professors, Johann Caspar Herterich, Ludwing von Lofftz and Gabriel von Hackl, he follows an artistic and academic education. To perfect his drawing, he makes copies after ancient statues and nude studies. These prove a full confidence in execution, rigor and a remarkable ability to individualize. After completing his studies at the Munich Academy of Fine Arts, during the period 1890-1891 he travels to Italy, where he continues his artistic training between 1894 and 1896 at Cervara di Roma, working during this time in the studio of the painter Robert Wellmann. The study period between 1894-1896 at Cervara di Roma will have a significant impact on Miess, as during this period he will approach the landscape and will be conquered by the exuberance of color, the effects of intense light and its relationship with color within the Italian landscape. As part of his studies in Rome, he will start to make numerous studies from nature ("Landscape from Cervara" or "Portrait of a woman on the terrace"), often working in the mountainous areas of Bavaria, especially in the picturesque town of Lenggries and its surroundings, where within these he tries to reproduce as exactly as possible the postures of nature as form and color. In "Landscape from Cervara" or "Portrait of a woman on the terrace", representative works from the beginning of his landscape painting (1894-1896), Miess experiments with searching for his own mode of expression, where only here in relation with the landscapes of the Italian lands, but also of those native manages to outline his own way of approaching the landscape and transmitting warmth and sensitivity in their realization. Miess's painting style will be characterized by one full of clarity and warmth, but at the same time will try to assimilate the strong influences of German impressionism, without abandoning the academic concept, because for him not the subject was important, but the quality of pictorial representation. With a remarkable sense of space, effortlessly combining form and color, lights and shadows, he manages to obtain in this way clear, harmonious and balanced compositions, of exceptional visual precision that begins to be better outlined in his works and style of execution, due to his perfection and rigorous studies done in Rome, during the study period.

References

The retrospective exhibition Friedrich Miess (1854-1935), Published by Brasov Art Museum, 2014

Dimensions

width 37.5 cm, height 18 cm

Description

oil on wood, signed bottom right, in brown, "Miess"

Research information

A version of the work is reproduced in the catalog of the retrospective exhibition "Friedrich Miess (1854-1935)", published by the Art Museum of Brasov, 2014, page 60.

Dating

cca. 1880

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