Adolf Menzel - A Quest for Reality

Hailed by Degas as "the greatest living master," Adolph Menzel was the most prominent German artist of the late nineteenth century. In addition to more than 5,000 drawings, he produced works in oil, watercolors, and gouache as well as etchings and lithographs. The first major naturalistic artist of his era, Menzel came of age in a country still in the grip of Goethe's romanticism. This book reminds us of his keenest ambition: to capture reality in art with the utmost precision. In fact it was Menzel who founded the Realist School in Germany.Menzel exhibited tremendous powers of observation, technical perfection, and an interest in a wide range of subjects. His art is visually stunning and this book takes readers on a guided tour through some of the most beloved and memorable works in his considerable oeuvre.

Adolph Menzel is widely regarded as the epitome of realist art. From the beginning of his career, he captured the beauty and horror of reality with unflinching precision, and he was a consummate master of atmosphere. In this book, Werner Busch examines the artist's multifaceted oeuvre and brings the long nineteenth century into aesthetic focus.Adolph Menzel (1815-1905) is widely regarded as the epitome of realist art. From the very beginning of his career, he captured the beauty and horror of reality with unflinching precision, and he was a consummate master of atmosphere. A man of very short stature, Menzel was excluded from many aspects of life, and so his struggle with reality was also a struggle to assert himself. Werner Busch's comprehensive new study sheds light on the biographical and historical events that shaped Menzel's work and the course it took. Menzel's paintings of the life of Frederick the Great still dominate our image of the monarch. Their modern perspective, however, neither glorified the king nor found favor with the Prussian royal family. After witnessing the horror of war in the aftermath of the Battle of Koniggratz, Menzel abandoned history painting. In Paris, he discovered the energy and bustle of the heroless metropolis; for the remainder of his career, he devoted himself to painting scenes of contemporary life. In this lavishly illustrated book, Werner Busch examines the artist's multifaceted oeuvre and brings the long nineteenth century into aesthetic focus.