Landscape with a River 1935

Arnold Peter Weisz-Kubínčan made this drawing of a Landscape with a River with what looks like charcoal or conte crayon. See how the scene almost tumbles forward, full of dark, scribbled marks? It’s as if Weisz-Kubínčan is thinking through the landscape, each stroke a new idea about form and space. I’m drawn to the way the charcoal gathers, thick and velvety, in the upper left corner. It’s like a storm cloud brewing, but also, if you follow the marks, it almost resolves into a solid form, like a mountain made of pure darkness. Then, the marks become thinner, scratchier, as they describe the trees and foliage below. You can almost feel the texture of the paper coming through. This reminds me of the landscapes of Emil Nolde. Both artists share a kind of expressionist intensity, a willingness to let the material speak its own language. It’s this embrace of the imperfect, the unresolved, that makes the drawing so alive.