Komposition aus ‘Pflaster und Wiese’ I 1924

Karl Wiener made this composition from ‘Pflaster und Wiese’ I with pen and ink, we think sometime in the 1940s. The hatching! Those lines, all moving the same way, one after the other, like a little city of marks. I love how the repeated lines create tone, a kind of melancholic darkening, especially in the sky. The artist coaxes real depth, with just a few colours. The windows of the buildings are little blue squares, like eyes peering out from a collective face, contrasting with the plumes of smoke, drawn with the same repetitive marks, which rise above the scene. It’s the simplicity of the marks, juxtaposed with the complex composition, that I find so compelling. For me, this piece speaks to the legacy of German Expressionism, maybe something like Kirchner, but there is also a graphic directness, a sort of illustrative quality, which chimes with the urban landscapes of someone like Grosz. It's a reminder that art doesn't exist in a vacuum, it's always talking to itself.