Trees and fields 1911

August Macke made this drawing of trees and fields with what looks like charcoal or conte crayon. The marks are so direct, aren’t they? You can almost see him working, deciding where to press hard, where to let up. Look at the way the trunk of the main tree is rendered, thick and smudged, but then it's branches become these almost playful lines reaching out. And see how the field in the foreground is built up with these simple hatched marks, all running in the same direction. This isn't about showing you a perfect landscape, it's about the experience of looking, of translating what's seen into something felt. Macke was part of that early 20th century moment in Germany, with folks like Kirchner and Heckel. They were all trying to figure out how to make art that felt as alive and messy as the world around them. This piece to me seems like a conversation with the work of Cezanne, both artists embrace that sense of searching and questioning, rather than providing easy answers.