OSTRUD AND TELRAMUND FROM WAGNER’S LOHENGRIN 1914

Heinrich Lefler made this watercolour, OSTRUD AND TELRAMUND FROM WAGNER’S LOHENGRIN, sometime between the late 19th and early 20th century. The paint is applied in such thin washes, yet the colours have intensity. It is as though the figures are emerging from the paper. I wonder if Lefler saw himself in the role of Wagner, conjuring whole worlds into being, using a kind of alchemy of colour and line? I bet he thought a lot about the drama of the opera and tried to bring this feeling to his art. Take a close look at the patterns on the cloak and the way he has painted the sky. Lefler’s loose brushwork and his attention to decorative detail really give this painting a lot of feeling. Artists are always in conversation, borrowing and lending ideas across time. This piece reminds me of other artists who have interpreted and been inspired by Wagner's work. Painting is a form of embodied expression, an act of making that embraces ambiguity and uncertainty. So, what do you make of it?