Wilderness: Exhibit explores artists′ longing for a lost paradise | Arts | DW | 02.11.2018

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Arts

Wilderness: Exhibit explores artists' longing for a lost paradise

More than half of the animal kingdom has been wiped out since 1970, according to the WWF. A timely exhibition in Frankfurt — "Wilderness" — features art works that celebrates the wild, untamed and unculivated.

  • head of stuffed wolf (DW/H. Mund)

    "We have lost all understanding of nature:" the fascination with wilderness in art

    Mark Dion, Mobile Wilderness Unit (2006)

    Nature returns in Mark Dion's installation in which a stuffed wolf stands on a hardware store trailer. Society, it seems, has incorporated the wild animal as a mere object. The US artist's display is a stark criticism of human civilization.

  • Ausstellung Wildnis in der Schirn Kunsthalle in Frankfurt (DW/H. Mund)

    "We have lost all understanding of nature:" the fascination with wilderness in art

    Richard Long, Sand Line, Egypt (2003)

    British artist Richard Long uses "raw materials and my human scale in the reality of landscapes." Stones and rocks he finds on his walks are favorite materials. The above color photo shows a natural rock formation in a desert in Egypt.

  • man holding a monkey on a chain (DW/H. Mund)

    "We have lost all understanding of nature:" the fascination with wilderness in art

    Pieter Hugo, Abu Kikan with Frayo (2007)

    Pieter Hugo took the photo of the man and the monkey on a market in Asaba, Nigeria. What is the story behind the South African artist's seemingly everyday snapshot? Hugo presents Africa as a continent of extreme opposites, and many of his critical works of have become iconic.

  • a brownish rock-like formation (DW/H. Mund)

    "We have lost all understanding of nature:" the fascination with wilderness in art

    Julian Charriere, Metamorphism (2016)

    This small sculpture displayed on a stand under glass could just as well be entitled: I used to be a computer. Swiss artist Charriere forms sculptures made from tiny bits of computer scraps and artificial lava. "We have lost all understanding of nature," says Charriere, who regards him self as a cultural archeologist.

  • painting of craggy mountain top (DW/H. Mund)

    "We have lost all understanding of nature:" the fascination with wilderness in art

    Gerhard Richter, Himalaya (1968)

    In the early days of his career, Gerhard Richter was fascinated by motives in the wild. Empty, craggy mountain landscapes, the stark contrasts of light and shadow, interested the German painter. But he never went on a mountain expedition himself and instead used photographs as inspiration for his painted "Himalaya" works on canvas.

  • photo of forest (DW/H. Mund)

    "We have lost all understanding of nature:" the fascination with wilderness in art

    Joachim Koester, The Bialowieza Forest (2001)

    This large-scale photo of trees in a forest is a bit eerie. Danish-born Joachim Koester traveled across Europe for his forest motifs. In the border area between Poland and Belarus, he took pictures of Europe's oldest remaining original forest, which was also a bloody battle field in WWII.

  • two people stand in front of a painting (picture-alliance/dpa/A. Arnold)

    "We have lost all understanding of nature:" the fascination with wilderness in art

    Henri Rousseau, The hungry lion throws itself on the antelope (1898-1905)

    Henri Rousseau presented his famous painting of a lion pouncing on an antelope at the prestigious Paris Salon d'Automne art exhibition in 1905, side by side with paintings by the controversial the Fauves group. Rousseau's painting was deemed unsophisticated, while the Fauvist artists, including Henri Matisse, rewrote art history with their works.

  • wolf on trailer (picture-alliance/dpa/A. Arnold)

    "We have lost all understanding of nature:" the fascination with wilderness in art

    In the shadows

    As the exhibition catalog states: "The utopia of a natural state remote from culture and human influ­ence seems anachro­nistic. And yet the exam­i­na­tion of tradi­tional images and fictions of wilder­ness seems more alive than ever before." "Wilderness" is on at Schirn Kunsthalle in Frankfurt until February 3, 2019. Author: Heike Mund/db

    Author: Heike Mund (db)


  • head of stuffed wolf (DW/H. Mund)

    "We have lost all understanding of nature:" the fascination with wilderness in art

    Mark Dion, Mobile Wilderness Unit (2006)

    Nature returns in Mark Dion's installation in which a stuffed wolf stands on a hardware store trailer. Society, it seems, has incorporated the wild animal as a mere object. The US artist's display is a stark criticism of human civilization.

  • Ausstellung Wildnis in der Schirn Kunsthalle in Frankfurt (DW/H. Mund)

    "We have lost all understanding of nature:" the fascination with wilderness in art

    Richard Long, Sand Line, Egypt (2003)

    British artist Richard Long uses "raw materials and my human scale in the reality of landscapes." Stones and rocks he finds on his walks are favorite materials. The above color photo shows a natural rock formation in a desert in Egypt.

  • man holding a monkey on a chain (DW/H. Mund)

    "We have lost all understanding of nature:" the fascination with wilderness in art

    Pieter Hugo, Abu Kikan with Frayo (2007)

    Pieter Hugo took the photo of the man and the monkey on a market in Asaba, Nigeria. What is the story behind the South African artist's seemingly everyday snapshot? Hugo presents Africa as a continent of extreme opposites, and many of his critical works of have become iconic.

  • a brownish rock-like formation (DW/H. Mund)

    "We have lost all understanding of nature:" the fascination with wilderness in art

    Julian Charriere, Metamorphism (2016)

    This small sculpture displayed on a stand under glass could just as well be entitled: I used to be a computer. Swiss artist Charriere forms sculptures made from tiny bits of computer scraps and artificial lava. "We have lost all understanding of nature," says Charriere, who regards him self as a cultural archeologist.

  • painting of craggy mountain top (DW/H. Mund)

    "We have lost all understanding of nature:" the fascination with wilderness in art

    Gerhard Richter, Himalaya (1968)

    In the early days of his career, Gerhard Richter was fascinated by motives in the wild. Empty, craggy mountain landscapes, the stark contrasts of light and shadow, interested the German painter. But he never went on a mountain expedition himself and instead used photographs as inspiration for his painted "Himalaya" works on canvas.

  • photo of forest (DW/H. Mund)

    "We have lost all understanding of nature:" the fascination with wilderness in art

    Joachim Koester, The Bialowieza Forest (2001)

    This large-scale photo of trees in a forest is a bit eerie. Danish-born Joachim Koester traveled across Europe for his forest motifs. In the border area between Poland and Belarus, he took pictures of Europe's oldest remaining original forest, which was also a bloody battle field in WWII.

  • two people stand in front of a painting (picture-alliance/dpa/A. Arnold)

    "We have lost all understanding of nature:" the fascination with wilderness in art

    Henri Rousseau, The hungry lion throws itself on the antelope (1898-1905)

    Henri Rousseau presented his famous painting of a lion pouncing on an antelope at the prestigious Paris Salon d'Automne art exhibition in 1905, side by side with paintings by the controversial the Fauves group. Rousseau's painting was deemed unsophisticated, while the Fauvist artists, including Henri Matisse, rewrote art history with their works.

  • wolf on trailer (picture-alliance/dpa/A. Arnold)

    "We have lost all understanding of nature:" the fascination with wilderness in art

    In the shadows

    As the exhibition catalog states: "The utopia of a natural state remote from culture and human influ­ence seems anachro­nistic. And yet the exam­i­na­tion of tradi­tional images and fictions of wilder­ness seems more alive than ever before." "Wilderness" is on at Schirn Kunsthalle in Frankfurt until February 3, 2019. Author: Heike Mund/db

    Author: Heike Mund (db)


In the 21st century, wilderness is more mythical than real, with very few blank spots left on world maps that have not been disturbed by human civilization.

In response, Schirn Kunsthalle in Frankfurt has dedicated an entire exhibition to the increasingly obsolete notion of "Wilderness," with a display of works spanning more than a century that include paintings, photography and computer simulations.

Read more: 2018 wildlife photography winners highlight nature's beauty

Seemingly natural

Much of the artwork on show originates at the peak of industrialization when there was an increased longing for untouched wilderness. According to Schirn Kunsthalle director Philipp Demandt, pristine nature has long been held up in contrast to humankind's "overly controlled" world.

Russland Wald

Experts say more than 70 percent of the world's last untouched wilderness lies in just five countries

Yet the term wilderness has also long had held negative connotations. According the Demandt, it has long been associated with "darkness and danger," for example, with artists often portraying towering mountains, precipitous rock formations, dark forests and waterfalls, even into the Romance period in the late 19th century when the beauty of and mankind's longing for nature had become the focus.

The museum's curator Esther Schlicht travelled to the US, Africa and across Europe to find the 34 works of widely varying artists now presented at Schirn Kunsthalle. The works span a period of more than 100 years.

Read more: King of the Animals: the Willhem Kuhnert retrospective

International perspectives

Contemporary artists often take a different point of view to impressionistic landscape painters of the past, for instance, with an approach much more critical of civilization, sometimes taking a clear political stand.

man with a chained monkey sits on a car

Pieter Hugo's Abu Kikan with Fraya, Nigeria (2007) typifies an increasingly disillusioned artistic view of nature

Many artists deliberately left their studios to paint in the wild, others were inspired during their travels by nature left untouched.

The unique thematic exhi­bi­tion presents works of art from 1900 to the present, with the 30 artists on show inlcuding Tacita Dean, Mark Dion, Jean Dubuf­fet, Max Ernst, Asger Jorn, Geor­gia O’Keeffe, Gerhard Richter, Frank Stella, Thomas Struth, Henri Rous­seau und Carle­ton E. Watkins. 

Click on the picture gallery for a selection of works by some of these revered international artists.

"Wilderness" runs November 2 through February 3, 2019.  

  • Triglav National Park

    Europe's most inspiring national parks

    Triglav: Orchids and Edelweiss

    Mount Triglav lends its name to Slovenia's only national park. The origin of the name, which means "three-headed," is disputed. Some attribute it to the mountain's three-peaked appearance from certain angles. Others claim a Slavic deity of the same name has his throne at the summit. If so, he must have a breathtaking view of its forested slopes, and meadows strewn with wildflowers.

  • Bison in Białowieża National Park, Poland

    Europe's most inspiring national parks

    Bialowieza: Europe's oldest forests

    Protected for centuries as a hunting ground for Polish and then Russian monarchs, Bialowieza National Park retains the last of Europe's primeval lowland forest. Once under royal patronage, its native bison were hunted to extinction by the early 20th century. But they have since been reintroduced, and several herds thrive in the ancient woodland.

  • Germany's Saxon Switzerland National Park

    Europe's most inspiring national parks

    Saxon Switzerland: German romanticism

    Saxon Switzerland National Park lies on the German border with the Czech Republic. For creative inspiration, you could follow in the footsteps of German romantic painters who captured the park's sculptural rock formations. The Malerweg - or "Painter's Path" - consists of 112 kilometers (70 miles) of hiking trails that lead through otherworldly sandstone columns, crags and canyons.

  • Italien Ätna neue Eruption 11.04.2013

    Europe's most inspiring national parks

    Etna: The monster beneath the mountain

    In Greek mythology, Typhon, father of all monsters, battled with Zeus until the king of the gods trapped him under Mount Etna. The lava that spits and bubbles from Europe's most active volcano might have you believe Typhon is still waiting for his furious revenge. But volcanoes also make for fertile soils, so Etna National Park is home to some of Sicily's lushest, vineyard-scattered landscapes.

  • Wasserfall im kroatischen Nationalpark Plitvicer Seen 2013

    Europe's most inspiring national parks

    Plitvice Lakes: Where Winnetou roams

    More than a million visitors flock to Croatia's Plitvice National Park each year to see its network of 16 lakes linked by waterfalls, and the travertine limestone they have carved into undulating steps. It also provided a dramatic location for the Winnetou films - Germany's own cowboy movies based on the books of Karl May.

  • The High Tatras, Slovakia

    Europe's most inspiring national parks

    Tatra: Where bears stalk the forests

    A range of the Western Carpathian Mountains, the Tatra Mountains span national parks in Poland and Slovakia. Brown bear, lynx, wolves, chamois and marmots are among the fauna at home in its dense forests and alpine meadows. Its majestic birds of prey - including the lesser spotted eagle - have perhaps the best view of these soaring peaks and glistening lakes.

  • Loch Lomond, Scotland

    Europe's most inspiring national parks

    Loch Lomond and The Trossachs: Epic vistas

    Walter Scott penned his poem "Lady of the Lake" in Trossachs. Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park provide plenty of inspiration for such an epic. Osprey skim the surface of its countless freshwater lakes in search of salmon, while Iron Age hut circles, standing stones, a Viking graveyard and the remains of crannogs - ancient manmade islands - tell tales of Scotland's distant past.

  • Gran Paradiso National Park

    Europe's most inspiring national parks

    Gran Paradiso: Haven for the Alpine ibex

    Gran Paradiso was Italy's first national park, founded in 1920 to protect the Alpine ibex - then on the brink of extinction. Today, visitors have a fair change of spotting the impressively horned goats in the park's elevated meadows. The bearded vulture, reintroduced 100 years after the last of its species was shot in the park in 1912, looks set to become another restoration success story there.

    Author: Ruby Russell


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