Willow trees at a brook
A successful and well-connected artist active in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, primarily in Vienna and Dresden, Emilie Mediz-Pelikan produced an impressive body of paintings and drawings, the large majority of which are landscapes. Following her premature death at the age of 47, her husband, the painter Karl Mediz, withdrew from public life, and her work fell into relative obscurity until the 1980s, when it began to be featured in museum exhibitions and publications.
This signed and dated drawing is a superb example of Mediz-Pelikan's work, exemplifying her increasingly expressive approach to landscape in the 1890s. Here, the subtle, diffuse application of crayon in the sky and grass contrast with the bold strokes and selective scratching that capture the bark, spindly branches, and gnarled forms of the pollard willows. Dynamic spatial effects are achieved with the trees that grow beyond the top edge of the sheet, the shadows that sprawl across the grass at right, and the brook that extends to the very edge of the picture plane and draws our eye into the composition before bending sharply and receding into the distance at left.
The drawing finds close comparison with two oil paintings by Mediz-Pelikan, both dating to 1893 (both private collection, Vienna). These works also depict a brook winding through a field with willow trees growing on either side of the water, though in both oils the grass is dotted with many more flowers and the trees are not all pruned. Whether the artist returned to the same site to draw the somewhat changed landscape two years later or imagined the latter as a variant of the oil paintings is not clear.
This signed and dated drawing is a superb example of Mediz-Pelikan's work, exemplifying her increasingly expressive approach to landscape in the 1890s. Here, the subtle, diffuse application of crayon in the sky and grass contrast with the bold strokes and selective scratching that capture the bark, spindly branches, and gnarled forms of the pollard willows. Dynamic spatial effects are achieved with the trees that grow beyond the top edge of the sheet, the shadows that sprawl across the grass at right, and the brook that extends to the very edge of the picture plane and draws our eye into the composition before bending sharply and receding into the distance at left.
The drawing finds close comparison with two oil paintings by Mediz-Pelikan, both dating to 1893 (both private collection, Vienna). These works also depict a brook winding through a field with willow trees growing on either side of the water, though in both oils the grass is dotted with many more flowers and the trees are not all pruned. Whether the artist returned to the same site to draw the somewhat changed landscape two years later or imagined the latter as a variant of the oil paintings is not clear.
Artwork Details
- Title: Willow trees at a brook
- Artist: Emilie Mediz-Pelikan (Austrian, Vöcklabruck 1861–1908 Dresden)
- Date: 1895
- Medium: Colored wax crayon, conté crayon, watercolor, graphite, and gum arabic on machine-made wove paper
- Dimensions: Sheet: 11 in. × 17 15/16 in. (28 × 45.5 cm)
- Classification: Drawings
- Credit Line: Purchase, Friends of Drawings and Prints Gifts, 2023
- Object Number: 2023.258
- Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints
More Artwork
A slider containing 5 items.
Press the down key to skip to the last item.
Press the down key to skip to the last item.
Theo Van Rysselberghe
1890
Georges Seurat
Edmond-François Aman-Jean
1882–83
Joseph Mallord William Turner
1843
Odilon Redon
1891
Samuel Palmer
1856
Research Resources
The Met provides unparalleled resources for research and welcomes an international community of students and scholars. The Met's Open Access API is where creators and researchers can connect to the The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.
To request images under copyright and other restrictions, please use this Image Request form.
Feedback
We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.