The Landesmuseum Mainz shows 36 detailed romantic watercolors by Johann Adam Ackermann with motifs from Mainz and the surrounding area. They are soothing works reminiscent of the great painter and contemporary Caspar David Friedrich – the ideal anti-stress program for the pre-Christmas period.
Winter romance in the State Museum
In the graphics cabinet of the Landesmuseum Mainz there is a seasonal exhibition entitled “Rhine Romance”. 36 atmospheric watercolors by Johann Adam Ackermann will be shown. Snow-covered landscapes, bare trees, lonely river landscapes, abandoned ruins can be discovered on it.
The whole thing is so detailed and realistically painted that when you look at the romantic works, you almost think you’re breathing the cold winter air.
“He has the ability to capture special lighting moods in a picture,” says curator Maria Aresin. “Times of day. The dim atmosphere of the air. With the reduced means that were available to him for watercolors.”
Influenced by Caspar David Friedrich
Johann Adam Ackermann lived between 1781 and 1853. He worked in Paris and Rome, among other places, and Arcadian landscapes initially shaped his work. Later, Ackermann increasingly devoted himself to motifs along the Rhine.
He consciously tried to emulate his contemporary Caspar David Friedrich, for example by dedicating himself to motifs similar to his role model: for example a cross in the snow.
The two probably met in Nuremberg in the 1830s, after which Ackermann began to paint in this romantic style, says curator Aresin. “Before, he tended to paint landscapes flooded with light. From then on, the atmospheric, the romantic misty begins.” This late phase of Ackermann’s was strongly influenced by Caspar David Friedrich and romantic painting.
Two works stolen after the war are back in Mainz
The Mainz exhibition also shows two works that fell victim to art theft immediately after the Second World War. The pictures “Old fountain and old mint building on the market in Mainz” and “Zu Oppenheim am Rhein”.
These had been relocated to Veste Heldburg in Thuringia in 1938. The graphics survived the war unscathed. On the way back to Mainz, however, unknown perpetrators broke open individual transport containers and stole graphics by Dürer, Rembrandt and Ackermann.
Museum had to buy back the paintings
In 1999 and 2011, two of the 40 stolen Ackermann graphics turned up on the Frankfurt art market. The art dealers were able to identify the Mainz museum as the previous owner by means of a stamp on the reverse. The two works found their way back for a total of 6,000 euros.
Buying back stolen artworks? This is also a sensitive issue for the head of the State Museum, Birgit Heide. Due to the lack of legal recourse, however, it was the only viable way, because in the turmoil of the post-war period there were no charges against unknown persons.
The Mainz exhibition “Rhein-Romantik” is definitely worthwhile because of its discovery of the artist Johann Adam Ackermann. Especially in the often stressful pre-Christmas period, the romantic landscape watercolors radiate a pleasant calm.
