Special Issue on Crisis and Rupture
Wilhelm Trübner’s Romantic Ruins
“German-ness” in Crisis
Today, the German painter Wilhelm Trübner is best known for his works in the collection of the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin, or for his tongue-in-cheek dog paintings. However, he first gained prominence due to his involvement with the Leibl-Kreis (Leibl Circle), a group of young artists in southern Germany, who worked in a realist style under the guidance of the painter Wilhelm Leibl. Leibl had encountered the work of the realist Gustave Courbet at the Munich Glaspalast Exhibition of 1869, and then was introduced to Manet in Paris before returning to Munich.
The group embraced realism’s matter-of-fact approach, including both its subject matter and its tactile style, as a modern way of painting modern life. It would include, among others, Carl Schuch and Hans Thoma, as well as Trübner. From 1871 to 1873, they worked to produce stoic, everyday scenes of family members and friends and straightforward studies of interiors, landscapes, as well as depictions of labor. A dark palette, with visible brushwork to signal the artist’s hand and presence via the wet-on-wet or alla prima technique, was also key to their output. This approach is exemplified by Trübner’s Auf dem Kanapee (On the Couch).
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