Illustration: Otto Eckmann. Waldteich tapestry design, c1898.
The tapestry design Waldteich which roughly translates into English as Forest Pond, was produced by the German artist and designer Otto Eckmann at the very end of the nineteenth century. In many respects, this particular piece of craftwork could be said to sum up a number of the new ideas and directions that at least a proportion of the German art, design and decoration world was beginning to take during the period that saw the death of the nineteenth and birth of the twentieth century.
Waldteich was a form of reaction against the national style of art and decoration in Germany. Like so many of the nationally approved styles around Europe, they were often conservative, deeply indebted to the patronage of the local aristocracy and therefore tied inextricably with the monetary remuneration from that patronage. Few artists dared to break out of the entrenched system as careers could be extinguished at short notice if an individual was to displease the Emperor and his court.
Official German art and decoration tended towards the imperially pompous and ceremonial, with themes that were often historical in context, though biased towards patriotic nationalism, rather than true historical context. Work was often heavy in ornamentation and affectation. Germany was by no means alone in this formula, with most of the imperially led nations of Europe indulging in one form of 'official' art or another.
Waldteich should therefore be seen within the context of the format of officially sanctioned art and decoration. The tapestry by Eckmann has no clear Germanic context, it is not linked with any form of historic grandeur or perceived ceremonial framework. It is a simple and therefore by its nature, lowly view of a pond, nothing more and nothing less. In many respects, the simplicity of the composition and narrative purposely underlines the cultural and creative shift produced by Eckmann through his work. Its conception changed the relationship between the artist and the state, with the artist working outside of the immediate patronage and national interest. The physical and technical style of the composition is again simple and straightforward with colours being sharp and focused as opposed to so much of the official court sponsored artwork, which dealt with complicated narratives with often mediocre and complex colour palettes.
The simplistic approach by Eckmann and others was purposeful and while being part of the larger and wide-ranging European Arts & Crafts and early Modernist approach to both art and decoration, the German response taken by Eckmann and his contemporaries was also highly influenced by the specifically English Arts & Crafts movement which had a simplistic and low-key approach to the decorative arts. This in its turn placed the movement at odds with the often affected roles played by the officialdom of court styles. The English approach was very much based on the style of the perceived common man, even though much of the completed work was well outside the financial grasp of many common men. However, this approach often led inextricably towards a more pronounced political dimension, with many English Arts & Crafts followers and leaders moving towards Socialism as a form of counter to the prevailing politics dominated by landed gentry and ultimately the higher circles of the aristocracy. This movement towards at least the recognition of the plight and value of the common man, was by no means lost on the German reformers.
In some respects, Eckmann and others needed an officially sanctioned style in which to focus and reflect their individual creative differences. This is not to say that Eckmann would not have achieved works such as Waldteich without the guide of an official style in which to counter. However, it is an interesting idea that without an intransigent and exclusive club from which new creative members were often excluded often merely because of lack of social connections, political beliefs and even religious affiliations, much of the formative decorative and art movements of Europe might well have matured in slightly different formats than the ones we know today. That they might well have been the poorer creatively for a lack of antagonistic focus from the established order, is an interesting perspective.
Further reading links:
Before the Bauhaus: Architecture, Politics, and the German State, 1890-1920 (Modern Architecture and Cultural Identity)
The Germans and Their Art: A Troublesome Relationship
Expressionism: A Revolution in German Art (Taschen 25th Anniversary Series)
German Expressionist Woodcuts (Collections of Fine Art in Dover Books)
German Expressionism: The Graphic Impulse
German Expressionism: Documents from the End of the Wilhelmine Empire to the Rise of National Socialism (Documents of Twentieth-Century Art)
The Expressionists (World of Art)
Modern Style: Jugendstil/Art Nouveau 1899-1905
The Arts & Crafts Movement
The Arts & Crafts Companion
Arts and Crafts Movement (World of Art)
Textiles of the Arts and Crafts Movement
The Arts and Crafts Movement in Europe and America: Design for the Modern World 1880-1920
