Bellevue

Bellevue Robert Zünd Tobias Madörin (1827 – 1909 )

(1965 )

Kunstmuseum Luzern Scheidegger & Spiess

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Robert ZĂźnd

Waldweg

Tobias MadĂśrin

Eichenwald #2

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Robert Zünd

Eichwald

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Once through the forest Alone I went; To seek for nothing My thoughts were bent.

Walks

by Fanni Fetzer

from: Johann Wolfgang von Gœthe Found (1813)

Our s h or t wal k

We put on our shoes and set out ! We always follow the same route: around the bend, up the alley until the tarmac ends, and further on, following a small trail into the woods. Or over the bridge and along the riverside. Or in between the apartment blocks towards the community gardens and out into the fields.

The weather changes. This is not a mountain hike; it’s not exercise either. This is a kind of routine. We pass the same chicken coop as always; the apple trees are already blooming, or their ripe fruit falls to the ground. The leaves are already changing their colors, or some mistletoes peek through the bare branches. The same path, over and over again, a route that only we know and follow. Whenever we feel like it and our minds need a quick breather, when we’re sad or hungover, or can finally leave the house again for the first time after a bout of the flu. Or it’s a rainy weekend, so we’ll at least get a little fresh air, or simply because we have a dog that needs a walk.

We know this path intimately: Over there is where the wild chives grow; here, the ground is damp, and every spring there’s a bit of a landslide on that hill. This confusing crossroads here is a popular spot for driving les­ sons. We always stop to drink from this fountain, even when we’re not thirsty, and finally, up top, there’s a view to the west, and we can see what the weather will be like tomorrow.

Blackberries grow behind this old shed, nettles, and sometimes, during fall, even some shaggy manes.

This path is never new, but al­ ways different. The more we walk it, the more interesting it becomes. The redundancy of sensations is joined by

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Robert Zünd

Vierwaldstättersee mit Blick auf die Rigiflanke

Robert Zünd

Landschaft am Vierwaldstättersee

Fanni Fetz er

Wal k s

small variations, depending on season, time of day, weather, even mood or current events. We sharpen our senses: On our usual walk we smell better, hear and see more. We recognize the songs of the birds; this is where deer will occa­ sionally cross the path; this is where insects hide in the thistles; this shrub has only been growing here for a few years. There used to be a shortcut here, but since lightning felled a tree, the path is blocked. This is the plot where we always used to play hide and seek; today it accommodates a double garage, and this wall once marked the border to the farmer’s meadow; today it’s the garden of a family home. How time passes, and how it stands still.

In contrast to Robert Zünd, Tobias Madörin is a world traveler. Likewise a pas­ sionate walker, he explores different landscapes and cities to capture veduta with his camera. In South America or Asia or in the Alps: His images portray structures made by man. High­rises, a dam wall, opencast mines, a mountain pass or building scaffolds not only document the restlessness of our time but also reflect on how we organize our immediate surroundings. Thanks to the slow work process that comes with using an analog large­format camera, Madörin’s photographs, in their precision, possess an intensity similar to that of Zünd’s paintings. Both of them take a closer look. Robert Zünd realized his paintings in his studio based on the sketches he made. Tobias Madörin carries his bulky equipment around with him, waiting for just the right mo­ ment when everything aligns: light, weather, the train moving through the scene, the clouds in the sky.

At first, Robert Zünd felt threatened by photography as a new medium— the camera being able to produce in seconds what a painter can only achieve through extensive training, skill, and patience. After his initial hesitance, how­ ever, he realized the camera’s value as a replacement for his sketches. For Tobias Madörin, the camera is the tool of his trade, but by relying on analog technology, his work process skirts the constant self­assurance the digital world offers through a quick checking glance at the screen. After Tobias Madörin’s photographs are developed, he produces copies and then enlargements—all of it delightfully old­fashioned, slow, and expensive. A lot of time has to pass before Madörin even presses the shutter release. His analog images are unexpectedly detailed, larger than the paintings, and often collaged from several photographs. They neither dissolve into single pixels nor are they overly sharp as digital images so often are. These perspectives provide the same level of immersion as Zünd’s paintings. The observant gaze, the act of seeing is what’s behind this juxtaposition of Zünd and Madörin.

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Sha rp ening the senses

Robert Zünd (1827 – 1909), an artist whose work can be located between Natural­ ism and Realism, found the subjects for his paintings on walks like this. Almost all of his works show the landscapes of Central Switzerland. He painted his (also commercially) most successful subjects again and again over several decades: the Schellenmatt, the view over Lucerne from the Stollberg, the little cove near Meggen, Lake Lucerne with one flank of the Rigi towering above it, or— geo­ graphically less specific— a view of dense forest (beech or oak), a wayside. The size of his paintings varied just like the undergrowth, the trees on the riverbank, or the shrubbery in the foreground.

Because of his highly detailed paintings, Robert Zünd is also known as the “master of the beech leaf.” This idea of the artist copying nature in true­to­ life paintings, however, is not entirely true: Robert Zünd spent much of his time outdoors. In good weather, he found his subjects by going on walks and captured them right there and then on a sketchpad. He would then work on his paintings back in his studio. The small variations in his serially produced subjects as well as their extraordinary wealth of detail lend a significance to Zünd’s work that surpasses its beauty. His paintings also serve as a historical source for the study of nineteenth­century Central Switzerland.

The exhibition at Kunstmuseum Luzern juxtaposes Robert Zünd’s paint­ ings with photographs by Tobias Madörin (*1965). Nearly 150 years separate the two artists’ works. Tobias Madörin follows in Zünd’s footsteps by deliberately traveling to the places where Zünd most likely made his sketches. Most locations can be gleaned from the clues provided through the work titles or the depicted views. Over the course of two years Tobias Madörin positioned his large­format camera at these original locations to capture the same perspectives Zünd did in his paintings. At the same time, Zünd’s titles also inspired Madörin to look for new perspectives, depicting the view of Lucerne from a different spot or the Lake of Lucerne with mount Rigi from the other side. The resulting images lack none of Zünd’s detail and precision.

A ni ce v iew

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Bellevue, la belle vue in French, a nice view in English, is the title of the exhi­ bition at Kunstmuseum Luzern. Bellevue, however, is also the name of the odd restaurant or two that from a higher ground offer views over the landscape.

A Bellevue will never be situated down in the valley, at the back of a ravine, or tucked away inside a cave. We’ll always find it high up, right on the ledge, on a coastal cliff, above the sea, the plains, with a view of mountain ridges, a wide horizon. In the nineteenth century, we would have stood there by ourselves or as part of a small group. Today, we’re being pushed around by the crowds, but the “ahs” and the “ohs” remain the same. Here we are, taking in the city down in the valley, the mountain range on the horizon, the deep gorge, the soughing

nicht definitives Bildmaterial neue Version

Hangrutsch mit Frau auf Steg 114

Robert ZĂźnd

Felsiger Weg

Tobias MadĂśrin

Gurtnellen #1

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Tobias Madรถrin

Walenstadt #1

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Die Landschaften von Robert Zünd (1827 – 1909) begeistern durch ihre harmonische Komposition und Naturtreue sowie ihren Detailreichtum. In Bellevue begegnen Zünds Gemälde den Fotografien von Tobias Madörin (*1965).

2016 und 2017 mit einer Grossformatkamera und oft von den Standorten des Malers aus aufgenommen, sind sie ebenso detailreich wie ausdrucksstark: Ein Dialog zwischen Malerei und Fotografie und zwischen vergangener und gegenwärtiger Landschaft in der Zentralschweiz. Mit Texten von Fanni Fetzer, Dominik Müller und Jonathan Steinberg.

Bellevue

Robert Zünd

With their harmonic composition and their wealth of detail, the landscapes of Robert Zünd (1827 – 1909) are truly breathtaking. In Bellevue, Zünd’s paintings are paired with the photographs of Tobias Madörin (1965). Taken in 2016 and 20 17 with a large-format camera—often in the exact locations where the painter must have stood—they are just as detailed and expressive as their counterparts in oil. A dialogue between painting and photography, between the past and present landscapes of Central Switzerland.

With texts by Fanni Fetzer, Dominik Müller, and Jonathan Steinberg.

Tobias Madörin

Kunstmuseum Luzern Scheidegger & Spiess Printed in Germany

ISBN 978-3-85881-555-2

9 783858 815552