#FineArtFriday: In the Harbor by Adolf Kaufmann

Artist: Adolf Kaufmann (1848–1916)

Adolf Kaufmann: In the Harbor

Date: by 1916

Medium: oil on canvas

Dimensions: Height: 75 cm (29.5 in); Width: 102 cm (40.1 in)

What I love about this painting:

This shows us the working harbor in a fishing village, with men and women unloading the catch and selling it on the docks. The day is gray, as days by the sea often are, but it’s warm enough for the workers to labor without coats. This was, and still is, dirty, smelly work, but a good catch meant food on the table and coins in their pockets.

The colors are muted, with rusts and browns predominant. It’s a messy scene, with sails and nets piled everywhere and teeming with people.

This is how harbors really were, and still are.

About the artist, via Wikipedia:

Adolph Kaufmann (15 May 1848, in Troppau – 25 November 1916, in Vienna) was an Austrian landscape and marine artist. In 1890, he decided to settle in Vienna and opened a studio in the Wieden district. In 1900, together with Carl von Merode [de] and Heinrich Lefler, he opened an “Art School for Ladies.” He continued to visit Paris frequently and, when he painted there, signed his works with the pseudonym “A. Guyot”. Other names he signed with include “A. Papouschek”, “G. Salvi”, “A. Jarptmann”, “R. Neiber”, “J. Rollin” and “M. Bandouch”. Why he did this is unclear, although his choice of signature often reflects stylistic differences.

His landscapes were influenced by the Barbizon school and the style known as “paysage intime” (French for “familiar landscape”), both of which he was exposed to in France during the 1870s.

He was a frequent exhibitor and won numerous awards; notably at the Exposition Universelle (1900). From 1890 to 1913, he was a member of the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts; representing them at exhibitions at the Glaspalast in Munich and the Große Berliner Kunstausstellung. He became a full member of the Vienna Künstlerhaus in 1909. His travels continued until they were cut short by the beginning of World War I.

Credits and Attributions:

Wikimedia Commons contributors, “File:Adolf Kaufmann – In the Harbour.jpg,” Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Adolf_Kaufmann_-_In_the_Harbour.jpg&oldid=586204225 (accessed October 22, 2021).

Wikipedia contributors, “Adolf Kaufmann,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Adolf_Kaufmann&oldid=1039803125 (accessed October 22, 2021).