Erich LINDENAU
(Bischofswerda 1889 - Dresden 1955)
Reedmace
Watercolour, over a pencil underdrawing, on Fabriano paper.
Signed with the artist’s monogram and dated EL. 29. at the lower left centre.
Inscribed “Binsen” in pencil on the verso.
384 x 267 mm. (15 1/8 x 10 1/2 in.) [sheet]
Signed with the artist’s monogram and dated EL. 29. at the lower left centre.
Inscribed “Binsen” in pencil on the verso.
384 x 267 mm. (15 1/8 x 10 1/2 in.) [sheet]
This study of great reedmace (Typha latifolia) – a wetland plant with long leaves and tall stems, sometimes inaccurately called the bulrush – is a fine example of Erich Lindenau’s exacting watercolour technique. The great reedmace is found extensively throughout Europe, North and South America, Asia and Africa, and the cylindrical, sausage-like brown flower heads of the plant appear between June and August.
A German painter of flowerpieces and landscapes, working mainly in watercolour, Erich LIndenau studied at the Kunstgewerbeschule in Dresden, but was otherwise largely self-taught. An exhibition of his work was held in 1931 at the Józef Sandel’s Galerie junge Kunst in Dresden. In February 1956, not long after Lindenau’s death the previous year, a retrospective exhibition of his work was held at the Albertinum in Dresden.