On the occasion of the 150th birthday of Robert Sterl on June 23, 2017, the Albertinum depicts the artist's paintings of Russia in the context of works by Ernst Barlach in a collection presentation.
With this presentation, the Albertinum makes it possible to take a look at the treasures that are otherwise slumbering in the depot and puts the pictures and sculptures into a new context.
Sterl, professor of the Dresden art academy since 1906, has undertaken four trips to Russia between 1908 and 1914. In 1910 the Moscow musician Sergej Kussewitzky invited him to a concert tour on the Volga. In numerous studies, the artist held both the performances as well as his impressions of working life in the port cities. He observes load carriers and ship pullers as well as Persians and Kalmucks. This leads him to an expressive increase in color in his painting.
Ernst Barlach, at the same age as Sterl, has traveled to southern Russia out of a creative crisis. The intense experiences which Barlach first captured in sketches gave him completely new perspectives and, when he returned to Germany, brought about a great artistic beginning and thus his breakthrough as a sculptor.
