Ernst Haeckel

Tropical Jungle on Java

watercolor on paper,

1900
 

Ernst Haeckel (1834-1919)

Tropischer Urwald auf Java [Tropical Jungle on Java]

1900

watercolor on watercolor paper, firmly laid on cardboard

34 x 23 cm (cardboard backing 48 x 39 cm)


at the foot of the standing figure, signed and dated in brown ink: "Ernst Haeckel 31.12.1900."


on the trunk of the large tree, inscribed in brown ink with the place name "Tjibodas" [Cibodas, Java] and dated 31/12 1900"


on the cardboard mount, inscribed and dated in brown ink by Haeckel: "Tropischer Urwald. 1425 Mtr.  31. 12. 1900.  Vogelnest-Farn. Epiphyt.  Tjibodas. Java." ["Tropical Jungle.  1425 Meters.  31. 12. 1900. Bird's nest Fern. Epiphyte.  Cibodas. Java."]


on the cardboard mount, mechanically printed, on the left, "Aquarellskizze" ["Watercolor sketch"], and, on the right, "Ernst Haeckel, Jena."

 



"Leaf-filled representation of the lower trunk of a rainforest giant on Java, overgrown with various epiphytes and rooting on the bank of a stream, which, coming from the dense jungle in the background, pours into the left foreground in small waterfalls." K


This drawing was made as part of Haeckel's second tropical trip in 1900, which took him to the Malay Archipelago.


"Beautiful study of nature, which reproduces the characteristic overgrown vegetation and sultriness of the tropical rainforest on Java for the viewer.  In the foreground of the drawing, Haeckel, dressed in a tropical suit and helmet and standing on a large dead branch, probably portrayed himself...." K


Cibodas is a botanical garden on the slopes of Mount Gede, located in the Cibodas subdistrict of West Java, Indonesia.  The garden was founded in 1852 by the Dutch botanist Johannes Elias Teijsmann (1808-1882), and its layout was completed under Dutch botanist Rudolph Scheffer (1844-1880) in later years.
The Daulton Collection owns a drypoint by Emil Orlik depicting Haeckel's return from Java:
Emil Orlik (Prague 1870-1932 Berlin)

"Insulinde" (Ernst Haeckel on his return from the Malay Archipelago)
1901/1909
drypoint with roulette and aquatint on firm wove paper
25,2 x 20,2 cm (plate); 28,8 x 23,5 cm (sheet)
The Daulton Collection

lower right in pencil signed and dated "Emil Orlik 1909"; also signed diminutively by the printer "Otto Felsing"

lower left in pencil by the artist inscribed "auf der Kioutchau [sic]"
lower left printed "1901 INSULINDE"

catalogue raisonne: Glöckner 1980, 208

an excellent, finely nuanced impression with a narrow margin

"Insulinde" is an archaic German term for the Malay Archipelago or Indonesia, literally "Island India" or the "Indian Archipelago."

There exists an impression of this drypoint that is inscribed by Orlik "an Bord der Kiautschau, auf der Rückkehr von Insulinde, im Angesicht von Neapel (Capo Miseno) am März 1901" ["on board the Kiautschau, on the return from Indonesia, in sight of Naples (Cape Miseno) in March 1901"].  See www.orlikprints.com/pages/single/101.html

Launched in 1900, the Kiautschou was a German ship used on the steamer line to East Asia.  On her maiden voyage on December 25, 1900, she ran from Hamburg through the Suez Canal to Yokohama; Haeckel was a passenger on her return to Europe.

Orlik made impressions of this print in 1901, 1909 and 1910.
The Daulton Collection owns another impression of this print, an impression with a handwritten dedication the Orlik's friend, the artist Bernhard Pankok:
Emil Orlik (Prague 1870-1932 Berlin)

"Insulinde" (Ernst Haeckel on his return from the Malay Archipelago)
1901/1910
drypoint with roulette and aquatint on firm wove paper
25,2 x 20,2 cm (plate); 28,8 x 23,5 cm (sheet)
The Daulton Collection

lower right in pencil signed and dated "Emil Orlik 1910"; also signed diminutively by the printer "Otto Felsing"

lower left in pencil by the artist inscribed with a dedication to artist (Bernhard) Pankok

lower left printed "1901 INSULINDE"

catalogue raisonne: Glöckner 1980, 208
Contact:
Jack Daulton
The Daulton Collection
info@symbolismus.com