Lot 63 Dα

For European viewers, lions in the savannah are the embodiment of the exotic. This was even more true around a century ago, when travel to faraway lands was reserved for very few people and pictures weren't available digitally, but only printed in select publications. Wilhelm Kuhnert was a pioneer when it came to bringing the landscapes of Africa and their spectacular fauna to Europe in the form of his paintings. The precise depiction of the animals shown gives his works a documentary character.

But Wilhelm Kuhnert was more of an artist than a documentarian. The power of his works lies not merely in their illustrative character, they use it to tell of the expanses an as yet barely explored landscape. People at the turn of the century, confronted with the consequences of the developing industrial age, longed for a place like this. However, even that does not explain every layer of the image. Even today, the pair of lions, resting on an elevated position and looking out into the distance, appear strangely attuned to one another. Their harmony and calm that they personify as the “kings of beasts” is something that modern observers long for. It's all too easy to imagine taking the lions' place.