Die Gemälde "Flöße auf der Weichsel" von Friedrich Kallmorgen: ein Dokument zur Weichselflößerei und zur Geschichte des Holzhandels

Abstract

Since 2006, the German Maritime Museum has had in its possession an oil painting entitled 'Rafts on the Vistula' by Friedrich Kallmorgen (1856-1924). A study of the painting has proven that it is a reliable and informative source on the history of rafting on the Vistula and the wood trade in the Vistula region before World War I. Back then, wood made its way from forests in Austrian Galicia and Russia to as far as Berlin by way of water, via the Vistula, Brda, Bromberg Canal, Warta, Oder, Finow Canal and Havel. The oeuvre catalogue of Kallmorgen's paintings and prints by Irene Eder lists our oil painting as 'Study from Thorn'. It will accordingly have been executed in connection with a five-part painting cycle commissioned by the wood merchant Max Francke of Berlin, who owned a sawmill in Karlsdorf near Bromberg and obtained wood from the Vistula region on a large scale. Kallmorgen had travelled to Thorn and Bromberg in 1901 with Francke, a brother-in-law of his brother’s, to carry out studies on rafting, raftsmen, and work in the sawmill. These initial studies were supplemented by further studies made on a journey of 1903. Oil studies like 'Rafts on the Vistula' then formed the basis for Kallmorgen's large-scale painting cycle 'From the Forest to the Mill' which hung in Francke's Berlin mansion. In the wood merchant’s house it served prestige purposes and showed visitors the business so successfully engaged in by their host. In addition to the one in Karlsdorf, Francke also owned sawmills in Berlin-Spandau and Marienwerder on the Finow Canal, all of which were seized by the National Socialists in 1938. The whereabouts of the large paintings has never been determined to this day. In the oeuvre catalogue, the words "owner unknown" follow the entries for the oil paintings 'The Mill in Spandau, Interior of the Mill in Karlsdorf near Bromberg, Forest Work in Galicia and Wood Loads on the Vistula'.