Tower in Bregenz, c. 1924

From a wooden boat, we get a view of Lindau harbor including one of the most prominent landmarks of the town of Bregenz in Rudolf Wacker’s (1893-1939) lithograph entitled Tower in Bregenz: standing tall against the turbulent night sky is the unmistakable shape of the 12th-century Mangturm, embedded in a city view with a bending street, lined by trees, nestled townhouses, and another city tower farther back. Using stark contrasts of light and dark and skillfully modulated, soft strokes, Wacker renders the reflections in the water between the edge of the boat and the pier wall. The perspective is shrewdly chosen. The view of the city from aboard the boat creates tension. The work was probably created in 1924, when Wacker had returned to Bregenz to live with his family in the loft of his parents’ house converted especially for the purpose. Lake Constance, views of the city and the surrounding mountain landscape became his favorite motifs.

MH, 2021