11th Dec, 2024 12:00
Fine Paintings & Works on Paper
68
OTTO GUTFREUND (CZECH 1889-1927)
NATURE MORTE
stamped and numbered 36 by the artist's estate on the reverse
pen, ink and wash on paper
27 x 22cm; 10 1/2 x 8 3/4in
54 x 47cm; 21 1/4 x 18 1/2in (framed)
Executed between 1910-19 on the reverse of a piece of Moravian Insurance Company headed paper that features the crest of the Margraviate of Moravia, a crown land that in 1918 became one of the five founding territories incorporated into the newly formed country of Czechoslovakia. Gutfreund made a number of sketches in pen and ink on such letterheaded papers, using the loose sheets as other artists would a sketchbook. His use of this specific paper has become a helpful way of verifying such works.
The angular oblongs in the sketch that jut into empty spaces on the page as if three dimensional constructions are a graphic depiction of Gutfreund’s interest in creating three-dimensional works from flat pieces of wood between 1910-1920. He termed this exploration of space ‘consistent abstract constructivism’, and both his drawings and sculptures during this period reflect his determined shift towards Cubism.
Gutfreund was one of the pre-eminent fathers of Czech Modernism. Born in Northern Bohemia, he studied pottery in Bechyně before enrolling in the School of Decorative Arts, Prague where he explored figurative and ornamental modelling. In Prague, he met the French sculptor Antoine Bourdelle who encouraged him to enrol in his Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris. After working with Bourdelle he returned to Prague in 1910, and the following year co-founded Skupina výtvarných umělců (Group of Creative Artists), a collective informed by Western European avant-garde art that promoted Czech Modern artists to an international audience. In 1914 he was invited by Herwarth Walden to exhibit with Der Sturm in Berlin, and returned to Paris where he met Picasso, Gris, the poet Apollinaire and the dealer Daniel-Henri Kahnweiler. During the War he served in the French Foreign Legion seeing action on the Somme, but was interned in a French prison camp near Avignon for two years. In 1920 he returned to Prague where he developed a more naturalist figurative style.
Sold for £750
NATURE MORTE
stamped and numbered 36 by the artist's estate on the reverse
pen, ink and wash on paper
27 x 22cm; 10 1/2 x 8 3/4in
54 x 47cm; 21 1/4 x 18 1/2in (framed)
Executed between 1910-19 on the reverse of a piece of Moravian Insurance Company headed paper that features the crest of the Margraviate of Moravia, a crown land that in 1918 became one of the five founding territories incorporated into the newly formed country of Czechoslovakia. Gutfreund made a number of sketches in pen and ink on such letterheaded papers, using the loose sheets as other artists would a sketchbook. His use of this specific paper has become a helpful way of verifying such works.
Auction: Fine Paintings & Works on Paper, 11th Dec, 2024
Auction Location: London, UK
Our sale of Fine Paintings and Works on Paper features 80 lots spanning four centuries. It includes works from two significant deceased estates: art dealer Alexander Iolas who promoted the bright and playful works by Jean Hugo and Niki de Sainte Phalle (lots 44-52), and gallerist Karsten Schubert, led by a green revolver on a vibrant red background by Michael Craig-Martin (lot 53), currently the subject of a retrospective at the Royal Academy, Piccadilly.
Colour dominates many of the post-War works. A stripe painting by the leading Washington Colour Field artist Gene Davis is a sale highlight. Davis worked alongside Morris Louis and Kenneth Noland also from D.C. in the 1950s and ‘60s perfecting his distinctive style. 65-6 by Davis (lot 58) dances and rhymes before the viewer’s eye. From the same collection and similarly optical are the works by Joe Tilson (lot 60) from 1965, and a rare painting by Justin Knowles (lot 59). Fellow colourist Howard Hodgkin is represented by Here we are in Croydon from 1979 (lot 63).
Modern British is led by an attractive group of watercolours by John Nash (lots 34-37), all acquired from the artist by the present owner’s grandfather. Other British figurative painters featured in the sale include Alan Lowdnes with a street scene in Altrincham near Manchester (lot 40), and three sketches by the young Michael Andrews (lots 41-43). Elsewhere there are works by John Piper and humorous illustrations by graphic artists Ronald Searle and Quentin Blake (lots 71 & 72).
Artists from further afield include two 18th/ 19th century Cuzco paintings from Peru and good Australian examples: a watercolour by John Russell of the Pont de Neuilly, and an atmospheric painting of a dust storm in the New South Wales out back by John Charles Goodhart of 1907 capturing a storm that year (lots 31 & 38). ‘en plein-air’-ists in the sale include Otto Modersohn, co-founder of Worpswede school in Bavaria in the 1890s (lot 19) and three delightful paintings of children by Scottish painter Gemmel Hutchison, influenced by Barbizon in France and the Hague School in Holland (lots 27, 28 & 30).
For more information please contact us | pictures@olympiaauctions.com | +44 (0)20 7806 5541
Viewing
PUBLIC EXHIBITION:
Sunday 8th December: 12:00pm to 4:00pm
Monday 9th December: 10:00am to 8:00pm
Tuesday 10th December: 10:00am to 5:00pm
