Art Inconnu - Little-known and under-appreciated art.: July 2008

Wednesday, 30 July 2008

Self Portrait by Mstislav Dobuzhinsky

Mstislav Dobuzhinsky (1875-1957) - "Self Portrait"

▪ A selection of works at Olga's Gallery

Prudence Heward (1896-1947)

"Rollande" 1929

▪ Images here via the National Gallery of Canada
▪ Biography and bibliography
▪ "Farmhouse Window" at the Art Gallery of Hamilton
▪ A handful of images at museevirtuel.ca
▪ Canadian Woman Artists History Initiative Inaugural Conference, October 2008.

"Anna" 1922-32

"Back Garden" 1938

"Farm" 1933

"Farmhouse and Car" 1933

"Girl in a yellow sweater" 1936

"Girl on a hill" 1928

"Landscape" 1932-39

"Leaves" 1933

"Portrait of Mrs. Zimmerman" 1943

Tuesday, 29 July 2008

Bonhams are holding their fourth South African sale in September. It will be the largest sale of its kind and one that is set to break all records associated with South African art. As ever the work is a mixed bag quality-wise, but there is plenty of interest, and a couple of really exceptional paintings. I have selected a handful of pieces below, the catalogue can be browsed in its entirety online at Bonhams website (part 1, part 2.)

Edward Roworth (1880-1964) - "Cape farmhouse"

Maria Magdalena Laubser (1886-1973) - "Portrait of a Man"

Walter Gilbert Wiles (1875-1966) - "Knysa Forest"

Terence John McCaw (1913-1978) - "Houses and trees on the water"

Neville Lewis (1895-1972) Title Unknown

Gerard Sekoko (1913-1993) - Title unknown

Stanley Pinker (b.1924) - Title Unknown

G. Rose Innes (20thc.) - "The Scarecrow"

Gerard Bhengu (1910-1990) - "Zulu Portrait"

Pieter van der Westhuizen (b.1931) - "Rural Landscape"

Robert Gwelo Goodman (1871-1939) - "The Drakensberg"

Maud Frances Eyston Sumner (1902-1985) - "Still life of jug and fruit"

Joos de Momper the Younger (1564 - 1635)

"River Landscape" 1610

Joos De Momper is considered a pioneer of landscape painting. He specialised in panoramic, highly detailed "world landscapes." A world landscape is an invented view designed to "encapsulate the world" and allow an artist to incorporate as many impressive images and events as possible in the one painting. "River Landscape" of 1610 (above) is a typical example - amongst other things De Momper has crammed in bridges, ports, beaches, windmills, little towns, a boar hunt and two war ships firing on each other.

De Momper was born in 1564 in Antwerp. He was heavily influenced by Peter Brueghel the Elder and is considered to be one of the most important painters who worked in the period between Brueghel and Peter Paul Rubens. Of the 500 or so works attributed to De Momper very few are signed, and only one is dated. It is thought that several of his works are collaborative pieces which were painted alongside Jan Brueghel the Elder.

"A Rocky Landscape with cattle on a Road"

"Extensive mountainous landscape"

"Flemish Market with Washing Place" 1620

"Hermitage of Monks"

"View of a village in winter"

"Winter Landscape" 1620

"Winter Landscape with the Flight into Egypt"

"Village in Winter"

▪ A collection of his works

Saturday, 26 July 2008

Albert Lebourg (1849-1928)

"Ile de la cité, Paris" Oil on canvas, 1918.

"His works do not have brilliant colors or lights like fireworks. But when we look at his paintings, we are drawn into a well-balanced world, infinitely gentle, comfortable and transparent, where everything evaporates and dissolves into a charming and melancholic dream intoxicated with the graces chosen out of the universe." --Gustave Geoffroy, 1918.

I tried to collect together a group of his works to post here but it was so difficult to edit them down, and the quality was so uniformly good, that I decided to pick just one of my favourites instead. You can explore more of his paintings using the links below.

▪ Biography
▪ Over 100 works at the Athenaeum
▪ 58 works at Museuma

Tuesday, 22 July 2008

Emilie Charmy (1877-1974)

"Self Portrait" Oil on canvas, c.1930. Papillon Gallery, Los Angeles.

I have come across a number of interesting works by the French painter Emilie Charmy over the years, but there was always a real lack of information on her and very few other examples of her work. Now a website has been built to collate her work and preserver her legacy - Friends of Emilie Charmy. The quality of her work isn't consistently high, but she painted some interesting works. Certainly worth a look, and heartening to see a step like this being taken.

Sunday, 20 July 2008

Heinrich Maria Davringhausen (1894-1970)

"Portrait of a Man" Oil on canvas, 1912-13.

▪ Some other works
▪ Wikipedia bio
▪ New Objectivity

Friday, 18 July 2008

John Duncan "JD" Fergusson (1874-1961)

"Everyone in Scotland should refuse to have anything to do with black or dirty and dingy colours, and insist on clean colours in everything. I remember when I was young any colour was considered a sign of vulgarity. Greys and blacks were the only colours for people of taste and refinement. Good pictures had to be black, grey, brown or drab. Well! let's forget it, and insist on things in Scotland being of colour that makes for and associates itself with light, hopefulness, health and happiness."

-- J. D. Fergusson, Modern Scottish Painting, William MacLellan, Glasgow 1943.

"Le Voile Persan" Oil on canvas, 1919.

It has been said that the contribution of J.D. Fergusson to Scottish art in the 20th Century is almost unparalleled. There were only a few artists acknowledged to be part of the explosion of talent which was seen in Paris in the first decade of this century, and J D Fergusson was one of these. J D Fergusson was born and brought up in Leith, Edinburgh, where Art from Scotland is based, but much of his work was executed in France. He was drawn to the cafe society of Paris and rubbed shoulders with the young Matisse and Picasso. He was also a friend of Charles Rennie Mackintosh and it is believed that Fergusson encouraged Mackintosh to paint.

Fergusson met Anne Estelle Rice (1879 - 1959) in 1906 with whom he shared a close relationship until 1914. Anne Estelle Rice was an artist of Irish American stock from Philadelphia. Fergusson painted a portrait of her in oriental dress placed against a flowered backcloth of roses. The simplicity of the costume and pose permitted an emphasis on colour outlined in blue or red. The decorative background reflects the sitter rather than detracting from her, a Fauvist principle. Fergusson spent many summers at the resort of Paris-Plage where the quality of clear light on land and water increased the tonality of his work. Colour was used to heighten atmosphere. Fergusson became a Societaire of the Salon d'Automne. (via)

▪ Wikipedia