3027 - CUNO AMIET

CUNO AMIET (Solothurn 1868–1961 Oschwand) Blumenstillleben mit roter Rispe. 1905. Oil on canvas mounted on hardboard. Monogrammed lower right: CA. Inscribed and dated verso: von A. und C. Amiet Weihnacht 1942 gemalt 1905. 40.5 × 32.5 cm. Provenance: - Private collection, Eduard Gerber, Bern, received directly from the artist in 1942. - Private collection, Switzerland. Exhibited: - Zurich 1979, Cuno Amiet und die Maler der Brücke, Kunsthaus Zürich, 18 May–5 August 1979, no. 42, as ‘Stillleben mit Blumen’ (label on verso). - Olten and Thun 1988, Cuno Amiet. Die Sammlung Eduard Gerber. Bern, Kunstmuseum Olten, 19 March–8 May 1988; Kunstmuseum Thun, 23 June–24 July 1988, no. 5 (label on verso). - Bern 2011/12, Amiet: Freude meines Lebens. Sammlung Eduard Gerber, Kunstmuseum Bern, 19 August 2011–15 January 2012, no. 17, as ‘Blumenstillleben mit roter Rispe’ (label on verso). Literature: - Peter Killer and Urs Zaugg: Cuno Amiet. Eine Leidenschaft. Die Sammlung Eduard Gerber (Bern), Stäfa 1988, p. 30, no. 5 (ill.). - Caroline Kesser: ‘Expressionismus’, in: exhibition catalogue Expressionismus, Bern 2011, p. 55. - Exhibition catalogue Amiet: Freude meines Lebens. Sammlung Eduard Gerber, Bern 2011/12, p. 46, no. 17 (ill.). - Therese Bhattacharya-Stettler: ‘Amiets Anfänge: Auf der Suche nach Licht und Farbe’, in: exhibition catalogue Amiet: Freude meines Lebens. Sammlung Eduard Gerber, Bern 2011/12, p. 30. - Franz Müller and Viola Radlach: Cuno Amiet. Die Gemälde 1883–1919, ed. Swiss Institute for Art Research, Zurich 2014, vol. I, p. 261, no. 1905.26 (ill.). When the young collector Eduard Gerber was invited to choose a painting from Cuno Amiet’s studio at Christmas 1942, he selected a small floral still life hanging beside the studio door, affectionately known to Anna Amiet as ‘Zärteli’ (Killer 1998 II, p. 30). The still life depicts luminous orange-red daylilies, their delicate stems extending diagonally across the picture. The flowers stand out vividly against the blue-violet background. With loose brushstrokes and bold contrasts of colour, Amiet imbues the simple composition with remarkable vitality. From 1905 onwards, Amiet increasingly turned to still-life painting, perhaps distancing himself from Ferdinand Hodler and returning to the artistic ideas he had encountered in Pont-Aven. In this appealing work, he brings together the influences of his great models, Van Gogh and Gauguin, to forge a distinctive pictorial language.