A Rarity in the auction: Auction "Modern Art" on 5 April

Alfons Walde

Beautiful works by the Kitzbühel artist Alfons Walde enrich the offer. The "Tiroler Kaiserschütze" (Emperor’s Tyrolean Marksmen) from 1934 stands out in particular. The subject of the painting dates back to the time of the First World War, when Alfons Walde, like other well-known artists, was a war painter in the service of the Austro-Hungarian army. Almost two decades later, Walde took up the motif again in a very beautiful pictorial variant

There are other works, originally from the artist's estate, on offer:  the "Three Graces" date from 1919, a nude from 1925 and a small "Landscape in Early Spring", which still looks wintery.

Anton Faistauer

In the Modern Art category, the im Kinsky offers a rarity: six paintings by Anton Faistauer, which were in the artist's family for decades and have never been on the market. These paintings from different creative periods cover those subjects for which the painter is popular and well-known: landscapes, portraits and still lives.

In addition to early landscape paintings of small format, there is an oil painting of his younger sister Anna from 1917/18. With his expressive style of painting in subdued and warm earth tones, Faistauer proves to be a master of color, for whom Paul Cézanne's compositions were an essential stimulus.

138th Auction, Lot 1
Anton Faistauer 
10 000 - 20 000 €

Even in the "Fruit and Flower Still Life with Brown Bottle" from 1920, the confrontation with Cézanne, the great father figure of modernism, remains palpable, although Faistauer has found a very independent pictorial language. Fruits, flowers and a brown bottle at the oval table combine to create a harmonious overall picture.

138th Auction, Lot 2
Anton Faistauer 
15 000 - 30 000 €

Finally, "Taormina" from 1929 depicting the baroque church of San Giuseppe stands out. Faistauer's late style of painting shows an open, free brushstroke, the warm yellows and reds of the architecture contrast with the rich blue of the cloudless sky. The view of the Sicilian city stands at the end of an eventful artistic life – plagued by health problems, Faistauer died a few months later at the age of 43.

Norbertine Bresslern-Roth

Also worth mentioning is Norbertine Bresslern-Roth, a painter from Graz, whose animal paintings are always achieve top prices. Thanks to her painting style, her works are always easily recognisable; she primed coarse jute, then dabbed the paint on with a bristle brush. This combination of coarse-meshed material and thin paint application creates an airy, shimmering effect.  Thus, the "Tiger" offers an atmospheric play of light and shadow, the pattern of his fur almost dissolves in the thicket of the bamboo forest, out of which he looks at the viewer.

In another painting, "The Island", Bresslern-Roth focuses on another animal: here she captures the different stages of a dolphin jump.

Wilhelm Thöny

Another Artist from Graz is Wilhelm Thöny. A wonderful bouquet of flowers, created around 1925, captivates the viewer. He skilfully works out the fresh, colorful blooms of the lush flower arrangement; the dark background brings out the bright colors of the flowers.

A second work shows a mysterious lady and was created in the late 1910s and early 1920s.

Oskar Mulley

Another Tyrolean painter, Oskar Mulley, is well represented at auction with three characteristic depictions of mountain farms.

(Alexandra Markl)