Lot 214: Monumental Carl Gutherz O/C Religious Painting, Evening of the Sixth Day

Carl Gutherz or Guthers (Tennessee/Missouri, 1844-1907), “The Evening of the Sixth Day,” monumental oil on canvas religious painting depicting Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, 1893. The couple, viewed from behind, kneel and look upward toward God, who sits enthroned in Heaven and encircled by rainbows. To either side are choirs of angels with musical instruments along with putti surrounded by butterflies and brightly colored flowers. Impressionistic brushwork and pink and purple pastel tones characterize the celestial realm while naturalistic details, crisp lines, and saturated colors describe the earth. Signed, dated, and inscribed “Paris” lower right. Housed in a Sight: 78 5/6″ H x 117 1/8″ W. Framed: 85 1/4″ H x 123 3/4″ W. Note: A related monumental Gutherz painting, “Light of the Incarnation” (1888), is in the collection of the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art and was included in the exhibition The Art of Tennessee, Frist Art Museum, 2006, and illustrated in the exhibition catalog as no. 154. Literature: This painting is the focus of Kristin Schwain’s essay “Carl Gutherz’s Esoteric Art” in CARL GUTHERZ: POETIC VISION AND ACADEMIC IDEALS, eds. Marilyn Masler and Marina Pacini (Memphis, TN: Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, 2009) pp. 56-83. Exhibition History: Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition, Omaha, NE, 1898, listed in the catalog as number 232. Artist Biography: Guthers, who was born in Switzerland, emigrated as a child to the U.S. in 1851. He lived with his family in Memphis, Tennessee, through the Civil War and then studied at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris and the Academie Julian, as well as in Munich, Brussels, and Rome. In 1875 he moved to St. Louis, Missouri, where he taught at Washington University and helped establish the St. Louis School and Museum of Fine Arts. Guthers continued to take portrait commissions from Memphis, however, and even designed costumes and floats for the annual Memphis Mardi Gras. In 1884 he returned to Paris, where he studied with Gustave Boulanger and Joseph LeFevre. Here, he became associated with the Symbolist movement and produced his most successful paintings including large allegorical works, often featuring Christian imagery. Back in the U.S. he was hired to create murals for institutions including the Library of Congress, the People’s Church of St. Paul Minnesota, and the Allen County (Indiana) Courthouse. A year before his death, he produced a design for an arts and sciences pavilion which was the basis for the development of the Brooks Memorial Art Gallery, later the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art. (Source: The Tennessee Encyclopedia)

PROVENANCE: Deaccessioned by the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art to benefit the acquisitions fund.

CONDITION: Canvas was lined, cleaned, restretched, retouched, and varnished by the Chicago Conservation Center in 1986. Scattered retouching throughout includes retouching to what may be repaired tears, primarily to sky and angelic choir. The largest areas of retouching are to sky and choir in upper left quadrant, at left of larger rainbow, 17 1/2″ L (possibly to a repaired tear), and to sky along upper center edge, 7′ L (also possibly to a repaired tear). Other areas of retouching include most notably God’s head and surrounding sky, 4 1/4″ x 1 1/2,” and the area behind and to the left of Adam’s head, 3″ x 2 1/2.” Plus repaired and retouched puncture to Adam’s neck, below the ear, 3/4″ x 1/2.” See UV photography.