- Bid Now Online
- Low Estimate: $600.00
- High Estimate: $650.00
- Share this:
Carl Gutherz or Guthers (Tennessee/Missouri, 1844-1907) oil on canvas painting of a man, half length, in profile. He wears late-19th century Continental style clothing including a feathered hat that casts shadows across his face. Signed "Carl Gutherz / Paris" lower right. Housed in an ebonized frame with gilt moldings. Sight: 11 1/8" H x 9 1/8" W. Frame: 14 1/2" H x 12 2/8" W x 1 3/8" D. 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 moved to St. Louis, Missouri, where he taught at Washington University and helped establish the St. Louis School and Museum of Fine Arts. Gutherz 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: Craquelure and light grime throughout, possible overcleaning or varnish irregularity over his hat visible under UV light inspection, otherwise good condition.