Werner Wildner (Nashville, Tennessee, 1925-2004) surrealist oil on panel still life painting titled "October Leaf" depicting an upright leaf behind a nest filled with eggs and surrounded by feathers on a wooden table against a black background. Signed with a monogram "W." lower right. Handwritten label with title and additional information, en verso. Housed in a black painted wooden frame with dark gilt trim and a giltwood fillet. Sight: 9 1/2" H x 7 1/2" W. Framed: 16" H x 14 1/4" W. Biography: Wildner was born in Germany but moved to Detroit with his family as a child and then, as a teenager, to Nashville. He served in the Army in 1944 and went on to study art briefly at the Meinzinger Art School in Detroit. He returned to Nashville to practice commercial art, but by the mid-1950s had decided to pursue his own art career. Whimsical animals and fantastical, often grotesque creatures were a recurring theme of his work. Wildner met with critical and commercial success after a 1962 exhibit of his art at the Nashville site now known as Cheekwood. However, the death of his parents and collapse of his marriage in the 1970's led him to become reclusive in the last two decades of his life. (source: Askart).

PROVENANCE: Private Nashville, TN Collection.

CONDITION: Painting in overall very good condition. Frame with abrasions, minor areas of loss to paint and gilt.