Werner Wildner (Nashville, Tennessee, 1925-2004), three works on cardstock paper. Includes a drawing with watercolor of an owl in a nightcap, 11 5/8″ x 8″; a matted drawing with watercolor of an anthropomorphic mushroom, smoking a pipe (9″ x 10 5/8″ sheet, 12″ x 11″ matted); and a matted drawing with gouache of a pipe-smoking gnome, with drawing of an elf smoking a pipe on the reverse, 8 1/2″ x 12 3/8″ sheet, 14″ x 11″ matted. All are signed with monogram W. lower left except the drawing of the elf on the back of the third drawing. Biography (courtesy Askart: The Artists’ Bluebook): 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. Provenance: Florida collection, acquired directly from the artist. CONDITION: 3rd item has small light mark to mat. All images in excellent condition.