Werner Wildner (Nashville, Tennessee, 1925-2004) oil on panel trompe l'oeil still life painting depicting an egg-filled nest surrounded by feathers beside two mushrooms, all on a wooden table against a black background. Signed with a monogram "W" lower right. Housed and double-matted in a custom chrome frame. Sight: 4 1/2" H x 6 1/4" W. Framed: 17 3/4" H x 19 1/2" W. Biography: Werner 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 the collapse of his marriage in the 1970s led him to become reclusive in the last two decades of his life.

PROVENANCE: The estate of McAlister W. Anderson, Nashville, Tennessee.

CONDITION: Overall very good condition. Not examined outside of frame.