Carl Gutherz or Guthers (Tennessee/Missouri/France, 1844-1907) oil on canvas profile portrait painting of a man attired in a black suit with a white collar and purple tie against a dark background. Signed "Carl Gutherz" lower right. Crayon inscription reads "Carl Gutherz Artist Washington D.C. 1905" en verso. Label en verso identifies the sitter as Albert Sidney Johnson. Housed in an ornate giltwood Casetta-style frame with bead course and C-scroll decoration. Sight: 29 1/2" H x 24" W. Framed: 45" H x 39 1/2" W. Biography: Gutherz, who immigrated to the U.S. in 1851, was associated with the American Symbolist movement. He studied at L'Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris and the Academie Julian. He lived with his family in Memphis, Tennessee, during the Civil War and 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. After leaving Memphis, Gutherz continued to take portrait commissions from that city, and designed costumes and floats for the annual Memphis Mardi Gras. In 1906, he produced a design for an arts and sciences pavilion which was the basis for the development of Brooks Memorial Art Gallery, now the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art.

PROVENANCE: Deaccessioned by the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts Foundation to benefit the acquisitions fund.

CONDITION: Some in-painting above the shoulders of the sitter and in the background of the work, visible under UV light inspection. Some flea bite losses on the left-hand side above the sitter. Painting has been relined. Some losses to frame, largest area 3 1/2".