Lot 944: 2 Carl Gutherz O/C Plant Studies Incl. Cactus

Two (2) Carl Gutherz or Guthers (Tennessee/Missouri, 1844-1907) oil on canvas paintings, both studies for the artist’s 1887 painting, “Cactus,” sold by Case in July 2025 (Lot 811). 1st item: Botanical study with various species of cactus. Red and yellow flowers bloom from the cactus at right. Unsigned. With 17 3/4 in. H x 23 3/4 in. W. 2nd item: Painting with various plants that grow in a corner against a stone wall, with a dessicated cactus at left. Unsigned. 21 in. H x 25 1/2 in. W. Literature: “Cactus,” for which the present works are studies, is included in CARL GUTHERZ: POETIC VISION AND ACADEMIC IDEALS, eds. Marilyn Masler and Marina Pacini (Memphis, TN: Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, 2009), no. 25. 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 he moved to St. Louis, Missouri, where he taught at Washington University and helped establish the St. Louis School and Museum of Fine Arts. Guthers 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: Both items with scattered scrapes, abrasions, and losses. Item 1 with 13-inch crease with crack to upper right corner and 5 1/2-inch and 2 1/2-inch creases with cracks to left corners, plus pinholes. With blooming to varnish in circular area of item 1, upper right, and throughout item 2.