Stillleben mit Herbstblatt

The half-abstract, half-naturalistic-representational still life plays with the paradigms of the eminently important art movement of Cubism, as it were "post festum", when the moderate modernist Johann Wilhelm von Tscharner (1886-1946) had already turned back to representationalism. After studying philosophy, he devoted himself to painting in Krakow and Munich and was in contact with many artists and poets throughout his life. As the son of a family from Graubünden who emigrated to Russia, von Tscharner's biography shows interesting European interconnections, with stations in Hungary, Poland, Paris, Munich, eastern Switzerland and Zurich, where he was significantly influenced by direct contact with the Dadaists around 1920 and befriended Hans Arp, Ernst Morgenthaler, Hermann Haller and Karl Geiser. He circled all the styles and tendencies of Classical Modernism between 1910 and 1940, always confident in the use of his distinctive formal and technical skills in a cultivated painting and increasingly subdued tonality. His stylistic development remained almost entirely at the artistic height of his time: cubist at the beginning, then representational, with still lifes and landscapes that also document his numerous travels. With his portraits, he produced an idiosyncratically beautiful late work in which the figures appear veiled in muted colours. Johann von Tscharner's art, which is characteristic of the interrelationship between modernism and so-called Swiss art, relativises the common notion of a possible typically national artistic creation in favour of diverse cultural and intellectual interconnections in early 20th century Europe. The Kunsthaus owns a number of paintings from the collection of Hans Mayenfisch with a focus on his late work. We were delighted to receive the interesting 'Still Life with Autumn Leaf' in a group of seven very high-quality paintings from the estate of a long-time member of the Zürcher Kunstgesellschaft. The donation now brings our collection to 19 works, and we are now able to survey all of the artist's creative phases. The generous, congenial initiative of Dr. Marie-Thérèse von Tscharner-Lüthi shows that Johann von Tscharner needs to be rediscovered. We will present this quiet, beautiful treasure in an accrochage in the course of 2019. Source