Lot 114

Jakub Obrovský (1882 - 1949) LOVERS

A frolicsome rural motif from this Moravian painter’s oeuvre offers a glance at a playful scene of two lovers in a garden. Jakub Obrovský paints female figures and young lovers’ trysts in a vibrant variation of tones with fresh curiosity and spontaneous joy. The young man kisses the young woman on her exposed neck, while the woman, wearing a hat and with a rose in her hair, smiles blissfully. In the shade of the garden the young couple enjoy a stolen moment of privacy together, abandoning their garden work, as seen by the watering jug and shovel that have been put aside. An interesting denouement is offered on the right side of the painting, where a child’s hand reaches up out from under the blankets on a blue cradle, waving for attention. Such a moment of tenderness is all the more uncommon. The painting is mounted in the original Jindřich Eck frame. Born to a rural farmer’s family, Jakub Obrovský studied under Max Pirner at the Academy of Fine Arts. In 1909 he entered the Association of Moravian Fine Artists, and ten years later he was appointed as a professor of painting at the Academy.