Lot 105

Alexander Pock (1871 - 1950) UHLANS

The Moravian-Austrian painter Alexander Pock came from Znojmo, where he received his first artistic education at the Vocational School of Ceramics under Professors Freitag and Gobitsch. From 1886 to 1892 he studied at the Academy in Vienna in the general class of Prof. Griepenkerl and in the special class for animal painting of Prof. Huber. After graduation, he worked as a professor of the preparatory course for applicants to the Academy and also painted portraits and animals for Moravian and Austrian noble families, including Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Habsburg. He also worked as a painter and illustrator for various public institutions in Austria. During the First World War he worked as a war painter, painting battle scenes and portraits of officers. After the war he settled permanently in Vienna, but often returned to Znojmo, where he repeatedly exhibited together with Moravian painters. He had solo exhibitions at Znojmo Castle in 1927 and 1941. The South Moravian Museum in Znojmo has in its collections 43 paintings, drawings and prints by Alexander Pocock, other works by him are in various European collections and a significant part of his estate has been sent to South America. His work, along with the sculptural work of another Znojmo native and Pock's lifelong friend Hugo Lederer, was commemorated in the exhibition Clashes in Znojmo in 2021.
The painting Uhlani from 1936 is a later reminiscence of military themes from the war years. It fully demonstrates the painter's mastery in the rendering of animal and human figures, convincingly captured in motion. The vivid and sovereign brushwork represents a high aesthetic value in itself.