Lot 95

Emil Filla (1882 - 1953) STILL LIFE WITH SAMOVAR

From the opinion of PhDr. Anna Janištinova: "The rediscovered painting by Emil Filla was for a long time in a private collection in Italy, where it was last exhibited in 1979. It was painted in Paris in 1914, before the painter's departure to Holland. The date on the back of the painting, probably made later, is erroneous. The work is thematically related to Malevich's Still Life with Samovar (1913, now in the collection of MoMA, New York), which was exhibited in Paris at the time. In the same year, Filla met Braque and further explored Picasso's Cubist work. Tomas Berger's restoration survey of 2021 revealed the layering of the painting, recording the stages of the creative process in changes of composition, coloration, and pentimenti. The result is a thoughtful organization of the pictorial surface, balancing painting and drawing elements as well as the juxtaposition of smooth and rough surfaces. The reserved colouring is dominated by blue in the central part. The prevailing geometric stylisation is punctuated by the almost naturalistic detail of the volutes of the samovar handles. The painting demonstrates the artist's deeply intellectual approach to painting, based on a careful and responsible study of the work of the protagonists of Cubism." Dr. Vincenc Kramář eloquently writes about this position of Filla: In the immediate future, however, Filla is primarily concerned with simplification and the crystalline beauty of shapes. Then, at the end of 1913 and in the first months of the following year, several still lifes were created that are almost entirely due to the unusually clear construction of sculpture and space. Everything in them is subordinated to this intention, and the colour, very discreet, often fills only a few areas, combining into a refined whole with a sensitive, possibly angularly drawn line (Emil Filla, edited by Václav Jelínek and František Venera and published in Brno in 1936, p. 77). The offered painting is a great contribution to the completeness of Emil Filla's work. The painting will be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné. The restoration report was prepared by Akad. mal. restr. Tomáš Berger and the same conclusion of the restoration report was agreed with by Akad. mal. rest. David Frank. Galleria Schwarz Milano, All overland transport Milano, Pandolfini 79, 9 Dicembre 2019 Exh.: Origini dell'astrattismo, verso gli orizzonti del reale, 18 October 1979-18 January 1980, Palazzo Reale, Milano. Published: Origini dell'astrattismo, verso gli orizzonti del reale, 1979, Silvana Editoriale, cat. no. 377.