Attributed to Karl Knaths, it does not have a COA. Medium: oil board. 25 x 21 inches. Provenance: private owner.
Biography: 1891 - 1971. A painter recognized for his highly individual interpretation of Cubism, Karl Knaths was born in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, in 1891. He grew up in the Midwest, and in 1912, he moved to Chicago, where he studied at the School of the Art Institute for four years. In 1913, he saw the Chicago exhibition of the groundbreaking Armory Show and was immediately drawn to the modernist work from Paris, especially the art of Paul Cézanne.Massachusetts in 1919. His earliest work was inspired by the art of the Impressionists. However, after fraternizing with many of the local artists who had experienced the progressive art life of Paris, and by studying the examples of advanced European art in books and magazines, Knaths became deeply influenced by Cubism. By the late 1920s, he had evolved a very personal approach to this aesthetic, basing his abstract, but still recognizable compositions on seascapes and still life subjects.During the 1930s, Knaths developed a complex theoretical basis for his painting. He began to structure his pictures according to strict rules of composition and color, inspired by the ideas of such artists as Piet Mondrian and Wassily Kandinsky. Using the classification system of colors developed by Wilhelm Ostwald, he would preselect the colors for his palette before starting to paint, for in Knath's view, color, like music, could be organized according to a system of notation. In this respect, each of Knath's canvases became a unique color composition, since the artist never used the same arrangement more than once.Throughout his career, Knaths drew his iconography from his Provincetown environment, depicting the local fisherfolk, docks, shanties, dunes, and moors, and the familiar objects in his house. As his commitment to Abstraction developed, he was invited to exhibit with the American Abstract Artists group in 1936. He was also active as a teacher and lecturer, giving annual courses at the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C. from 1937 until 1950, and was affiliated, at various times, with Black Mountain College and the Skohegan (Maine) School of Painting and Sculpture.Duncan Phillips, Knaths first and for many years his only patron, did much to establish the artist's reputation. Despite Knath's innovative attitudes, he did work in relative isolation for much of his career, making only the occasional visit to New York or Boston and never feeling the need to travel to Europe.Knaths died in Provincetown in 1971. Examples of his poetic, Cubist-inspired paintings can be found in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, as well as at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, and many more. In 1973, a major retrospective of his work was circulated to six American museums by the International Exhibitions Foundation.

All authorship of items in this catalog are described according to the following terms:

Signed [Artist Name] : In cases in which the signature is legible in the lot, this work is described as-is with no attributions given.

By [Artist Name] : The work is by the artist.

Attributed to [Artist Name] : The work may be ascribed to the artist on the basis of style, but there may be some question as to actual authorship.

In the manner of [Artist Name] : The work was executed by an unknown hand, but was designed deliberately to emulate the style of the artist.

After [Artist Name] : The work was executed by an unknown hand, but is a deliberate copy of a known work by the artist.

Circle of [Artist Name] : A work of the period of the artist showing his influence, closely associated with the artist but not necessarily his pupil.

Follower of [Artist Name]: A work by a pupil or a follower of the artist (not necessarily a pupil).

American, 19th century: This work was executed by an unknown hand, and can only be identified by origin (i.e., region, period).

Mint