PAUL CAMENISCH (1893-1970), OIL ON CANVAS 'FLOWERING GARDEN' 1939

Paul Camenisch (1893-1970)
Oil on canvas
Switzerland, 1939

This oil painting by the Swiss artist Paul Camenisch was created in 1939. Depicted is a landscape near Muttenz in the canton of Basel with a view into a garden that is located next to a forest. A narrow path leads along a fence, behind which the yellow facade of a house appears. According to the previous owner, the work shows the property of his grandparents, where Camenisch left his art supplies during a visit. The painting shows a return to realist tendencies, which Camenisch increasingly developed during the 1930s; nevertheless, it is still close to the style of Expressionism due to its intensely luminous colors.

Paul Camenisch was born 1893 in Zurich. He studied from 1912 to 1916 architecture at the Technische Hochschule in Zurich and was subsequently active in several architectural firms. In the early 1920s Camenisch decided to become a painter. He spent a long time in Davos with the Bruecke artist Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and was greatly influenced by his work and the expressionism. It was also the mid-1920s, when Camenisch was about to start the artists group called 'Rot-Blau' along with Albert Mueller and Hermann Scherer. Later called 'Rot-Blau II', together with Hans Stocker, Coghuf (Ernst Stocker), Otto Staiger, Charles Hindenlang and Max Sulzbachner. In addition, Camenisch was also co-founder of the Basel Artists Association 'Gruppe 33', from which he was excluded in 1953 due to his strong communist political views. His work was defamed in the Munich exhibition 'Degenerate Art' in 1937.

Signature: Signed and dated lower right 'Camenisch 39'
Frame: Wide, golden ornament frame
Dimensions: 73.5 x 93.5 cm (frame); 49 x 68 cm (image size)
Condition: The painting is in overall good condition and shows faint craquelures in the sky as well as a tiny, barely visible loss of color in the lower right area. The frame shows signs of wear as well
Provenance: Gift of the artist to the grandparents of the owner and family-owned ever since; Swiss private collection

Auction result comparison: For a two-sided painting by Paul Camenisch with a garden view on one and dating to 1926 see CHRISTIE'S, SWISS ART, Zurich, December 5, 2016, lot 65.