Koller View 4/21

12 Preview of the Swiss Art auction on 3 December 2021 Hodler on the water, Anker in Ins 1 F erdinand Hodler (1853–1918). Aare landscape near Thun. Circa 1880. Oil on canvas. 57 × 72 cm. Estimate: CHF 300 000/500 000 2 F erdinand Hodler (1853–1918). Pastures near Lake Geneva. Circa 1882. Oil on canvas. 32.5 × 40.7 cm. Estimate: CHF 130 000/180 000 3 Albert Anker (1831–1910). Girl with two cats. 1888. Oil on canvas. 65.5 × 43 cm. Estimate: CHF 1 500 000/2 000 000 FOR FURTHER INFORMATION SWISS ART Laura Koller lkoller@kollerauctions.com ONLINE CATALOGUES www.kollerauctions.com In 1878/79, early in his extraordinary career, Ferdinand Hodler travelled to Spain, where he closely studied the paintings of Velazquez, Titian, Rubens, Ribera and other masters. He had already encountered the works of Mantegna in Paris, but during that visit he had been even more interested in recent French art, especially the pictorial inventions and stylistic devices of the Barbizon School that he saw in the Louvre. Following these travels, and en- couraged by his Swiss teacher Barthélemy Menn, who admired Corot, Hodler devoted himself intensively to plein-air painting. ‘Aare River landscape near Thun’ (ill. 1), for which an attractive sepia sketch exists, was painted soon after Hodler’s return fromSpain around 1880, and ‘Pastures near Lake Geneva’ (ill. 2) two years later. For his com- position of the Aare landscape, which is staggered in depth, Hodler was inspired by 17 th -century classi- cal representations such as those by Claude Lorrain and Nicolas Poussin. Swiss art aficionados first saw Hodler’s Aare landscape as part of the ‘Permanent Exhibitions’ of the ‘Société de l'exposition perma- nente’ (Amis des beaux-arts), which rented the Palais de l'Athénée in Geneva for special shows of contem- porary art. Hodler was frequently represented in these carefully curated group exhibitions between 1875 and 1891; his first international recognition also came dur- ing those years. Albert Anker’s ‘Portrait of a girl with two kittens’ (ill. 3), 1888, is a museum-quality work typical of the artist, in its rural motif, its concentrated composition, and its ability to capture amoment in everyday family life in Ins. Anker’s ability to achieve a three-dimensional, almost materially tangible representation with extremely soft light distinguishes him among his contemporaries. 1 2