23. Boulders XXIV [1960.]

Oton Gliha is one of the most important landscape painters of Croatian post-war modernism. He was born in 1914 and died in 1999. He graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb. In the early 1950s, under the influence of international informalism, he freed his stroke, moved away from figuration and real reference, and increasingly experimented with the possibilities of impasto. The landscape in his painting is transformed into pure rhythm, in the cycle Gromače which depicts stone boundaries found in the hinterland of the Adriatic coast. These are constructions created by man for more successful exploitation of the earth that alienate landscapes. Gliha transformed the lines of stone walls into an expressive sign. On this canvas, the lines of these walls meander, almost creating a labyrinth structure. In a dense stroke, these lines very successfully dynamise the horizontal format, as well as the accents of red and yellow in the predominant gray color. Everything characteristic of Oton Gliha's opus - his restrained attitude towards color, emphasized rhythm, characteristic motif - can be seen in this painting from perhaps the most potent years of his creation, when he intensely and very successfully sought new possibilities for expressing landscapes. FG

Dimensions

width 64 cm, height 32.5 cm

Description

ulje na platnu, signed bottom right, in black, "O. GLIHA"

Research information

The work is hand signed, dated, and located on the back, "Oton Gliha / Omišalj, 1960." The work was exhibited at the solo exhibition "Oton Gliha: Heaps 1960" in the City Gallery of Contemporary Art in Zagreb, December 20, 1960 - January 10, 1961, and is mentioned in the exhibition catalog under catalog number 21. with title "Heaps XXIV". The work was also exhibited at the solo exhibition "Oton Gliha" in Turin in 1960.

Dating

1960.

PROVENANCE

historical collection, Italy

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

For clarifications regarding the bidding procedure, hammer price costs, guarantee, payment, and collection terms for the winning lot, we recommend carefully reading/re-reading the Bidding Regulations.

For additional information regarding the lot and the auction, please contact the Art Consultants Department.