Messias

Ernest Neuschul (1895 - 1968)

New Walk Museum and Art Gallery

1919

Half-length self-portrait by the Austrian artist Ernst (later anglicised to Ernest) Neuschul, immediately arresting because of the unnerving, glittering stare aimed directly at the viewer. It has an almost manic visionary quality and dates from the period between 1919 and 1926 when he painted self-portraits, sometimes in sparse interiors or placed in lyrical dreamlike landscapes, all in various states of self-absorption. The artist was influenced by the prevailing post-war New Objectivity (Neue Sachlichkeit) movement.

• Medium: oil on cardboard
• Dimensions: 94 x 53cm
• Art Fund Grant: £2272 ( Total: £6,529)
• ArtFunded in: 2007
• Vendor: Christie's

Provenance

Documented in the artist's photograph albums; Believed to have been purchased by a Czech-Jewish art dealer, c.1935, from an exhibition of Czech art in Brno; Nenad Djapic, 2006; Christie's, 2006.

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