Emil Filla

Vente : Christie's, Londres, 28 juin 1988, lot 221
Acquis lors de cette vente par le propriétaire actuel 

Prague, Manes Union Hall, Emil Filla, Prace z let 1946-1947, 1947, no. 42

The canvas is not lined. A close examination reveals a stable restored hairline craquelure in the white pigment of the fruit bowl. There is no other evidence of retouching visible under UV light. This work is in very good condition.
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signed 'Emil Filla' and dated '46' (lower right); signed and dated '46' on the reverse, oil on canvas. Painted in 1946.


C'est à Paris, où il se rend régulièrement entre 1911 et 1914, qu'Emil Filla fait la connaissance de Picasso, Braque, Gris et leur entourage. L'influence de ces peintres pionniers du cubisme sur l'œuvre du jeune artiste tchèque fut décisive. Douglas Cooper souligne ainsi dans The Cubist Epoch (Londres, 1971), "Filla fut l'un des peintres cubistes tchèques parmi les plus créatifs [...] il avait étudié avec intelligence les toiles de Braque et Picasso de 1909". Ayant épousé les préceptes du cubisme synthétique en 1913, Filla continue à jouer des textures et des formes dans ses compositions jusque dans les années 1940. Sur cette toile, le subtil agencement du luth, de la coupe de fruits, du vase de fleurs, de la partition de musique et du buste sculpté témoigne de cette continuelle fascination de l'artiste pour le genre traditionnel de la nature morte.  

Peint en 1946, Nature morte au luth renvoie certainement aux déformations des compositions cubistes tardives. Cependant l'énergie de ses lignes et l'expressivité de ses couleurs confirment les propos de Douglas Cooper : "Les artistes tchèques d'avant-garde étaient peu enclins à une fidèle imitation du vrai cubisme ; recréer docilement la réalité tangible d'une nature morte ou d'un modèle ne les intéresse pas. Ils préfèrent conférer une symbolique plus noble à leurs sujets, en faire les témoins d'un instant de grande intensité spirituelle, ou les ériger en porte-parole de sentiments intimes profonds et d'une conscience nationale" (ibid.).

A frequent visitor to Paris between 1911 and 1914, it was here that Emil Filla befriended Picasso, Braque, Gris and their circle. The influence of these cubist innovators on the work of this young Czech artist was pronounced. As Douglas Cooper notes in The Cubist Epoch (London, 1971), "Filla was the most constructive of the Czech cubist painters [...] he had studied paintings by Braque and Picasso of 1909 intelligently". Having adopted synthetic cubism in 1913, Filla continued to experiment with texture and form in still life composition well into the 1940s. The charming arrangement of the lute, fruit bowl, vase of flowers, music score and bust in the present work wonderfully exemplifies his continued fascination with this traditional subject.

 

Painted in 1946, Nature morte au luth certainly references late cubist distortions but it is the energetic lines and expressive colours of Filla's treatment that testify to Cooper's further assertion that "The avant-garde Czech artists were not inclined to imitate true cubism; they were not concerned with recreating in all its fullness the solid tangible reality of a still life or a mere seated figure. They wanted their subjects to have a higher symbolic significance, to represent moments of spiritual intensity in the life of man, to express deep inner feelings and a sense of national awareness." (ibid.)