Otakar Kubin (Othone Coubine)

Private Collection, France

The following condition report has been prepared by Hamish Dewar Ltd, of 13 & 14 Mason's Yard, London SW1Y 6BU UNCONDITIONAL AND WITHOUT PREJUDICE Structural Condition The canvas is unlined and the turnover and tacking edges have been strengthened with a thin strip-lining onto a new wooden keyed stretcher. This is ensuring a secure structural support. There are a number of patches and a signed label on the reverse of the canvas. Paint surface The paint surface has an even varnish layer. Inspection under ultra-violet light shows extensive retouchings, the largest of which is in the lower left corner. Summary The paint surface is therefore in stable condition and no further work is required. It should be noted however that extensive retouchings have been applied. These are only visible under ultra-violet light and are not visible in natural light. Held in a modern pale gold-painted frame.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

Painted circa 1912-14, the present work and the following lot are important early works from Kubin's cubist period, executed in Paris after his arrival in the French capital in 1912. Other works from this period, which also display the distinctive use of bright yellow and blue in his compositions of this time, are in the collections of the Galerie Vytvarneho Umeni in Ostrava (fig. 1) and the National Gallery Prague (fig. 2).

Initially a member of the Prague avant-garde group Osma (The Eight), Kubin moved to Munich in 1907, where he worked and exhibited with members of Der Sturm and Der Blaue Reiter, before making France his permanent home in 1912. He initially stayed in Paris at the home of his friend, the Czech writer Otto Klein, whose poem La misère humaine was published in 1914 with six woodcut illustrations by Kubin.

Both the present work and lot 21 are signed and inscribed by Kubin with Otto Klein's name and address on labels on the reverse.