Emil Filla

Dr. Jaroslav Borovička
Restituted from the Aleš South Bohemian Gallery, Castle Hluboká and Vltavou, in 1992 to the heirs of the above
Obchod s uměním, Prague
Purchased from the above on 5 November 1998

 

Brno, Emil Filla, 1925, no. 2
Brno, Retrospective Exhibition of Emil Filla and Antonín Procházka , 1932, no. 23
Hluboká nad Vltavou, Aleš South Bohemian Gallery, Czech Still Life of the Twentieth Century, 1988, no. O 885 (as Still Life with Bottle of Bols), illustrated in the catalogue

Volné směry XXIII, 1924-25, p. 48
František Venera, ed., Emil Filla, Brno, 1936, pl. XLV, illustrated (showing the composition with slight variations prior to it having been altered by Filla)
Jiří Hlušička, The Hascoe Collection of Czech Modern Art, Prague. 2004, p. 27, mentioned; pp. 189-190, no. P20, catalogued; pp. 108-109, pls. 92 & 93, illustrated

Original canvas. There are no signs of retouching visible under ultra-violet light. Overall this work is in good condition.
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Painted in 1924. According to Vojtěch Lahoda, Filla made minor changes to the present work at a later date, thus explaining the differences in the illustration in František Venera's 1936 publication and its current appearance (fig. 1).

The work displays key-elements of Filla's Cubist style, in particular his favoured technique of incorporating everyday objects, letters and numbers into his compositions. Emil Filla made several visits to Paris between 1911 and the outbreak of the First World War where he befriended Picasso, Braque, Gris and their circle.

Describing Filla's engagement with Cubism, Douglas Cooper wrote: 'Filla was the most constructive of the Czech Cubist painters ... he studied paintings by Braque and Picasso of 1909 intelligently ... The avant-garde Czech artists were not inclined to imitate true Cubism; they were not inclined with recreating in all its fullness that 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.' (Douglas Cooper, The Cubist Epoch, London, 1971, p. 153).

Fig. 1, A photograph of the present work prior to alterations by the artist.