NAHUM GUTMAN | Tiberias Landscape

Mr Harry (Zvi) Viteles, Jerusalem (acquired directly from the artist)
Thence by descent to Ms Helen Viteles Rikoon, New York, circa 1970
Thence by descent to the present owners

Tel Aviv Museum of Art, The Twenties in Israeli Art, May - November 1982, no. 21, illustrated in the exhibition catalog p. 51
Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Nahum Gutman, May - September 1984, no. 28, illustrated in the exhibition catalog p. 25, p. 84
Jerusalem, Israel Museum, Permanent Exhibition Galleries, 2010-2015, 2018 (on extended loan since 1979)

Ehud Ben Ezer, ed., Nachum Gutman, Tel Aviv, 1997, pp. 68-69, illustrated
Yigal Zalmona, One Hundred Years of Art in Israel, Jerusalem, 2010, p. 77, illustrated
Ronald Fuhrer, Israeli Painting: From Post-Impressionism to Post-Zionism, New York, 1998, p. 40, illustrated
Yoram Taharlev, ed., Israeli Song: Israel in Song and Color, Israel, 2005, p. 186-187, illustrated
Yoav Dagan, The Gutman Museum, Masterpieces by Gutman from the Israel Phoenix Assurance Company Collection, Tel Aviv, 2003, p. 9, illustrated

The following condition report was kindly provided by Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc.: This work has been lined with wax as an adhesive. Although the cracking is raised, particularly in the blue colors of the lake, the paint layer is stable. The painting seems to be clean and varnished. There is evidence of slight blanching to the varnish in the buildings in the center right, but the varnish is otherwise attractive. The cleaning is slightly uneven, particularly in the sky in the upper right. Much of the artist's original color reads strongly under ultraviolet light, for example in the hills beyond the village and in the foreground, where the artist seems to have applied glazes to create the undulations in the landscape. A vertical line of retouches can be identified beginning above the lake in the center and runing into the trees below the lake in the center of the picture. This restoration seems to correspond to a thin damage. The wax lining is acidic. It should be reversed and replaced with a non-acidic support applied with Beva-371. The work could also be cleaned more effectively, and the slightly discolored retouches re-examined. However, the work could be hung in its current state.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Nahum Gutman’s idyllic Galilee landscape epitomizes the modernist expression of the artist and his peers in the 1920s. Gutman was among the premier painters of the 1920s, capturing scenes of the land of Eretz Israel and its people. Upon his return from Vienna, Berlin and Paris, Gutman turned his attention to the scenery of his home, illustrating the virginal land in undulating curves. Emphasizing the rolling contours of the terrain, Gutman’s Tiberias Landscape, intimates the fertility of the land and its potential for new life. This important masterpiece from the formative years of Israeli art has been held in the same private collection since soon after it was painted and exhibited on a long term loan to the Israel Museum, Jerusalem. It was included in a major retrospective of the artist’s work in 1984 at the Tel Aviv Museum.