Lot 272: f - Hugo Baar Austrian, 1873-1912 , Winter oil on canvas

signed Hugo Baar l.r. oil on canvas

160 by 60cm., 63 by 23¾in.

Vienna, Hagenbund Ausstellung, 1907

The Studio Yearbook, 1907, p. 149, illustrated (as one of the series The Four Seasons)

Painted circa 1906 the present work is one of a series of four paintings depicting the four seasons. Representing Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter these paintings were exhibited in the Hagenbund show in the spring of 1907 and illustrated in the 1907 Studio Yearbook in an article reviewing the exhibition.

The depiction of snow covered winter landscapes was a favourite theme of Baar, which he mastered with elegance and style. Winter shows two birch trees as the focal point of the composition, which are subtly contrasted against the turquoise sky. While the painterly execution is almost pointillist in style, the truncation of the composition reflected Baar's interest in the Japanese style, a taste that was widespread at the time. Japanese woodcuts and scroll paintings were a feature at the 1900 Vienna Secession exhibition, where Baar would have seen them.

Hugo Baar studied at the Vienna School of Arts and Crafts and later at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. From 1904 to 1912 he was a member of the Hagenbund - one of the most important Viennese artists' associations, together with the Secession and the Künstlerhaus.