Lot 557: SCHIKANEDER Jakub (27. 2. 1855 Prague - 15. 11.

SCHIKANEDER Jakub (27. 2. 1855 Prague - 15. 11. 1924 Prague) Evening mood Oil on wood, 17,5 x 31 cm, framed, glazed, undated, signed with the monogram lower right. Appraised by PhDr. Vlcek. This painting shows the artist's characteristic combination of Impressionist treatment of form and Symbolist subjects and poetics. The evening atmosphere is rendered by gradation of spectral colours. The female figure is watching the horizon, the painter uses the motif of ""Ruckenfigur"" - figures with their backs turned to the spectator, well-known from the works of the Romantic painters - e.g. C. D. Friedrich. Czech painter, he studied under Trenkwald and Sweerts at the Academy of Arts, he belongs to painters active at the turn of the century whose work remained aloof from artistic programmes. His early work reflects the influence of contemporary naturalism and the work of the Munich painter G. Max. Schikaneder was primarily concerned with everyday life in the city, he is known for his town scenes, motifs from Prague, mainly dark, gloomy streets and melancholy paintings of delicately lit interiors. His work was close to Whistler's paintings in terms of the treatment of light, which played a major role in rendering the atmosphere of the painting. See T 2/422, TB 30/64, B 9/374, NECVU 2/735, T. Vlcek: J. Schikaneder, Prague 1986