Otto Gutfreund,
Czechoslovakian 1889-1927-
Hamlet- Torso, 1911/1912;
bronze,...

Otto Gutfreund,
Czechoslovakian 1889-1927-

Hamlet- Torso, 1911/1912;

bronze, inscribed HAMLET on the base, height 68cm

Provenance: Abe Gottlieb, New York purchased the piece from Grosvenor Gallery, New York, on 29.7.1966; Phyllis La Monte (wife of Abe Gottlieb); Estate Sale, Peachtree & Bennett, Atlanta, Georgia, 11 October 2014, lot 160, where purchased by the present owner

Exhibited: 'Otto Gutfreund ' Grosvenor Gallery, London 1st-24th June 1966, No. 4 (another cast); ' Four Sculptors (Otto Gutfreund, Michael Ayrrton, Ernst Neizvestny & Sidney Kumalo)', Grosvenor Gallery, New York, 22nd November-31st, 1966,

Literature: Jiri Setlik,'National Gallery, Prague, Otto Gutfreund, Exhibition catalogue with a catalogue raisonné of sculptures', 1996, no. 73-086 ils. p.198. (another cast)

Note: This is believed to be cast number 3 of an edition of 9. Cast in 1966 by Fiorini and Carby, London. Eric Estorick had purchased this cast from Emil Gutfreund, the artists brother, in 1965.

Lots 13 to 15 originate from the estate of Abe Gottlieb (died 1976), whom was President of Liberty Fabrics of New York based at 105 Madison Avenue, New York. He bought 45 recorded works from Eric Estorick from 24th July 1961 to 1st August 1966 including Kirchner, Archipenko, Mane-Katz, Epstein and Michael Ayrton. Estorick bought the plasters for these sculptures from Emil Gutfreund.

In 1910 Gutfreund studied in Paris with the great French 19th Century sculptor Emille-Antoine Bourdelle at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière. On his return to Prague in 1911 he joined the 'Group of Plastic Artists'. In 1912-13 he created sculptures which were amongst the earliest three-dimensional cubist works. He was foremost a Cubist artist and in a review of the history of Cubism, Pierre Daix writes; The most original of these Czech artists is unquestionably Otto Gutfreund: he stands out as the most important Cubist sculptor after Picasso. (Pierre Daix, Cubists and Cubism, Skira, Geneva 1982, p. 120).

The formation of a distinct creative personality in Otto Gutfreund is first observed in 1911 after his return to Prague from Paris, where he had been a pupil of Emile- Antoine Bourdelle. Gutfreunds departure from Paris in 1910 represented a rejection of Bourdelles influence. The effect of an exhibition of Cezanne in Prague and his contact in Paris with Picasso, Braque and Derain, and especially the influence of the Picasso Head of a Woman of 1909, changed the course of his career. With his figures Don Quixote and Anguish of 1911 and the early reliefs dated 1911/12 he can be said to have found his own solution. At that time only Picasso had made Cubist sculpture. In the same year the Group of Creative Artists was founded in Prague, which Gutfreund joined, and his association with other young painters, architects, musicians and critics played a decisive part in his career. Expressionism, the work of Cezanne, and analytical cubism can be regarded as the basis of the artistic views of this group.

This synthesis of Cezannes conception of form and expressionism can be found in Gutfreunds early sculptures, such as Hamlet, The Cellist, Viki and Embracing Figures of 1912/13, a development from the reliefs of 1911/12.

With thanks to Grosvenor Gallery, London, for their assistance with the cataloguing of this work.