Anton Faistauer

When Faistauer painted this floral still life around 1925, he was at the very height of his skills as a painter and had secured his status in the Austrian avant-garde. After moving away from the planar art of Jugendstil, Faistauer had found his own artistic language by exploring the work of Paul Cézanne. Faistauer emerged as the most important exponent of Austrian Late Expressionism alongside Franz Wiegele and Anton Kolig. Faistauer’s quest for the essence and possibilities of painting was based on his belief in the potential of expressive colour. He had found the answer to the question on how far the world could be captured in paint at the start of his artistic career, especially in the pictures of Paul Cézanne. His idea to reduce nature to its basic elements deeply influenced Faistauer. An artistic affinity to Cézanne can still be observed in this still life from his mature phase as an artist, although Faistauer’s painting is articulated in his own unique language. By using tempestuous brushwork he has arranged a bouquet of flowers in a light bowl on a table, the flowers dynamically reach for all directions. The artist has heightened their presence through the bold, vibrant red shades, standing out from the array of nuanced, green hues in the background.