Still Life with Blue Glass, 1912

Between 1911 and 1913, the painter Anton Kolig (1886–1950) created an entire series of still lifes. By means of motionless, inanimate objects, the artist explored new painterly ground. The work Still Life with Blue Glass shows a glass bowl filled with fruit, as well as an orange. Kolig painted these objects in a sketch-like manner. Dynamically placed blots of color, indicative of the immediacy of paint application, constitute the motifs. The painting Still Life with Apples and Grapes boasts a narrower image detail. The painter rendered the reflection of the fruit on the smooth surface of the table in a highly effective manner, further emphasized by the lighting. The artist composed his objects with dynamic brushwork, using hatching and staining. This manner of painting used for his still lifes clearly illustrates his connection to Paul Cézanne (1839–1906), whose work Kolig had had the opportunity to study in Paris. In the autumn of 1912, he and Franz Wiegele (1887–1944) had received a joint scholarship, awarded by the Kathi-Fröhlich-Foundation on the initiative of Carl Moll (1861–1945), which allowed Kolig to stay in the French capital.

AK, 2023