Still Life with Tortoise, 1913

A vase with flowers and two bowls with fruit are standing on a dark surface. A red apple has attracted a small tortoise, which is scaling the rim of the bowl. The individual motifs as well as the background are subordinate to an overall structure built by hatched strokes, which the painter Anton Kolig (1886–1950) energizes in an expressive style. This still life is part of a series created between 1911 and 1913, illustrating the artist’s exploration of the painting style of the French Modernist pioneer Paul Cézanne (1839–1906). Kolig’s signature and designation on the painting show that the work was created in Paris in 1913. Together with his wife Katharina and his friend and former fellow student Franz Wiegele (1887–1944), Anton Kolig had left for Paris in November 1912 on a study trip financed by a scholarship from the Kathi Fröhlich Foundation, with the express intention of studying Cézanne’s work in greater detail.

AK, 2022