Moravian Landscape, 1928

After expressive early work, Felix Albrecht Harta (1884–1967) turned to a calmer, more balanced language of form from the mid-1920s onwards. Ten years before emigrating to England, he created the picture Moravian Landscape. The gaze is directed between two houses into the valley, as far as a broad, hilly landscape with luxuriant grass. Using curvy lines and a spontaneous brushstroke, Harta gave the motif a vibrancy both dynamic and expressive. With color values that are in part exaggerated, the warm, vigorous tones suggest the flair of the south. Besides large-scale house façades with the paint applied thickly, the painter emphasized many details using fleeting strokes, such as the wooden fences or the small family on the path. In this opulence and in the dynamic power we recognize Harta’s engagement with Baroque painting, which he had come to know on many study trips to Spain and France. Furthermore, we sense French modernist painting in the treatment of colors and forms.

AK, 2019