Wera Schmid-Wittenberg - Thistles

Wera Schmid-Wittenberg (1902–1982)

Thistles

Signed upper left

Oil on canvas

35 x 35 cm

Provenance:

Municipality of Ede, collection no. 406; Private collection, Ede; Private collection, Haarlem.

Condition:

In excellent condition.

Additional information:

In this still life, Wera Schmid-Wittenberg combines a robust earthenware jug with several dried tall-stemmed silver thistles on a white tablecloth. The restrained composition and muted colour palette place all the emphasis on the different textures: the rough earthenware, the soft folds of the fabric and the papery petals of the thistles. The influence of Jan Wittenberg is recognisable in the quiet structure and attention to form and simplicity, while the work also conveys a distinctive, understated poetry of its own.

Wera Schmid-Wittenberg was a Russian-born artist who settled in the Netherlands. She took painting lessons from Jan Wittenberg, whom she later married. His influence is clearly recognisable in her paintings, woodcuts and lithographs, although she developed a quiet visual language of her own. Her oeuvre is characterised by restrained design and close attention to nature.