Wilhelm Nikolaus Prachensky*
(Innsbruck 1898–1956)
Dachlandschaft (Roofscapes), 1921, signed WILHELM PRACHENSKY INNSBRUCK, artist label on the reverse, oil on cardboard, 98 x 71 cm
Provenance:
Private Collection, Tyrol (acquired directly from the artist estate)
Literature:
Matthias Boeckl, Wilhelm Nicolaus Prachensky, Innsbruck, Vienna 1998, p. 23, ill.
Exhibition and Catalogue:
Travelling exhibition: Innsbruck / Rovereto / Bozen, Expression - Sachlichkeit. Aspekte der Kunst der 20er und 30er Jahre. Tirol, Südtirol, Trentino, Tiroler Landesmuseum Ferdinandeum, Innsbruck/ MART, Rovereto/ Museion, Bozen, 1994–1995, Gert Ammann, G. Belli, P. L. Siena et al. (ed.), cat. no. 66
Kitzbühel, Waldes Zeitgenossen. Malerei und Grafik der Klassischen Moderne in Tirol, Museum Kitzbühel, June 4 – October 1, 2016
"Motifs from old cities on the Inn and the Danube, with a sparkling vitality, a tingling movement in both form and colour!"
(Heinrich Hammer, 1926)
In 1921 Wilhelm Nikolaus Prachensky first presented paintings featuring cityscapes of Hall in Tirol and Linz, where he had stayed several times in 1920 at the Kunstsalon Unterberger in Innsbruck.
The rooftop landscapes, captured from a bird's-eye perspective, particularly reflect the influence of Egon Schiele, especially his city portraits created in Krumau. Prachensky likely encountered Schiele’s works at the exhibitions of the Würthle Gallery in Vienna, where his sister had moved. Parallels can be seen in the bold perspective, the interwoven houses and rooftops viewed from above, and the concentration on the rhythm of spatially dynamic planes and cubes. The restless, "freehand" contour lines and the vibrant colors of different colour patches, applied with short, staccato-like brushstrokes, also reveal the influence of early Viennese Expressionism.
These influences served Wilhelm Nikolaus Prachensky to position himself as a modern interpreter of his homeland, giving the symbolist-influenced landscape paintings from after 1900 a new, powerful visual language. (cf. Matthias Boeckl)
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(Innsbruck 1898–1956)
Dachlandschaft (Roofscapes), 1921, signed WILHELM PRACHENSKY INNSBRUCK, artist label on the reverse, oil on cardboard, 98 x 71 cm
Provenance:
Private Collection, Tyrol (acquired directly from the artist estate)
Literature:
Matthias Boeckl, Wilhelm Nicolaus Prachensky, Innsbruck, Vienna 1998, p. 23, ill.
Exhibition and Catalogue:
Travelling exhibition: Innsbruck / Rovereto / Bozen, Expression - Sachlichkeit. Aspekte der Kunst der 20er und 30er Jahre. Tirol, Südtirol, Trentino, Tiroler Landesmuseum Ferdinandeum, Innsbruck/ MART, Rovereto/ Museion, Bozen, 1994–1995, Gert Ammann, G. Belli, P. L. Siena et al. (ed.), cat. no. 66
Kitzbühel, Waldes Zeitgenossen. Malerei und Grafik der Klassischen Moderne in Tirol, Museum Kitzbühel, June 4 – October 1, 2016
"Motifs from old cities on the Inn and the Danube, with a sparkling vitality, a tingling movement in both form and colour!"
(Heinrich Hammer, 1926)
In 1921 Wilhelm Nikolaus Prachensky first presented paintings featuring cityscapes of Hall in Tirol and Linz, where he had stayed several times in 1920 at the Kunstsalon Unterberger in Innsbruck.
The rooftop landscapes, captured from a bird's-eye perspective, particularly reflect the influence of Egon Schiele, especially his city portraits created in Krumau. Prachensky likely encountered Schiele’s works at the exhibitions of the Würthle Gallery in Vienna, where his sister had moved. Parallels can be seen in the bold perspective, the interwoven houses and rooftops viewed from above, and the concentration on the rhythm of spatially dynamic planes and cubes. The restless, "freehand" contour lines and the vibrant colors of different colour patches, applied with short, staccato-like brushstrokes, also reveal the influence of early Viennese Expressionism.
These influences served Wilhelm Nikolaus Prachensky to position himself as a modern interpreter of his homeland, giving the symbolist-influenced landscape paintings from after 1900 a new, powerful visual language. (cf. Matthias Boeckl)
Sale price
Estimate
Time, Location
Auction House
