Jankiel Adler, STILL LIFE WITH CANDLE, 1930

65.4 x 50.5 cm - mixed technique, cardboard mixed technique (oil, sand), cardboard glued on plywood 65.4 x 50.5 cm
signed p.g.: Adler

on the reverse:
- l.g. (in pencil): 11 08 | 7;
- next to sticker (print, stamp): LUCIEN LEFEBVRE-FOINET | 19. RUE VAVIN ET2. RUE BREA PARIS - VIE | 2066 | COULEURS ET TOILES [...]ES;
- next to sticker (print, stamp): JAMES BOURLET & SONS, Ltd, | Fine Art Packers, Frame Makers, | B 32575 | 17& 18, NASSAU STREET, MORTIMER STREET W. | Phones: - MUSEUM 1871 & 7588;

- below sticker (pen): PROPERTY OF | DR. STELLA CHURCHILL;

- plus auction stickers.



Reproduced painting:

- A. Heibel, Jankel Adler (1895-1949), Volume II: Werkverzeichnis der Gemälde, p. 196, cat. no. WV 126, (Stillleben), il.

Jankiel Adler came from a Hasidic family. He began his artistic studies in Poland. In 1912 he was in Yugoslavia, where he learned the engraving profession, then (until 1918) he studied under Gustav Wiethüchter at the Kunstgewerbeschule in Barmen near Düsseldorf. In 1918-1920 he stayed in Warsaw and worked with the Jung Idysz group of Jewish artists. At that time he painted a series of expressionistic, symbolic paintings inspired by the art of El Greco and Jewish tradition (The Last Hour of the Rabbi). In 1920 he went to Berlin and then to Düsseldorf, where in 1926 he made paintings at the Astronomical Institute. Influenced by Cubism at the time, he painted stylized figural compositions. He introduced a strong contour defining forms and used a varied, almost relief-like texture, achieved by mixing paints with sand, salt, plaster or wax. After a trip to Majorca and Spain in 1929-1930, his tendency toward abstraction intensified in his work. In 1931 he had a studio at the Academy of Fine Arts in Düsseldorf and at that time came into contact with Paul Klee. In 1933, for political reasons, he left Germany, moving to Paris. In 1925-1926 he was in Poland, then again in Paris and in Cagnes-sur-Mer, where he lived until the outbreak of war. In 1940 he joined the Polish army forming in France. Transferred with his unit to Scotland, he was demobilized in 1941 due to his health. From 1943 he lived in London and Aldbourne, near London. After 1941, he painted paintings with stronger colors and monumental form built in a cubist manner. In addition to ancient subjects taken from Jewish folklore, the Bible and the Talmud (Old Rabbis, King David), still lifes, animals, etc., he also painted at that time paintings of the wartime martyrdom of the Jews (Treblinka, Invalids, Destruction). In addition to oil painting, Adler was also involved in watercolor, drawing and printmaking. He had numerous solo exhibitions, including in Lodz (1918), Warsaw (1920, 1935), Wroclaw (1931), London (1946, 1948), and New York (1948). He also took part in many group exhibitions, including an international exhibition in New York in 1933.