Product Description

A very interesting and decorative oil on panel by German artist Bernhard Huys 1895-1973. The painting has a great feeling of freedom and a bold confident use of colour and technique. It shows a scene of fields most likely at Worpswede in Germany where the artist lived and chiefly painted. The painting is signed to the lower right and dated 1939, it is also titled on the reverse but the only word I can translate is Autumn. There is also a newspaper cutting on the back relating to the artist. The work is in excellent condition and has been professionally cleaned. The painting retains the original silvered frame which was most likely made by the artist as he was known for making and gilding frames in a very individual manner himself.
Bernhard Huys was born in 1895 as the son of Rector Huys in Oesede. He was a soldier in the First World War . Unable to prepare for a civil profession after the experiences on the Western Front , he travelled across Germany with his guitar as a travelling school scholar , earning money as a waiter, a peat worker and working in a potash well . Every year he visited Worpswede, which he had known since 1917. In 1929 he settled in Worpswede, married Maria Gründel in 1931, with whom he had 2 children. It was at this period that he trained as a carpenter and began producing picture frames and also began painting. He gained experience painting with Otto Modersohn and Fritz Mackensen and he was constantly represented in the Worpswede art show. During the Second World War he was arrested by the Gestapo and jailed for “contempt for the Fuhrer”. He survived the war and returned to Worpswede and continued painting. At the age of 71 he received the Lower Saxony Order of Merit first class because of his involvement with the “Friends of Worpswedes”. In honour of him there is the “Bernhard-Huys-Ring” in Worpswede. His work is very post impressionist in style and has a great earthy feel, he was one of the last open field painters who worked quickly and closely in the great outdoors.
This work has a great modernist look and as a decorative artwork feels very Art Deco or even modern. It is in excellent untouched and ready to hang condition.
Overall sizes in inches, including frame: 16 1/2 by 13 1/4