Review article
Arthur Schiffer’s three portraits in the Museum of Slavonia
Andreja Šimičić
; Muzej Slavonije, Osijek
Abstract
Among the portraits of the Collection of Paintings and Frames of the Museum of Slavonia of Osijek, there are three portraits made by Osijek painter Arthur Schiffer. This painter was educated in Budapest, Munich and Paris; even when he had an atelier in Osijek, he used to come back to these cities regularly. Therefore, he was not much involved into the fine arts of Osijek during his lifetime. The Osijek press kept track of his work and reported on his success abroad, but his works had not been exhibited in Osijek until 1924 when there was a group exhibition on the occasion of celebrating the 15th anniversary of the Croatian Writers’ and Artists’ Club. As soon as in 1935, Arthur Schiffer was classified as a former painter of Osijek at an exhibition presenting the works of Osijek painters from private and public collections. He disappeared during World War II.
The Museum of Slavonia is in possession of three of his oil on canvas paintings, two female portraits and one male portrait. The portraits of the Govorković couple, Ivan and Irma Govorković, were made in 1917. The Govorković spouses were of utter importance for the Museum of Slavonia. As passionate collectors, they were gathering glass items and managed to collect about 150 pieces thereof. In 1942, the entire collection together with the vitrine in which it was kept and professional literature was handed over to the Museum according to the will of Irma Govorković. It is interesting that the customers did not want ordinary portraits. Ivan Govorković was shown in an armchair with a dog in his lap. Although dominated by matt tones, earth colours, the portrait is very powerful in the colouristic sense. The dark accents on the face (eyes with dark circles, moustaches) reflect a confident person of firm character. The portrait is large in size and used to be kept in the home library of the Govorkovićs. Mrs Govorković was portrayed from the waist up on smaller canvas. When portraying the face, the painter precisely copied the physiognomy of the portrayed person while concerning the clothes,he released himself from academic preciseness and put only highlights thereof on the canvas. The portrait requires conservation-restoration works. The third portrait, lacking data explaining how it ended up in the Museum and who it presents, was attributed to Schiffer only whenhis signature was disclosed in the lower right corner of the painting after a conservation-restoration intervention. This portrait shows the semifigure of a young woman standing with her left arm on her hip and her right arm lowering down the body. With her big blue eyes, the young lady is staring at the observer. The painting, like the other two portraits, includes a characteristic neutral background shaped by green tones and lighter nuances around the figure, emphasizing a slim silhouette. This two-dimensional painting with accentuated colours (contrast between the red blouse and the green background, dark bow surface) and no superfluous details, jewellery and solemn clothes, seems mysterious, magical, in the spirit of the magical realism of the 1920s.
The future regular layout of the Museum of Slavonia is expected to present the intellectual, spiritual atmosphere of Osijek in the artistically rich and vivid 1920s and the works of Arthur Schiffer will certainly find their place therein.
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Hrčak ID:
217709
URI
Publication date:
29.1.2016.
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