Otto Gutfreund, Czechoslovakian 1889-1927- Viki 1912/13; bronze, 32.7cm Provenance: Abe Gottlieb, New York purchased the piece from Eric Estorick, New York (now Grosvenor Gallery), on 29.7.1966; Phyllis La Monte (wife of Abe Gottlieb); Estate Sale, Peachtree & Bennett, Atlanta, Georgia, 11th October 2014, lot 161, where purchased by the present owner. Exhibited:'Otto Gutfreund' Eric Estorick, London, 1st-24th June 1966 No. 7 (another cast )' Four Sculptors (Otto Gutfreund, Michael Ayrton, Ernst Neizvestny & Sidney Kumalo)' Eric Estorick, New York, 22nd November to 31st, 1966 Literature: 'Jiri Setlik,' National Gallery, Prague, Otto Gutfreund, Exhibition catalogue. with a catalogue raisonné of sculptures’, 1996, no. 77-086 ils p.202 (another cast); ‘Le Cubisme a Prague’, Chateau de Biron, Dordogne & Musée des Beaux-Arts, Nancy, exhibition catalogue, 1991, ils. p. 98 (another cast); ‘Expressionism and Czech Art 1905-1927’, National Gallery, Prague, exhibition catalogue, 1994, p. 120, no. 20, (another cast); ‘Otto Gutfreund’, National Gallery, Prague, exhibition catalogue, 1995, pl. 43, (another cast).; Steven A. Mansbach, ‘Modern Art in Eastern Europe. From Baltic to the Balkans, c. 1890-1939’, Cambridge, 1999, p. 28, ill. 12, (another cast).; Jiri Hlusicka, The Hascoe Collection of Czech Modern Art, Prague, 2004, p. 25, (mentioned); pp. 199-200, no. S93, catalogue p. 70, pl. 52, ill. Note: It is believed this is cast number 2 of an edition of 6 that was produced by Fiorini and Carby, London. The work was cast during the 1960s, executed after the plaster preserved in the Collection of the National Gallery in Prague (inventory no. NG P 5099). Lots 13 to 15 originate from the estate of Abe Gottlieb (died 1976), whom was President of Liberty Fabrics of New York based at 105 Madison Avenue, New York. He bought 45 recorded works from Eric Estorick from 24th July 1961 to 1st August 1966 including Kirchner, Archipenko, Mane-Katz, Epstein and Michael Ayrton. In 1910 Gutfreund studied in Paris with the great French 19th Century sculptor Emille-Antoine Bourdelle at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière. On his return to Prague in 1911 he joined the 'Group of Plastic Artists'. In 1912-13 he created sculptures which were amongst the earliest three-dimensional cubist works. He was foremost a Cubist artist and in a review of the history of Cubism, Pierre Daix writes; “The most original of these Czech artists is unquestionably Otto Gutfreund: he stands out as the most important Cubist sculptor after Picasso.” (Pierre Daix, Cubists and Cubism, Skira, Geneva 1982, p. 120). The formation of a distinct creative personality in Otto Gutfreund is first observed in 1911 after his return to Prague from Paris, where he had been a pupil of Emile- Antoine Bourdelle. Gutfreund’s departure from Paris in 1910 represented a rejection of Bourdelle’s influence. The effect of an exhibition of Cezanne in Prague and his contact in Paris with Picasso, Braque and Derain, and especially the influence of the Picasso Head of a Woman of 1909, changed the course of his career. With his figures Don Quixote and Anguish of 1911 and the early reliefs dated 1911/12 he can be said to have found his own solution. At that time only Picasso had made Cubist sculpture. In the same year the ‘Group of Creative Artists’ was founded in Prague, which Gutfreund joined, and his association with other young painters, architects, musicians and critics played a decisive part in his career. Expressionism, the work of Cezanne, and analytical cubism can be regarded as the basis of the artistic views of this group. This synthesis of Cezanne’s conception of form and expressionism can be found in Gutfreund’s early sculptures, such as Hamlet, The Cellist, Viki and Embracing Figures of 1912/13, a development from the reliefs of 1911/12. With thanks to Grosvenor Gallery, London, for their assistance with the cataloguing of this work. Please refer to department for condition report