Strauss & co - 15 October 2018, Cape Town

230 526 Adolph Jentsch SOUTH AFRICAN 1888-1977 Ibenstein, SW Afrika signed twice with the artist’s initials and dated 1943; signed, inscribed with the title and with the artist’s name in three places, numbered 10-94 and ‘Wand 1, bild No. 4’on the stretcher; further inscribed ‘Landscape at Night with Trees and Stars’ in German on two Peter and Regina Strack labels with accession number 009 and collection number 18 adhered to the reverse oil on canvas 68,5 by 97,5cm R  –   Grey is very important in Adolph Jentsch’s paintings. Like Cézanne, he felt “that as long as one has not painted in grey, one is no painter”. In his nuances of grey Jentsch achieves space and distance, providing his pictures with harmonious perspective. “As the mathematician has the number as a means of measuring”he muses, so “the painter has grey as his standard of measurement, but the painter measures intuitively.” 1 Inspired by the extensive range of grey used by Chinese watercolourists, he observes that no other colour can achieve the same effect as grey which he describes as “singular”and “having a special stability.” 2 Explaining his skillfull mix of grey with subtle proportions of other colours, Jentsch points out the colour’s atmospheric qualities saying “The air mass that lies between me and the object I see changes the colour of the object. It influences my vision looking through it. The air brings grey into the colour of every colour tone. It gives the effect of perspective.” 3 1. Olga Levinson, Adolph Jentsch , Human & Rousseau Publishers (Pty) Ltd., Cape Town, 1973, page 68. 2. Ibid . 3. Ibid , page 71. PROVENANCE Purchased from the artist’s estate by Peter Strack in 1983. The Late Peter and Regina Strack Collection. PROPERTY OF THE LATE PETER AND REGINA STRACK COLLECTION LOTS 514-533