Gustav Kampmann, Vase of Flowers (circa 1910)

GUSTAV KAMPMANN (Boppard 1859 - Bad Godesberg 1917) Vase of flowers. Circa 1910. Oil on canvas mounted on cardboard. 53 X 40 cm (canvas) 57.5 X 45 cm (frame) Signed bottom left: G. Kampmann. Original frame, label on the back from the framer J. Kleinschmidt in Bonn. Gustav Kampann is an important German painter and engraver from the Karlsruhe school, active in the last quarter of the nineteenth century and the early twentieth century. His work has a symbolist and Art Nouveau spirit, with a tenebrist dimension in the way he explores light and colour in shadow. This atmospheric still life of a ceramic vase with flowers placed on the corner of a table in front of panelling (or perhaps a door) still has the original frame. Kampann's paintings can be found at the Staatliche Kunsthalle in Karlsruhe, and his engravings are at the British Museum in London. Indeed, Kampann's 'Still Life with a Candle' (1912) at the Staatliche Kunsthalle in Karlsruhe features the same lovely ceramic vase as in this painting.