Carl Frederick Gaertner (American, 1898-1952). Industrial Cleveland (Blue). Oil on canvas. 30 x 35 inches (76.2 x 88.9 c...

Description

Carl Frederick Gaertner (American, 1898-1952)
Industrial Cleveland (Blue)
Oil on canvas
30 x 35 inches (76.2 x 88.9 cm)
Signed lower right: Carl Gaertner

PROPERTY OF A CALIFORNIA FAMILY

A fascinating aspect of the two paintings by Carl Gaertner in the present auction is how they relate to one another compositionally, but are painted in diametrically contrasting palettes. The red/green version of Industrial Cleveland (lot 68113) is more extensive as well as more directly painted than this blue/yellow version, which seems to have been somewhat edited, simplified, and more thickly painted. Gaertner may have intended these two works to show the industrial complex at different times of day, similar to the way Monet painted versions of the same cathedral and haystacks. The subject would alter dramatically in terms of color depending upon light and weather conditions. It is notable that both scenes are blanketed in snow, which would accentuate reflected color. Was this the artist's intention behind painting the scene with two different color palettes? Or perhaps it is something else entirely? A compelling idea about Carl Gaertner once advanced by the great Cleveland industrial designer Viktor Schreckengost, who knew Gaertner personally, was that Gaertner might have been colorblind. Most colorblind men tend to have the red-green variety of colorblindness, which impedes their ability to distinguish between types of greens and reds, but enables them to see blues and yellows with great intensity. It is intriguing to speculate that Industrial Cleveland (Red) was Gaertner's first version, one in which he explored the tonal relationships of his subject before painting the present work, in radiant blues and yellows. Whatever the reason for painting two near-versions of a similar scene, Gaertner created the same feeling in both: a tremendous fondness for the muscular architecture of Cleveland.




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