Marta Ehrlich

Autumn Day at Dusk, 1970

Oil on canvas

49 × 64 cm

MG-3029

Marta Ehrlich (Zagreb, 1910 – 1980) was a prominent Croatian painter of the 20th century. She graduated in painting from the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb in 1934 as a private student of Vladimir Becić, and the following year she spent a study period in Paris. In the early phase of her artistic work, she relied on Becić’s painterly influence, but in later years she moved closer to surrealist poetics. She most frequently painted cityscapes, landscapes, interiors, and still lifes, developing an intimate and imaginative painterly expression.bDuring the 1960s, she increasingly devoted herself to ceramics, producing small-scale sculpture, painted tiles, and plates, while in her painting she turned to an abstract mode of expression in the style of Art Informel.

It is precisely this painterly approach that can be recognized in this still life, where the classical motifs of a bowl and fruit are gradually reduced to coloristic planes and abstracted forms. The composition is divided into three parts: on the left, a light shallow bowl with fruit dominates, in which blue and purple tones can be discerned, with a pinkish-purple background. The central part of the painting shows darker fruit forms, while the right side presents an abstractly shaped white vessel set against a greenish background. The entire surface of the painting is built up through layered applications of paint, with visible brushstrokes and rich textures. The coloristic contrasts of purple, blue, green, and black create a sense of poetic and intimate atmosphere, typical of Marta Ehrlich’s oeuvre. The work exudes lyrical abstraction and can be linked to her later development toward abstract expression and Art Informel, while still preserving the recognizable still life motifs that were among the central themes of her artistic interest.

Text: Luciana Fuks, Curatorial Intern © National Museum of Modern Art, Zagreb

Photo: Goran Vranić © National Museum of Modern Art, Zagreb