1: FRANZ STUCK (1863-1928) EXHIBITED OIL ON PANEL

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Franz Von Stuck (1863-1928)
Lauschende Faune (Listening Fauns), Belauscht
The important oil on panel signed Franz Stuck lower right front is displayed in its original frame of the artist's design produced by Hans Irlbacher of Munich. Hans Irlbacher's original label remains verso, as does part of an exhibition label from The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Franz Stuck was an influential artist of the 19th century and co-founder of the Munich Secession movement. As art instructor his students included Paul Klee, Hans Purrmann, Wassily Kandinsky, Alf Bayrle and Josef Albers, most of whom were involved in the Munich Secession as well. This important early work from the artist's oeuvre was only recently re-discovered in a Kansas City, Missouri home after a 100-year absence from exhibition or publication. Until now, the painting was known only by black and white images in early 20th century art journals and exhibition catalogs.

TITLE OF THE WORK:

The Art Loss Register lists the title of this work as Lauschende Faune (Listening Fauns).

The German art journal Die Kunst, 1904, pictures this work on page 38 and lists the title as Belauscht (Overheard or Eavesdropping).

The International Studio - An Illustrated Magazine of Fine and Applied Art, August 1909, illustrates this painting and lists the title as Listening Fauns.

The exhibition catalog for the Dallas Art Association's First Annual Exhibition: Contemporary International Art,' November 18-27, 1919 also lists the title as Listening Fauns.

EXHIBITION:

Metropolitan Museum of Art 1909 (remains of the Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibition label remain verso)

Chicago Institute of Art 1909.

Copley Society Boston 1909.

Dallas Art Association's First Annual Exhibition: Contemporary International Art, 1919.

PROVENANCE:

Art Loss Registry lists the succession as beginning with Galerie Heinemann, Franz Stuck's primary dealer, 09 August 1899 acquired for RM 9000 (inventory number 4612) and sold to Hugo Reisinger on 14 August 1899 for RM 9000. Then Hugo Reisinger until at least 1908.

The International Studio · An Illustrated Magazine of Fine and Applied Art for August of 1909 includes an image of this painting as part of a nine-page piece titled THE COLLECTION OF HUGO REISINGER I GERMAN AND AMERICAN PICTURES. BY CHRISTIAN BRITON, confirming the owner as Hugo Reisinger in 1909.

The painting was exhibited at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in January, 1909 and again identified in the exhibition catalog as being the property of Hugo Reisinger.

As an aside, Hugo Reisinger was a banker, businessman and serious art collector. He married the 18-year-old daughter of St. Louis, Missouri brewer Adolphus Busch in 1890.

In 1919, the exhibition catalog for the Dallas Art Association's First Annual Exhibition: Contemporary International Art,' November 18-27, 1919 marks a change by listing the owner of this painting as Edward A. Faust, a prominent St. Louis, Missouri restaurateur and close friend of Adolphus Bush.

As an aside, Edward A. Faust was close friend to Adolphus Bush who brewed a lager named for him. Their families were later connected by marriage. In 1878 Faust went to the Paris Exposition where he purchased his own electric power plant for $15,000 and installed it in his restaurant, establishing the first electric illumination in St. Louis.

For the next 100 years the whereabouts of this painting are not precisely known. It was never again exhibited or published and went unrecognized by survivors of the couple who owned it most recently, Colonel and Mrs. S.D. Slaughter of Kansas City, Missouri.

When this lost work by Franz Stuck was re-discovered inside the Slaughter's Kansas City, Missouri mansion in 2021, another painting was found there as well. This other painting, a large equestrian scene by a British artist, was accompanied by documentation confirming that it had been purchased by the Colonel and his wife in St. Louis, Missouri in 1964. No receipts for the work by Stuck were found. The city of St. Louis, Missouri is 348 miles from Kansas City.

Through descent, this work by Franz Stuck is being offered by two brothers who confirm its existence in the home of their grandparents, Colonel and Mrs. S.D. Slaughter, beginning sometime in the 1960s.

ALTERNATE SPELLING:

The artist's alternate spelling of Franz Von Stuck marks his receiving the Order of Merit of the Bavarian Crown in 1906 after which he was known as Franz Ritter von Stuck.
Overall framed size measures 45 x 47.25 inches.
Very good condition, apparently untouched but for an old over-varnish that has darkened and in some areas, shows some drips and thickness.

There are no areas or bits of touch-up or inpainting indicated under UV light examination.

There is a 2.5 inch diameter area of deterioration of the medium that shows as a cluster of fine, irregular, vertical lines of white medium exposed in a cluster just to the left of the figure, and scattered to a far lesser degree just below the figure and to the left quadrant. There are no other issues of loss, no major scratches, chips, dents, gouges, flakes, cupping, rubs or other issues.

The frame displays scattered chips overall as shown and heavy wear to the painted laurel running vertically along each long side.
$75,000 - $125,000