"Horse Races"

Very well executed oil on canvas painting of a dramatic horse race by the German/American artist Johannes Schiefer. Signed lower right. Condition is excellent. Overall framed in narrow gold leaf frame that measures 21 by 19 inches. Provenance: Contemporary Masters Gallery, Madison Avenue, New York See gallery label and title verso. (Last photograph).

Johannes Schiefer was born in 1896 in Alsace and attended the Düsseldorf Academy in Germany. He later moved to Paris where he began his formal art training. Schiefer lived and painted in southern France and Europe until he, his wife, and young daughter fled France for New York in 1942. In the US he continued to paint and exhibit his work at New York galleries. Later in life he was the curator of the Parrish Art Museum in Southampton, Long Island.
Born in the late 19th century, Schiefer was no doubt introduced to impressionism as a young art student, and it is not all that surprising that he chose to continue to paint in a post impressionist style. However, his paintings differ from period impressionist paintings in that he injects them with a lighthearted almost illustrative quality.