Auction 120 / Lot 1862

Signed lower left 'Cucuel'. Verso: Signed 'Cucuel' several times on the stretcher and frame, as well as signed and titled on a label on the stretcher and titled again on another label. Edward Cucuel discovered his love for art at a young age. In his hometown of San Fracisco, he began studying at the art academy and worked part-time as an illustrator for the 'Examiner'. At 17, he attended the Académie Colarossi, the Académie Julian and the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris, where he studied under Jean-Léon Gérôme. After his studies, he joined the artist group ''Scholle'' together with Leo Putz, who introduced him to open-air painting. In Germany he found his true home, which he only left forever because of the Second World War. Edward Cucuel already found great recognition during his lifetime and was honoured by numerous exhibitions and received several prizes. His works, influenced by French Impressionism, convey a sense of liberation of style and express an immense joie de vivre. Cucuel's preferred motifs are portraits and nudes of women as well as social and landscape scenes. With the splendid work of Edward Cucuel offered here, the artist expands his oeuvre of light-flooded lake landscapes, portraits of young ladies and summer flair with the 'treat'. Cucuel refers with great artistic ease to one of the most intimate moments between man and animal. The encounter seems very close, as if time were standing still, making this painting by Cucuel one of the highlights of his work.