Angelus 1901
.
For description see below.
JQAW# G_1901_010
Oil on canvas 101 x 115 cm
Signature: John Q. Ɑdams 1901 Volendam
Private collection, Austria
Image: private photograph 2025
Harbour scene in the evening. Two Dutch fishermen in loose pants and clogs sit holding their caps in their hands on the wall of a paved quay, from which wooden structures with piers and cross braces of the docks rise and to which several smaller rowboats are moored. Behind the quay the open water of the harbor is visible, with a shoreline and a towering ship's mast in the background.
The contemplative title "Angelus" that Adams chose for this atmospheric painting from Holland (Volendam) refers to the tradition of ringing the Angelus (morning, noon, evening) and was probably chosen in reference to the Angelus painting by Jean-François Millet, 1857-59 (now in the Louvre), which was very famous at the time. The Millet painting has inspired many generations of artists, inlcuding among others Salavador Dali in 1934.
The two fishermen, whose bared heads indicate either a brief prayer or a pause after work, wear typical Dutch fishing costumes, their muted colors accentuated by the shadow that has already fallen on the quay. In contrast, the water surface in the background is still sunlit, giving the painting an interesting chiaroscuro contrast.
The painting, which Adams first exhibited at the Vienna Künstlerhaus in 1902 (EL 45 1902 #996) remained unsold (probably because of the steep price of 5000 crowns) and was not purchased until a year and a half later at an auction at the Künstlerhaus. Angelus is an early major work of the artist with strong influences from French Impressionism and was already commissioned for reproduction in 1901/02 by Adams with the publisher Hirschler in Vienna (the first of numerous reproductions of his works). Adams must have held this painting in high esteem, as he depicted it again in 1908 in his iconic Family Portrait, stylized in the background but still clearly recognizable (see image comparison in the cross-references). The first owner of the painting named Julius Kohn (1845-1937) was presumably the co-owner of the well-known bent-wood furniture manufacturer Gebrüder J.J. Kohn Wien (that employed named artists like Kolo Moser, Otto Wagner or Josef Hoffmann as designers and that manufactured by now classics of Viennese Jugendstil furniture). The painting was purchased (possibly from Julius Kohn estate) around 1938 by the father of the current owner and has remained in the family ever since.
Cross-references
The artist and his family (family portrait) 1908Exhibited
1902 Künstlerhaus Vienna (EL 45 1902 #996) as Angelus (Holland).
1903 Künstlerhaus Vienna (EL 46 1903 #1849) as Angelus.
1903 Künstlerhaus Vienna (EL 47 1903/04 #74) as Angelus.
Literature
APH, catalog raisonné JQA 1995, p. 40, cat.#9 (figs. 2 and 3).
Provenance
1903 auction Künstlerhaus Vienna 14.12.1903 lot#1.
Jul(ius) Kohn, Vienna.
Unknown.
Since ca. 1938 in the collection of a Viennese family,
private collection, Austria.