| Number | AMHAM: OBJECT.2115 |
|---|---|
| Date | (1940s) |
| About this object | This painting is presumed to depict the garden from Marie-Louise’s ground-floor studio at Cornerways, on Chestnut Lane. Foreboding, with mellow yellows and cold blues, an empty deckchair lingers in the bottom left of the composition with an open window to the right. Dashed whites and purples depict flowering irises and strikes of bright orange and brown, a loosely delineated bird. With funding from the Marie-Louise von Motesiczky Charitable Trust, Amersham Museum had the painting cleaned in 2024, revealing the strength of colours in what had previously seemed to be a study in pastel hues. The deckchair is vacant, perhaps reflecting those who couldn’t, or decided against, fleeing the Continent with Marie-Louise. Her brother, Karl von Motesiczky remained in Austria, an active opponent of Nazism and ‘selfless rescuer of Jews’. He was arrested by the Gestapo and died of typhus in the Auschwitz concentration camp on 25 June 1943. He was never reunited with Marie-Louise, never rested in the deckchair in which he should have been painted reclining. Presented by the Marie-Louise von Motesiczky Charitable Trust in 2022. ©️Tate. (Schlenker ref: 98) |
| Made By | Marie-Louise von Motesiczky |
| Made In | Chestnut Lane, Amersham (Presumed) |
| Physical Description | Oil painting on canvas, glazed, in modern wooden frame. |
| Find Out More | Karl von Motesiczky 1904–1943 | Tate Karl Motesiczky - Auschwitz |