WORKS BY TWO CZECH-BORN ARTISTS PART OF KEYS’ SECOND FINE SALE OF THE YEAR

Three works by early 20^th century Czech painter Viktor Planckh are set to go under the hammer at an auction in Norfolk later this month – the first time for some years that works by the artist have been offered for auction in the United Kingdom.

Two watercolours and an oil by Planckh are included in Keys Auctioneers and Valuers’ three day Fine Sale, which runs from Wednesday 24^th July to Friday 26^th July.

The most important work is ‘Portrait of a gent wearing shirt and tie’ measuring 47cm x 37cm, which has a pre-sale estimate of £3,000-£5,000.

Viktor Planckh was born in 1901 in Opava which is situated in the Czech Republic today, but which was then part of Austrian Silesia.  After his family moved to Vienna, Planckh studied at the city’s Kunstgewerbeschule, joining the ‘Hagenbund’ artists’ group after he graduated in 1926.  He died in 1941.

Also in the Keys Fine Sale is an attractive painting by another Czech-born artist, Antonietta Brandeis (1848-1926).  After moving to Venice, Brandeis was one of the first women to receive academic in the fine arts in Italy, and many of her pictures depict Venetian scenes.  The painting in the Keys sale is an oil on board, ‘Venetian Boats’, which has a pre-sale estimate of £7,000-£10,000

“Although these two artists are not so well-known, their work is immediately accessible and aesthetically pleasing, and it comes to auction relatively rarely,” said Keys head of fine art Kevin Lines.