|
The picture was painted in the 1910s, in a period which Ziffer referred to as "decorative impressionism". It is particularly obvious from the picture that Matisse influenced his art. He considered reality as a starting point, like artists of Les Fauves. This principle was characteristic of Ziffer's art all through his life. The picture has a definite composition. There are small, poorly houses along the winding road at the foot of a mountain. They are miner houses of Nagybánya. The view opens over a fence which is badly in need of repair. Decorative colours in the foreground, the middle and the background show a symmetry of some kind. The same applies to the formal division of the composition. Greens and yellows on fractions of forms appear in the middle of the picture, they are located between patches of blue, white and rust. The freshness of the brushwork can be recognized in layers of paint, especially in the snow in the foreground of the picture.
"Landscape with Fence" is perhaps one of Ziffer's pictures which proves that he is a master of colours, and that he interpretes forms with very simple tools.
|
