(Vienna 1894–1977 New York) ‘Figures in a landscape’, 1923, verso estate stamp, oil on canvas on hardboard, 53.5 x 37 cm, framed, (K)

Karl Pallauf, Josef Floch, Leben und Werk 1894–1977, Österreichischer Kunst und Kulturverlag, 2000, p. 126, no. 70, with ill.
Exhibited und illustrated in the catalogue: Kunsthandel Martin Suppan, Josef Floch, Galerie im Palais Coburg, Vienna 1988, no.3

Provenance: From an Austrian collection ...

Although Floch enjoyed some success early in his career in Vienna, his wish to leave his homeland became ever greater in the years following the First World War. In his diary, which is published here for the first time, Floch noted, full of bitterness, ‘Vienna is the city of music, painting takes second place.’ In 1918 Floch travelled to Munich, where he saw pictures by Paul Cézanne, Vincent van Gogh and Hans von Marées for the first at the Pinakotek, which left a deep impression on the young artist - and subsequently on his understanding of art. From then on, he was fascinated by the art of others and, restless, he undertook journeys to the Netherlands, Dalmatia and Italy, although, above all, to Trieste, where relatives of his lived; in 1923 he travelled to Palestine for a period of six months.
Floch made important contacts in Vienna at this time with fellow artists and collectors, particularly the art critics, Erika and Hans Tietze. Although Floch’s pictures were sufficiently good to be exhibited at the Viennese Secession, he joined the conservative artist society, the Hagenbund in 1919, becoming one of their best-known members until the society was dissolved in 1938...
Karl Pallauf, excerpt from foreword, op.cit..