Wilhelm Runze German Post-Impressionist Still Life of Pansies, Oil on Canvas

A Post-Impressionist still life by Wilhelm Runze (German, 1887–1945), depicting black and yellow pansies in a white ceramic vase set against a green draped ground on a tan tabletop. The composition is built from broad, simplified brushwork and bold flat color fields — the deep near-black petals set off by warm yellow accents and the pale vase, all anchored by the enveloping green backdrop. Oil on woven linen canvas, unlined, signed upper right "W. Runze" in dark paint.

Runze received a rigorous tri-city academic formation — the Städelschule in Frankfurt under Wilhelm Amandus Beer, the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich under Otto Seitz, and the Académie Colarossi in Paris — before establishing himself as one of Frankfurt's notable figurative painters. His official portraits of Frankfurt mayors Ludwig Landmann and Walter Kolb hang in the council hall of the Frankfurt Römer, and additional works are held in the Städel Museum and the Bavarian State Painting Collections. That institutional record separates this canvas from the anonymous genre work that fills the same market segment. The palette and compositional restraint here reflect the Colarossi-trained sensibility, and the piece retains its original period gilt wood and composition frame with acanthus and scroll ornament.

CONDITION

Fair with age-appropriate wear. The unlined canvas shows significant paint loss exposing bare linen at the upper right, left center, and lower right, along with overall craquelure throughout. The period frame is chipped in areas. No glass. Please review all photos for condition and detail.

DIMENSIONS / SPECIFICATIONS

• Overall (framed): 25" H × 22" W × 1.5" D
• Visible image: 19" H × 16" W
• Medium: Oil on woven linen canvas, unlined
• Signed: "W. Runze," upper right
• Frame: Gilt wood and composition, acanthus and scroll molding; no glass