A missing fox painting rediscovered 100 years later has become part of the Leopold Museum’s first NFT collection.
Schiele painting was rediscovered 100 years later
The Leopold Museum has announced the rediscovery of a large-scale painting by Austrian expressionist Egan Schuel’s “Leopold Chezak in Piano 1907”. The portrait of the artist’s uncle and legal guardian, who has been missing for 100 years, has been rediscovered in a private collection in Vienna in recent months. The work will be shown to the public for the first time and will be included in the museum’s exclusive NFT collection. Museum’s Schiele Collection.
The Leopold Museum contains the largest and most important collection of works by Egan Schill (1890-1918). In his short life, interrupted by the Spanish flu at the age of 28, Shiely was able to create a core part of the work that is considered the most defined and colorful figure in Viennese modernity. The museum’s founder, Rudolf Leopold (1925-2010), was an outstanding international collector and one of the main patrons of the fox’s work, and was largely responsible for his international fame through his lifelong fascination with the artist’s single-minded attitude.
Those issues are still relevant today
The curated NFT collection will reflect themes at the center of a wide range of work that resonates to this day; Gender and androgyny, self-identity and plurality, and psychological struggle. One of the most revered modern painters, controversial for the disturbing intensity of his paintings and the unrefined sexuality, NFTs provide an opportunity to collect works that aroused a strong visceral reaction among viewers when it first appeared in 1906 and was a mentally charged day.
“Leopold Czihaczek at the Piano 1907” is an important oil painting by the artist, created shortly before his 17th birthday. The work is in the late Impressionist style, with a suppressed color palette feature of the early work of the fox. The painting depicts his uncle Leopold Chezakz, who became his legal guardian after the death of his father at the age of 15.
Only small-format portraits of Leopold Czechoslovak exist. The painting portrays him as a bourgeois figure and a man of culture, perhaps a sign of the role he wanted to play in his life.
The last record of the painting can be found in Rudolf Leopold’s Artist’s Catalog Regen of 1972, but there has been no record of the painting since. Painting was known only from preliminary research before; Leopold also learned about painting from conversations with the fox’s sister; The other main source material was a 1930s black and white photograph where it shows a hanging house. As part of the 5-year loan, the image will be opened to the public at the museum on a long-term basis. The rediscovered painting will also be offered for sale as NFT and will lead to the expansion of its fundraising.
Paintings of foxes are rarely found in the market. In addition to the rediscovered painting, the drop contains a number of famous style paintings, such as ‘Portrait of Wally Newsel’, ‘Self-portrait with Chinese Lantern Tree’ and ‘Dead Mother Eye’.
The drop schedule will be given on lacollection.io, general market sale will be open May 16-26. Twenty-four works of art, including rediscovered paintings, will be sold at three deficit levels, including Ultra Rare, Super Rare and Rare.
Jean-Sébastien Beaucamps, CEO and co-founder of LaCollection, says:
“We are delighted to announce our first European partner with the prestigious Leopold Museum and to enable institutions to acquire works of art through the NFT as well as to expand our offerings to collectors internationally. It’s a joy to bring a collection of Egon Schiele’s favorite collections to new audiences through the blockchain, making it easy for a new generation of collectors to rediscover a groundbreaking artist. “