Repost....still stumped with Artist signature ID

[LogansRun]

Trying again to see if anyone can help with what the Artist signature is on this vintage oil painting. Thanks for anyone who previously offered help.

 

[Mackaydon]

Any clue on the back?
Don.....

 

[LogansRun]

Any clue on the back?
Don.....

Nothing on the back or anywhere as to origin or than it comes from estate of two military persons who were in the Europe during WWII and traveled quite a bit all over Europe. I just would like to know what letters, etc. are there so I can do research on the artist.

 

[dognose]

That is a strange looking signature.

it looks like to me
W 5 of 7

?

 

[DCMatt]

I looked again for a similar piece but didn't find a match.

The scene is near Garmisch. The style, to my eye, is very 1930's-ish. Garmisch was a popular tourist destination even back then.

 

[LogansRun]

That is a strange looking signature.

it looks like to me
W 5 of 7

?

Yes, it almost looks like another language other than English.

 

[LogansRun]

I looked again for a similar piece but didn't find a match.

The scene is near Garmisch. The style, to my eye, is very 1930's-ish. Garmisch was a popular tourist destination even back then.

Thanks. I have seen similar scenes but no match. I just don't want to sell it for $100 and later it ends up at Sotheby's.

 

[catyron]

I read it as

W. Hof-

with the dash perhaps being short for "mann" or "nung" or some other common German surname ending -- thus, W. Hofmann, W. Hofnung, etc.

It is not Hans Hofmann (1880 - 1966) because he was an abstract expressionist, not a realist.

It is not Otto, or Kathy, or Ludwig Hofmann, because although all three of them were realist landscape painters, the initial letter is not an O, K, or L.

Likewise it is not the realist landscape painters Annie Hoffmann, Karl Hofmann, Robert Hofmann, Leopold Hofmann, Pierre-Philippe Hofmann, Egon Hofmann, David Hoffmann, or George Max Hoffmann.

I agree that it looks like Garmisch in the Bavarian Alps. This kind of simple painting of a lone Alpine cottage against upthrusting peaks on a sunny day was a common subject among local painters and was a frequent tourist purchase in the 1930s - 1950s.

But, back to the Hof- signature ... The closest in STYLE and LOCALE of all the realist landscape painters named Hofmann -- and there were quite a few! -- is Josef Sepp Hofmann (1870 - 1956), who painted similar simple scenes and signed his works Sepp Hoffmann. See: https://www.icollector.com/Josef-Sepp-Hofmann-1870-1956-Austrian-Gouache_i29282413

So, five minutes of research, but no score. Sorry... i tried.

 

[ANTIQUARIAN]

I'm thinking that this may have been a series of paintings created by the artist.
The 'W 5 of 7', may stand for 'Work #5 of 7' pieces.
My wife is an artist/poet/writer and she will often create a series of 6"x6" oil paintings, of any where from 2 - 6 works.

Date wise, I'm thinking late 1940s - early 50s.
Stylistically, this painting somewhat resembles Lauren Harris' style in 1928, from the Group of Seven.

Dave