Sohler painting.. Ludwig Sohler? Mini 8" x 10"

[inspectorgadget]

I got this painting the other day for 50 cents (figured the frame was worth $5). Its oil on canvas & is signed Sohler, I'm not a knowledgeable art guy but I think it's Ludwig Sohler, hes from Germany, born in 1907 & died in 1998. He was not well known for doing floral or "stills" but more known for landscape type paintings. Also I have not found 1 single "mini" painting like this one which is an 8 x 10, all the paintings I can find of his are large. Oh by the way there might be an L in front of Sohler on the painting but I can't tell for sure with it in the frame.

Anyone know if this is indeed Ludwig Sohler or is it a different Sohler? Anyone know of a general value? If it's L Sohler his larger paintings on eBay or other auction sites are not cheap but also not earth shattering priced, they are like $200-$500 from what I have found but again I have yet to see another Sohler "mini" so I sure don't know for 100% if this is the same Sohler.

 

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[gino22]

Looks to be his style and signature, and the framing is era appropriate. Not unusual for artists to produce "minis" to pay the bills or appease a client, so that's not really a knock against authenticity. However - and it's hard to tell by the pictures - I suspect it could be a mechanical reproduction. Do the white scratches/chips look like damage to many layers of paint laid down or areas where a thin layer of ink/paste paper was removed?

The "MINI" stamp on the back suggests reproduction, and the other stamps on the back of the canvas with filled in information are unusual. Galleries will generally make a sticker or small handwritten note on the back of canvas or frame, but it's risky business to apply pressure to the back of a painted canvas. If it is 100% hand painted, that is definitely a good sign.

 

[inspectorgadget]

Looks to be his style and signature, and the framing is era appropriate. Not unusual for artists to produce "minis" to pay the bills or appease a client, so that's not really a knock against authenticity. However - and it's hard to tell by the pictures - I suspect it could be a mechanical reproduction. Do the white scratches/chips look like damage to many layers of paint laid down or areas where a thin layer of ink/paste paper was removed?

The "MINI" stamp on the back suggests reproduction, and the other stamps on the back of the canvas with filled in information are unusual. Galleries will generally make a sticker or small handwritten note on the back of canvas or frame, but it's risky business to apply pressure to the back of a painted canvas. If it is 100% hand painted, that is definitely a good sign.

Ok yes it does have a few cracks & chips, the few chips are very thin, thinner than rice paper for sure, most of the painting has an almost non existent paint "thickness". However the petals of the yellow flowers look hand painted to me & are one of the only parts of the painting that is noticeably raised or thicker. The other noticeably thicker parts & look hand painted to me are the edges of the brown leaves. There is another spot that I noticed is slightly raised or thicker but otherwise it is pretty uniform in paint thickness & very hard for me to tell if it's hand painted or not as I am not very knowledgeable when it comes to art. Could it be machine made & touched up or finished by hand afterwords?

 

[gino22]

It is likely machine printed onto a thin substrate and pasted on, then touched up. It is possible that it was touched by the artist. Does the signature look hand done?

Unfortunately, even if touched up by the artist I don't think it has much value given the extent of the damage.

Does your camera have a macro mode? If so, can you give some extreme close up detail on the peeling areas?

 

[inspectorgadget]

It is likely machine printed onto a thin substrate and pasted on, then touched up. It is possible that it was touched by the artist. Does the signature look hand done?

Unfortunately, even if touched up by the artist I don't think it has much value given the extent of the damage.

Does your camera have a macro mode? If so, can you give some extreme close up detail on the peeling areas?

Yes my camera has macro mode & I will take pix when I get back home. The signature looks hand painted to me but I say this not because of the looks but because the signature gets lighter with every letter as if the paint was running out of his brush. Otherwise I really can't or couldn't tell if it is a real sig.

 

[gino22]

Use a loupe or good magnifying glass in direct light when inspecting the flat areas, if you see dots it is definitely machine made. If you see no dots, hold it to your eye and look down the canvas - if there is no evidence of 3 dimensional brush strokes in the flat areas, it is a repro.

Reproduction from the 60s-90s are fairly crude, usually newsprint pasted onto canvas and varnished; more modern ones are harder to spot because they are made with high tech inkjet printers that do an excellent job seamlessly reproducing color and contrast. Since the layer of ink deposited on the canvas surface is extremely thin (as in, microns thin), the giveaway is that the canvas texture will be perfectly uniform when viewed from the side

 

[inspectorgadget]

Use a loupe or good magnifying glass in direct light when inspecting the flat areas, if you see dots it is definitely machine made. If you see no dots, hold it to your eye and look down the canvas - if there is no evidence of 3 dimensional brush strokes in the flat areas, it is a repro.

Reproduction from the 60s-90s are fairly crude, usually newsprint pasted onto canvas and varnished; more modern ones are harder to spot because they are made with high tech inkjet printers that do an excellent job seamlessly reproducing color and contrast. Since the layer of ink deposited on the canvas surface is extremely thin (as in, microns thin), the giveaway is that the canvas texture will be perfectly uniform when viewed from the side

Here are some macro pix. There are no dots when looking thru a magnifying glass just the bumps from the canvas but I can't see any brush strokes in the background color. I can see brush strokes on some parts. The first 3 pix show damage & the rest just show different areas of it.

 

[gino22]

Good news - based on those pics, I would say it's the real deal. Seeing a lot of texture/blending there. It chipped oddly, and the canvas looks unusually clean underneath, but from those macro pics I am seeing a real painting.

I would list on eBay as "attributed to", maybe $100 OBO?

 

[inspectorgadget]

Good news - based on those pics, I would say it's the real deal. Seeing a lot of texture/blending there. It chipped oddly, and the canvas looks unusually clean underneath, but from those macro pics I am seeing a real painting.

I would list on eBay as "attributed to", maybe $100 OBO?

Thanks a BUNCH for your expertise & opinion I really appreciate it! I think the damage was because it was laying flat between other items which were putting pressure on the canvas & it's hard telling how long it had been that way & also possibly a reason the back is so clean looking as it might have lived for quite some time the way i found it sandwiched laying flat. $100OBO sounds good to me! Gotta think I only have 50 cents in it!

 

[Rachelk]

Reproduction

Thanks a BUNCH for your expertise & opinion I really appreciate it! I think the damage was because it was laying flat between other items which were putting pressure on the canvas & it's hard telling how long it had been that way & also possibly a reason the back is so clean looking as it might have lived for quite some time the way i found it sandwiched laying flat. $100OBO sounds good to me! Gotta think I only have 50 cents in it!

If it is stamped mini then it is a reproduction.

 

[Rachelk]

I own a real Sohler and have worked with oils for over 30 years. I can tell from the photographs that this is a reproduction. There is a lot of visable texture and raised oils in his work.