Otto Schlichter (1907-1931)

KRISTINA

A Czech of German descent, Otto Schlichter was born in the neighborhood of Klotovy. At the age of seventeen, he bid farewell to his beloved homeland and, after a brief stay studying art in Munich, moved on to Paris.

The Bohemian Forest and the nearby watery sources which joined to give rise to the sacred Moldau provided this sensitive young artist with a strong feeling for landscape which entered into all his compositions. Unfortunately, the persistence of the landscape theme did collide on occasion with his desire to master purely sculptural and classical subjects.

Still another breeding ground for conflict in this young artist’s mind was his insistence on "walking the fence" between traditional, nineteenth century romantic landscape and the urge to give in to all that was expressionist and modern. Schlichter to be sure, was not the only Nordic artist to find himself torn between warring ideals. Not surprisingly, the audience (and important patronage) for art in Northern Europe was likewise divided into deep, entrenched positions as to what constituted the proper direction for art.

During the few short years Otto lived and worked in Paris, he did assimilate a number of influences for which our painting provides evidence. The curious elongation and forced perspective of the reclining figure suggest some exposure to the Manneristic conceits of the Italian artist, Amedeo Modigliani. However, Otto Schlichter’s brushwork in no way imitates the linearism that almost alone supports Modigliani’s imagery.

The barnlike buildings in the background must surely come directly from the artist’s childhood experience. The summary brushwork and coloration that "build" the walls of those buildings speak of his assimilation of the Cezanne experience. It is not clear what the viewer is expected to make of the fully clothed, enigmatic female figure approaching our subject with bouquet of flowers in hand. One can only speculate, but it is a matter of record that the young lady who followed him in his trek from Bohemia to Bohemian Paris was no longer keeping Otto company at the time of his death.

Schlichter’s short life ended with suicide three days after an unattended and uncelebrated twenty-fourth birthday. It is difficult from our safe distance in time to recreate the ferocity of the fiery battlefield of ideas fertilizing the culture of Europe in the beginning years of this century. Schlichter, from the little we have learned from surviving scraps of correspondence, will probably be remembered as one of that war’s casualties.

His mistress, Kristina Hladik ( presumed subject of the present work), is reported to have thrown herself from a window upon hearing of Otto’s death. She was not seriously hurt and went on to a successful career as a model to photographers and painters working in and around Montmartre.

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