Pasture in Normandy (Paturage en Normandie), 1933 Fritz Glarner
Watercolor on paper, signed lower right and inscribed verso
This charming watercolor depicts a tranquil pasture scene in Normandy, with a small group of cows grazing under a soft, diffused sky. Painted in an approachable, almost naive style, the work presents the animals with a directness and simplicity that give the composition a disarming immediacy. The foreground is animated by the cows’ curious gazes, while the landscape behind them is rendered in loose washes of green and violet tones, evoking the gentle contours of the French countryside.
The watercolor bears a clear signature at the lower right and an inscription on the verso which we believe reads “Paturage en Normandie 24/7 1933”, placing the work in Glarner’s early European period. Though later known for his geometric abstraction, this piece reveals an earlier focus on representational subjects and landscape scenes.
The sheet shows visible signs of age, including tears and edge wear, but retains a fresh, pastoral atmosphere.
July 20, 1899, Zurich – September 18, 1972, Locarno
Fritz Glarner was a Swiss-born American artist best known as a pioneer of geometric abstraction and a key figure in the Concrete Art and Neo-Plasticist movements. Born in Zurich, Glarner spent much of his youth in Italy and France, where he received classical artistic training at the Royal Institute of Fine Arts in Naples. His early career included figurative and representational work, as represented in our Village Antiques collection of his early drawings from the artist’s estate.
In 1923, Glarner moved to Paris, where he encountered the European avant-garde and developed close ties with artists such as Piet Mondrian. He became part of the Abstraction-Création group and began evolving toward a language of pure geometric forms and carefully balanced compositions. After relocating to New York in 1936, Glarner became a prominent member of the American Abstract Artists group and developed what he termed “Relational Painting”—a system of dynamic interplay between color, form, and spatial tension, expanding on Mondrian’s grid structure.
Though best known for his abstract compositions, early works reveal the foundations of his visual sensibility: clarity of line, structural focus, and a deep sensitivity to form. Glarner’s paintings are held in major public collections, including the Museum of Modern Art (New York) and the Kunsthaus Zürich. He also produced paintings for vast interior spaces such as the Dag Hammmarskjold Library at the United Nations and the lobby of the Time-Life building in New York.He spent his final years in Switzerland, where he died in Locarno in 1972.
