89th Auction, lot 65  This highly cultivated painting precisely characterises the extraordinarily noble style of Emil Filla and the period of the interwar avant-garde. It embodies the so-called “spirit of modern painting” of the time and confirms the artist’s lifelong interest in the genre of still life. In the second half of the 1920s, Filla often dealt with compositions with typical cubist props such as a clarinet, mandolin, or guitar, of which he was knowledgeable thanks to his brother-in-law, the music composer Iša Krejčí. The shape of these musical instruments strongly attracted him, and the subject allowed him to depict parts of sheet music or verbal inscriptions related to music as well, as in this case with the writing “Etude” on the painting. The use of the font, which Filla used in various typographical modifications, emphasises the flatness of the entire scene, and one could say that thanks to this the canvas took on the character of a collage. This masterful work radiates unprecedented painterly confidence and relaxation and proves that Filla approached the painting with complete determination, with which he unwaveringly followed his idea. Concerning this, he flattened the volume of the depicted objects and put them into interconnected relationships. We can thus read the painting as a kind of calm, harmonious space in which things relate to each other creatively and are united by unusually soft colours for Filla, with predominant tones of grey and pastel shades. There is the artist’s inscription “Emil Filla, Zatiší s mandolínou a sklenicí 1927” [“Emil Filla, Still Life with Mandolin and Glass 1927”] on the reverse. The authenticity of the painting was verified by the Filla Foundation and it will be listed in the inventory of the artist’s work by prof. PhDr. V. Lahoda, CSc. Assessed during consultations by Mgr. T. Donné and PhDr. R. Michalová, PhD. The expertise of PhDr. K. Srp is attached.