Two (2) Carl Gutherz or Guthers (Tennessee/Missouri, 1844-1907) oil studies. 1st Item: Oil on canvas landscape painting of two figures, viewed from behind, who look out over an expansive sunset landscape. Light reflects off a body of water at lower right and illuminates flowers on the hillside. Unsigned. Housed in a giltwood frame. Sight: 18 in H x 21 1/4 in W. Framed: 20 in H x 23 1/2 in W. Note: The Memphis Brooks Museum of Art identifies this as a compositional study for Gutherz's monumental 1893 painting The Evening of the Sixth Day, which depicts Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and was sold by Case earlier this year (ref. Case Auctions Winter 2025 catalog, lot 214). Literature: The Evening of the Sixth Day, for which the present work is a study, is the focus of Kristin Schwain's essay "Carl Gutherz's Esoteric Art" in CARL GUTHERZ: POETIC VISION AND ACADEMIC IDEALS, eds. Marilyn Masler and Marina Pacini (Memphis, TN: Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, 2009) pp. 56-83. 2nd Item: Oil on paper laid to canvas landscape painting set in Normandy, France, with two women by the shore and before a village that extends into the background behind them, c. 1890. Unsigned. With pencil inscriptions to stretcher that read "Sketch along Normandy Coast / by Carl Gutherz" and "authentic / vouched for/ by Marshall / Gutherz / (son)" plus John Nighland, Montclair, NJ artist supplies stamp, M.F. Goodheart, Memphis, TN sticker, and museum inventory number. Unframed. 9 in H x 13 in W. Artist Biography: "Gutherz, who was born in Switzerland, emigrated as a child to the U.S. in 1851. He lived with his family in Memphis, Tennessee, through the Civil War and then studied at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris and the Academie Julian, as well as in Munich, Brussels, and Rome. In 1875 he moved to St. Louis, Missouri, where he taught at Washington University and helped establish the St. Louis School and Museum of Fine Arts. Guthers continued to take portrait commissions from Memphis, however, and even designed costumes and floats for the annual Memphis Mardi Gras. In 1884 he returned to Paris, where he studied with Gustave Boulanger and Joseph LeFevre. Here, he became associated with the Symbolist movement and produced his most successful paintings including large allegorical works, often featuring Christian imagery. Back in the U.S. he was hired to create murals for institutions including the Library of Congress, the People's Church of St. Paul Minnesota, and the Allen County (Indiana) Courthouse. A year before his death, he produced a design for an arts and sciences pavilion which was the basis for the development of the Brooks Memorial Art Gallery, later the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art." (Source: The Tennessee Encyclopedia)

1st item in overall very good condition, with minor, scattered retouching to sky and to right-hand third of painting, largest to area at upper-right corner, 5 in x 3/4 in, and narrow, vertical strip at lower right, 5 in L. 2nd item with lined canvas and scattered, stable flaking to paint, largest area to sky to center right, 1/4 in x 1/4 in, plus tape to edges and surface grime.

Deaccessioned by the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art to benefit the acquisitions fund.