This harbor scene was executed in 1917 in the style of Austrian movement”Neue Sächlichkeit” by Austrian painter and graphic artist of Croatian origin Leo Delitz, also known as Leo Spiridion ( 1882 in Agram ( now Zagreb) -  1966 in London).

The son of a sculptor, he studied at the Vienna Academy from 1898 to 1904 under Christian Griepenkerl and Kazimierz Pochwalski. He also studied under Ludwig von Herterich in Munich and Paris.

From 1905 to 1910, Delitz was a member of the Hagenbund,  and from 1914, of the Vienna Künstlerhaus. From 1911, he participated in numerous exhibitions.

During World War I, Delitz volunteered as a war painter for the Imperial and Royal War Press Office and was artistically active on the Russian, Italian, and Romanian theaters of war. 

Delitz worked primarily as a portraitist. From his early work, he showed affinities with the 'New Objectivity' movement."

[from: Reiter, Cornelia (Bearb.)/ Koja, Stephan (Bearb.)/ Márkus, Hella (Bearb.): Kunst des 20. Jahrhunderts. Bestandskatalog der Österreichischen Galerie des 20. Jahrhunderts, Bd. 1: A–F, hrsg. v. d. Österreichischen Galerie Belvedere, Wien 1993, S. 145]

Delitz is considered a member of the Zinkenbach painters' colony; among his landscape paintings from the Salzkammergut, his paintings of Lake Grundlsee became well-known. In the 1930s, he received several prizes and awards, including the Austrian State Prize in 1937. In 1931, Delitz removed Arthur Schnitzler's death mask and drew the deceased from life.

After emigrating to England in 1938, Delitz managed to establish himself as a portraitist of high society.

The artist is listed in cataloque of Austrian Belvedere and Austrian Military Musem; ” Austrian Artists Dictionary "by Heinrich Fuchs, Vienna 1974 and " Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenen Künstler " by Thieme / Becker. Leipzig, 1999

Inscription: signed and dated 1917 lower right.

Technique: oil on canvas. original period frame.

Measurements: unframed w 48" x h 35 3/4" (122 x 91 cm), framed w 51 1/3" xh  38 1/4" (130,5 x 97 cm).

Condition: in good condition.