Charles-Henri Contencin ( 1898 - 1955 )

The Wengernalp in winter looking towards the Jungfrau,
Bernese Oberland, Switzerland


The Wengernalp in winter looking towards the Jungfrau,
Bernese Oberland, Switzerland


oil on canvas 23¾ x 28¾in (60 x 73cm) signed Peaks & Glaciers 2019, p. 20

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This deep winter view of the Jungfrau is without doubt one of the finest Contencin paintings to have been offered in Peaks & Glaciers for over a decade. The combination of a snowed-in farmer’s hut with sled tracks and a stand of pine trees puts the Jungfrau’s giant north face into proportion. It also adds a sense of isolation up above the valley. A century later this dramatic view remains more or less the same and admirers of Contencin’s work continue to appreciate his gentle but highly effective colour scheme. This original and self taught painter often applied the paint in thick sections with a palette knife creating passages of impasto to suggest crevasses and folds in a snow field. In this instance, and as ever in his paintings, the technique proved highly effective.

Charles-Henri Contencin