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Karl Knaths — Untitled (Chickens)
Karl Knaths

Untitled (Chickens)

This whimsical composition depicts three stylized chickens rendered in ink wash and watercolor, their forms animated with energetic, gestural lines. The birds are positioned against a rocky landscape dominated by a dramatic vertical rock formation or cliff face rendered in deep charcoal tones. The artist employs a expressive approach characteristic of mid-twentieth-century American modernism, combining representational subject matter with abstract, gestural mark-making. Warm earth tones and subtle greens create spatial depth, while the loose handling of medium conveys spontaneity and movement. The work exemplifies the playful approach to rural and domestic subjects favored by Provincetown-area painters of this period.

Medium
Ink wash and watercolor on paper
Dimensions

🔨 Auction Lot

Provincetown Art Association & Museum Benefit Auction

May 16, 2026

Estimate: $600$800

Lot 88

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About this work

Karl Knaths, Untitled (Chickens)

This whimsical composition depicts three stylized chickens rendered in ink wash and watercolor, their forms animated with energetic, gestural lines. The birds are positioned against a rocky landscape dominated by a dramatic vertical rock formation or cliff face rendered in deep charcoal tones. The artist employs a expressive approach characteristic of mid-twentieth-century American modernism, combining representational subject matter with abstract, gestural mark-making. Warm earth tones and subtle greens create spatial depth, while the loose handling of medium conveys spontaneity and movement. The work exemplifies the playful approach to rural and domestic subjects favored by Provincetown-area painters of this period.

Medium
Ink wash and watercolor on paper
Dimensions
20.3 x 15.2 cm
Seen at
Eldred's, East Dennis, Massachusetts, United States

Related themes

Rock Formation, Cape Cod, Gestural Mark Making, Mid Century, Farm Animals, Chickens, American Regional, Landscape, Ink Wash Watercolor, Spontaneous, Paper, Nature Study, Modernism, Whimsical, Expressionist, Provincetown School, Animal Subject, Poultry, Warm Tones, Figurative

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