WOODBURY, CONN. — On February 14, Schwenke Auctioneers presented a single-owner auction of property from the estates of Thomas N. Armstrong III and Whitney “Bunty” Armstrong of New York City. Two works by Czech-American artist Jan Matulka (1890-1972) were offered, and it was an impressive and colorful oil on canvas, “Still Life With Gramophone,” signed “Matulka” lower right, that led the sale, selling to a phone bidder for $62,000, including buyer’s premium, against an estimate of $8/12,000.

Matulka, a modern artist originally from Bohemia, developed a style that ranged from Abstract Expressionism to landscapes. Born in what is now part of the Czech Republic, Matulka along with his parents and five younger sisters moved to the Bronx in 1907. The next year saw Matulka begin studying at the National Academy of Design in New York City, graduating in 1917. In the 1920s Matulka made frequent trips to Paris and by the middle of the decade began painting stark and jazzy cityscapes and Abstract pieces. Additional highlights of the Armstrong collection will be featured in a follow-on review.