The work is signed "Floch" at the lower right. It is also dated, verso.The work was painted in 1944.
The Jewish-Austrian painter, who arrived in the USA in 1941, fleeing the menace of war, left behind an impressive career in Europe. At the age of 46, upon his arrival to America, he had already succeeded in rebelling against the tradition of the Sezession (the Art Nouveau center of Vienna); founding the "Hagenbund" society, which had become influential in Vienna during World War I, as well as exhibiting his work in Paris along the biggest names of the beginning of the 20th century – Modigliani, Matisse, Dufy, Derain and others. Not without reason, he was embraced by the Americans and rushed to the local pantheon.