Houses and fruit trees

Details

Titled “Häuser + Obstbäume” and dated by Marga Moll on the reverse of the canvas. With various handwritten notes, presumably by an unknown hand, and remnants of labels on the reverse on the stretcher. Salzmann 344. We are thankful to Dr. Gerhard Leistner, for confirming the authenticity of this work once more and for the information he has kindly provided for cataloguing this lot. The work has already been included in the forthcoming Catalogue Raisonné (www.oskarmoll.info). Exhibitions: Oskar Moll. Gedächtnisausstellung, Städtisches Kunstmuseum, Duisburg 1948, cat. no.21; Oskar Moll 1875-1947, Gedächtnisausstellung, Museum am Ostwall, Dortmund 1950, cat. no.43; Oskar Moll, Galerie F. A. C. Prestel, Frankfurt/Main 1965/66, cat. no.20, with label on the reverse on the stretcher; Oskar Moll, Galerie Dr. Horstmann, Düsseldorf 1966, cat. no.11. Provenance: The artist’s estate, with faint stamp on the reverse of the canvas, numbered “43” and with confirmation of authenticity by Marga Moll, the artist’s widow; private collection, Switzerland; private collection, Schleswig-Holstein; Grisebach, Berlin 11.6.2021, lot 445; private collection, Hessen.

Descrizione

• From late 1926 onward, Moll turned to cubist and geometric forms in his paintings
• Revealing a feeling for the balance of colour and form
• Moll’s works are represented in important collections such as the Museum Ludwig in Cologne, the Mannheimer Kunsthalle and the Ostdeutsche Galerie in Regensburg, among others

“In our teachings of analytical and synthetic composition, in the mastery of the world of form and colour with its various contrasting effects, nature, the great teacher, will always stand by our side so that we can achieve harmony in the face of its eternal rhythm, through contrast and balance.” Oskar Moll, 1930 Oskar Moll’s work is characterised by stylistic elements drawing from Impressionism, Fauvism, Expressionism and Cubism. Moll, who first came to painting as a student of biology, focused primarily on landscapes and still lifes in his oeuvre, which are characterised by a unique, airy and colourful formal language. His oeuvre features only very few portraits and nudes. Together with his wife Marga, herself an artist, Moll was introduced to the Parisian artistic circles of the Café du Dôme by Lyonel Feininger. In Paris, he was taught by Henri Matisse at the Académie Matisse, where he also met Hans Purrmann, among others, and developed his own style under these influences. The present painting “Houses and Fruit Trees” speaks for Moll’s diverse formal language. The viewer looks at an abstract group of houses with blossoming trees. Here, Moll combines ornamental stylistic elements with cubist forms. The painting from the artist’s late work could have been created on Lake Constance or in the Allgäu region. In the years 1933-35, Moll spent a lot of time at Lake Constance, where he ran a private academy in Hemmenhofen each summer, which also offered work opportunities in Helmuth Macke’s studio, among others.