Oskar Moll

Oskar Moll (21 July 1875, Brieg – 19 August 1947, Berlin) was a German Fauvist painter; best known for his landscapes, portraits and somewhat abstract still-lifes.

Oskar Moll with his wife, the artist Marg Moll (c. 1906)

Biography

He initially studied biology in Switzerland, but also taught himself how to paint and decided to pursue art as a career instead. After some time in Munich, he went to Berlin, where he became an assistant in the studios of Lovis Corinth. In 1906, he married the sculptor and painter, Margarethe Haeffner. The following year, they went to Paris, where he made the acquaintance of Henri Matisse and became an habitué of Le Dôme Café. As a result he, Margarethe and their friend Hans Purrmann participated in creating the short-lived Académie Matisse. During the war, he lived in Berlin and was among the first members of the November Group. He was also a member of the Free Secession.

In 1918, he became a Professor at the Staatliche Akademie für Kunst und Kunstgewerbe Breslau. He succeeded August Endell as its Director in 1925 and served until its closure in 1932, following the emergency decrees issued by Heinrich Brüning. He then transferred to the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, but was there for only a year when he was defamed and dismissed for being a purveyor of "degenerate art".[1] A planned exhibition of his works was closed by the Nazi government in 1935. Two years later, thirty-five of his works were confiscated and displayed at the propagandistic Degenerate Art Exhibition in Munich.

In 1936, he and Margarethe had settled into a reclusive life in Berlin, but their home and studio, along with numerous paintings, some by Matisse and Picasso, were destroyed during an air raid in 1943. They attempted to find refuge in his hometown, but were forced to return to Berlin in 1945 when the Red Army occupied that area. He died in Berlin in 1947

Recently, the Kunstforum Ostdeutsche Galerie has begun a research project devoted to his works.

Selected paintings
  • Rocks by a Brook
  • Cat with a House Plant
  • Southern Landscape with Factory
  • Nude with a Fan,
    Amid the Leaves
  • Brigitte (his daughter)
    in a Red Dress

References
  1. Ernst Klee: Das Kulturlexikon zum Dritten Reich. Wer war was vor und nach 1945. S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 2007, ISBN 978-3-10-039326-5, pg.415.

Further reading
  • Gerhard Leistner: Oskar Moll als Impulsgeber für die Moderne an der Breslauer Akademie. In: Dagmar Schmengler u. a. (Hrsg.): Maler. Mentor. Magier. Otto Mueller und sein Netzwerk in Breslau. Kehrer, Heidelberg u. a. 2018, ISBN 978-3-86828-873-5, S. 178–187.
  • Siegfried Salzmann (1994), "Moll, Oskar", Neue Deutsche Biographie (NDB) (in German), 17, Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, pp. 739–740; (full text online)
  • Ernst Scheyer: Die Kunstakademie Breslau und Oskar Moll. Holzner, Würzburg 1961.
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