Beschreibung:

CARL MOLL (AUSTRIAN 1861-1945) OLIVENHAIN Oil on canvas Signed with monogram (lower left) 49.5 x 60cm (19¼ x 23½ in.) Painted in 1931. Provenance: Private Collection, Oskar Reinhart (1885-1965), Winterthur, Switzerland By descent to The Hon. Mrs James Tennant Literature: Monthly Journal of the Aktuaryus Gallery, 17 June, 1934, Zurich Arthur Roessler, Radio Vienna, Österreichische Rundfunkzeitschrift, Report, vol. 12, no. 35, 22.5, 1936, p.8 Cornelia Cabuk, Stella Rollig, Christian Huemer, Carl Moll Monograph and Catalogue Raisonne, Belvedere, Vienna, 2020, p. 255, no. GE 478, illus. in black & white (recorded with Belvedere no. Ex 43154) Rediscovered portrait by Viennese successionist Carl Moll hidden away in the private collection of Swiss arts patron Oskar Reinhart comes to market for the very first time. Oskar Reinhart was born in Winterthur, Switzerland in 1885. His father Theodor Reinhart (1849-1919) worked as a textile merchant running Volkart Brothers, which was founded by his wife's family, and facilitated the trade of cotton across the continent mainly from India. Theodor was an active art collector and devoted to supporting the careers of promising artists. By the age of 39 Oskar, inspired by his father, retired from the family firm to focus on building his already established art collection. Reinhart travelled across Europe visiting museums and private collectors devoting his time to art patronage. Reinhart purchased villa Am Römerholz in his hometown which was to become his own private gallery to house his collection as well as his private residence. In 1940 Reinhart donated the Austrian, German and Swiss works of art from his collection to the town of Winterthur which was housed from 1951 in the Museum Oskar Reinhart, now within the Kunst Museum including pieces by Caspar David Friedrich and Adolph Menzel The rest of the collection was bequeathed to the Swiss Confederation including his home in 1958 and this opened to the public in 1970 and is still available to visit today. The original bequest included over five hundred paintings and several thousand drawings. Reinhart was particularly drawn to French Impressionists and he enjoyed mixing old masters with modern masters arranging displays in order of form and colour rather than period. It was the focus on colour and light used by the Impressionists that sparked Reinharts' interest. Reinhart was conscious of seeking talent and artists with potential in order to support and encourage their careers. The collection on display at Am Römerholz includes works by Pierre-Auguste Renoir Vincent Van Gogh Edouard Manet Paul Cezanne and Alfred Sisley amongst a selection of old masters such as Pieter Brughel the Elder. Carl Moll was born in Vienna in 1861 to Julius Johann Franz Moll and Maria Magdalena Rosina Schmid. Inspired by his uncle Karl Schmid Moll enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna in 1880. Moll studied under Christian Gripenkerl and went on to become the assistant to Emil Jakob Schindler. Shortly after Schindler's death in 1892 Moll married the German actress Anna Sofie Bergen, the widow of Schindler. Significantly Carl Moll was one of the cofounders of the Viennese Secession alongside Josef Hoffman and Gustav Klimt The Secession was founded by a group of Austrian painters, writers and architects in 1897 to oppose the conservatism of traditional art academies and the forumlaic teachings of the Vienna Academy of the Arts. The group sought to encourage promotion of all arts and creative thinking looking towards the future rather than themes from the past by supporting contemporary artists, both Austrian and international combining ideas from artists and designers. This movement sparked the formation of modern art in Vienna which can be seen to flourish at the turn of the century. In 1905 a number of artists broke away from the secession including Moll who went on to establish the Gallery Miethke. Moll's work is full of light and freshness. He is renowne