Lot 189 | Johannes Molzahn | "Juggling with the Stars V"

MOLZAHN, JOHANNES
1892 Duisburg - 1965 Munich

Title: "Juggling with the Stars V".
Date: 1948.
Technique: Oil on canvas.
Measurement: 101,5 x 86,5cm.
Notation: Signed and dated lower right: Johs Molzahn 48. Inscription and titled verso, top and bottom left: 46. JOHANNES MOLZAHN 1948 NEW YORK 'JUGGLING WITH THE STARS V'.
Frame/Pedestal: Framed.

The work is listed as number 46 in Loretto Molzahn's fragmentary inventory of paintings.

Provenance:
- Molzahn Estate
- Loretto Molzahn (the artist's second wife), Munich
- Private Collection, Hesse

Exhibitions:
- National Gallery, Berlin (former loan)
- Hessian State Museum, Darmstadt, 1956
- Inge Ahlers Gallery, Mannheim, 1957
- Association for Art, Literature, and Crafts, Bamberg, 1964
- Wilhelm Lehmbruck Museum, Duisburg, 1964
- Catholic Academy in Bavaria, Munich, 1972
- Gallery next to St. Stephen's Cathedral, Vienna, 1973
- New Gallery at the Joanneum State Museum, Graz, 1973
- East German Gallery, Regensburg, 1974
- Wilhelm Lehmbruck Museum, Duisburg, 1988

Literature:
- Gries, Christian: Johannes Molzahn (1892-1965) and the 'Struggle for Art' in Germany during the Weimar Republic (Appendix: Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings by Johannes Molzahn), Dissertation, University of Augsburg, 1996, cat. rais. no. 238 A, ill.
- Exhib. cat., Johannes Molzahn, Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt, 1956, cat. no. 32, ill.
- Exhib. cat., Johannes Molzahn. Paintings. Watercolors. Prints, Galerie Inge Ahlers, Mannheim, 1957, cat. no. 14
- Exhib. cat., Johannes Molzahn, Wilhelm Lehmbruck Museum, Duisburg, 1964, cat. no. 48, ill.
- Exhib. cat., Johannes Molzahn, Catholic Academy in Bavaria, Munich, 1972, cat. no. 39 (here incorrectly dated 1947)
- Exhib. cat., Johannes Molzahn. Paintings and prints, Neue Galerie am Landesmuseum Joanneum, Graz, 1973, cat. no. 40, ill.
- Exhib. cat. Johannes Molzahn, Ostdeutsche Galerie Regensburg, 1974, cat. no. 59, ill.
- Schade, Herbert: Johannes Molzahn, Munich/Zurich 1972, p. 9, 119 (here incorrectly referred to as "Juggler with the Stars V"), ill.
- Exhib. cat. Johannes Molzahn. The Painterly Oeuvre, Wilhelm Lehmbruck Museum, Duisburg 1988, p. 110, 139

- A central protagonist of Classical Modernism, with works in leading international museums
- A characteristic work from his American exile period - illustrating the painter's artistic maturity and international influence
- An expression of balance and creative power - a symbol of humanity in the tension between spirit, technology, and the universe