(Vienna 1868–1918) ‘Kampf der Titanen’, 1913/15, stamp: Nachlaß (estate of) Koloman Moser, oil on canvas, 130 x 213 cm, framed, (K)

Full-page colour illustration: Werner Fenz, Koloman Moser, Graphik, Kunstgewerbe, Malerei, Residenz Verlag,1984, plate 42, mentioned on pp. 234 and 235 within the text. See: Maria Rennhofer, Koloman Moser, Sehen und Werk, 1868–1918, Verlag Christian Brandstätter, 2002, p. 214 ...Works by Moser were shown at the collective exhibition of the Austrian Künstlerbund in Budapest in 1913, at the Große Kunstausstellung (Large art exhibition) in Düsseldorf and the Szenenkunstausstellung (theatrical arts exhibition) in Mannheim. In 1914 he sent work to the theatrical arts exhibition in Zurich and in 1916 his submission to the the Kunstschau in Vienna was well received. Between 1913 and 1916, years which Kolo Moser dedicated intensively to painting, he was primarily concerned with mastering painterly problems. Conveying particular subject matter took second place in his work. This is the case with many artists, and yet they resolve it in many different ways. Alongside landscape and still life themes, figural images with symbol laden subject matter increasingly occurred in his work, even though they were primarily analyses of colour, light and the effects of shadow. His experience of theatre design also flowed into his paintings and can be seen in the lighting effects suggested by his extravagant choice of colour, such as in the blue-green hues of the ‘Drei kauernden Frauen’ (Three squatting women). Works, such as these, like ‘Das Licht’ (The Light), ‘Kampf der Titanen’ (Battle of the Titans) or the work supposed to be Moser’s last work, ‘Der Wanderer’ (The Wanderer), were all produced between 1913 and 1916/17. In the pathos of their subject matter they demonstrate in the heroic idealisation, the largely symmetrical compositions, the magical lighting effects and the monumental flatness the strong influence of Ferdinand Hodler... Aus: Maria Rennhofer, Auf der Suche nach Wahrheit. Zur Malerei von Kolo Moser, catalogue: Koloman Moser, Leopold Museum ... In long deliberations, which he recorded in his diary, Moser became clear about many things that fascinated him about Hodler’s painting, but also about what distinguished him from his approach,’On the subject of parallelism he spoke like a professor at the Academy. I am just always amazed that he produced such strong things despite his theories – he said, “because of” them. However fond I am of Hodler, parallelism could put me off; that is, this pontificating about it.’... Kolo Moser also concerned himself with the theory of painting and colour, studying Goethe’s theory of colour, for instance. A great number of sketches and studies, notes and jottings document his restless search and demonstrate that he painted gradually less sensually or spontaneously and ever more systematically, basing his work on theory. Again and again he recorded in his notebook his reflections on the principles of art, presenting argument and counter-argument, which he considered essential both formally and in terms of coloration, ‘A pole requires an opposing pole, flatness - depth, angularity - circularity, smoothness - bumpiness, knowledge of contrasts!!’ And, ‘The colour of light is made known to us in the contrasts of shadows, the colour of objects is altered by the colour of light.’ And again, ‘Every colour hue in a picture has to be comprised of three primary colours, yellow, blue and red (...) If two colour fields abut one another, their edges are altered as if the complementary colour of the other field had been mixed in with it.’ Provenance: Dorotheum 639th Art Auction, 22 March 1983, cat. no. 154; European private ownership