Oskar Reinhart

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. He 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 private residence, as well as his own private gallery, housing his collection.

In 1940 Reinhart donated the Austrian, German and Swiss works of art from his collection to the town of Winterthur. These were housed from 1951 in the Museum Oskar Reinhart, now within the Kunst Museum, and included pieces by Caspar David Friedrich and Adolph Menzel. The rest of the collection was bequeathed to the Swiss Confederation, including his home in 1958, which was subsequently 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.

A rediscovered work by Carl Moll (Austrian 1861-1945)

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 in 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 co-founders 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 formulaic 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 renowned for mesmerising landscapes and intimate still lifes. The viewer is immediately struck by the sense of harmony created across the composition through the balance of colour and attention to detail. Moll uses the shadows caused by the light hitting the trees to create depth, leading the viewer along the pathway and into the canvas. The broad fluid brushstrokes draw influence from the French neo-impressionists whose work Moll came to admire.

The present lot has not been seen on the open market since its creation in the 1930s. The work is included in the catalogue raisonné published in association with the Belvedere museum, its location listed as unknown with a black and white illustration until now.

Recorded in the catalogue raisonné are four other works by Carl Moll, all depicting olive groves during the early 1930s. The locations include Rapallo and Volterra in Italy and Provence in France including specifically Sanary-sur-Mer which may be the subject matter of the present lot.

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Auction Details

Tuesday 11 July 2023 | 1pm BST
Donnington Priory, Newbury, Berkshire RG14 2JE

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