Kampf an der Fahne. Um 1910.
Oil on canvas, on two stretchers joint with two hinges.
Signed upper left. 129,5 : 420 cm (50,9 : 165,3 in). Born in the Riesengebirge [Giant Mountains] in what was then Bohemia in 1877, Moritz Melzer trained initially as a china painter but saved enough money to attend the Weimar Academy, where he was in the class taught by Ludwig von Hofmann. Melzer first showed work at the 1909 Berlin Secession exhibition. A year later, however, he was rejected by the Secession jury and subsequently exhibited at the New Secession exhibitions mounted by the Macht Gallery in Berlin. That was where our work was first presented to the public, where it met with a very positive reception. Monumental in its forcefulness, it reveals Melzer’s predilection for mythologising subject matter, which he succeeded in translating into strong movement and powerful expression. The vigorous handling that distinguished his work quite early on is reminiscent of Wilhelm Morgner, whom Melzer encountered at the New Secession. In the past year, a grand retrospective in Regensburg was devoted to Melzer’s work. Until then, this prolific and versatile artist had been quite forgotten, unjustifiably so. [NB]

PROVENIENZ: From the artist's estate.
AUSSTELLUNG: Neue Secession, Galerie Maximilian Macht, Berlin, 1910, no. 29.
Moriz Melzer: Streben nach reiner Kunst - Werke von 1907 bis 1927, Kunstforum Ostdeutsche Galerie, Regensburg, 16.12.2007-2.3.2008, cat.no. 5 (with illustration on p. 34/35).

Line tacking margins. Corners with small colour losses. with colour losses along the centre vertical. Partially with minor craquelé as well as minimally rubbed.