The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of March 26, 2024
Wrestlers in a Circus
1909
(German, 1880–1938)
Framed: 107.5 x 121 x 7 cm (42 5/16 x 47 5/8 x 2 3/4 in.); Unframed: 80.5 x 94 cm (31 11/16 x 37 in.)
Location: 225 German Expressionism & Surrealism
Did You Know?
During the 1930s, 639 works by Kirchner were removed from German museums and either destroyed or sold to foreign collectors and museums. The year after the Nazis organized the Degenerate Art exhibition in Munich, Kirchner committed suicide.Description
Locked in a dangerous embrace, beefy wrestlers writhe on a brightly colored mat. Famous for his scenes of urban life, Kirchner uses loose brushstrokes to capture the blur of bodies in motion. Imagine watching this intense match, surrounded by screaming spectators.- 1938-1957Artist’s estate, sold to Grosshennig Gallery1957(Galerie Grosshennig, Düsseldorf, Germany, sold to Otto Gerson Gallery)1957 - by 1960(Otto Gerson Gallery, New York, lent to Grosshennig Gallery on commission)By 1960-1963(Galerie Grosshennig, Düsseldorf, Germany, returned unsold to Marlborough-Gerson Gallery)1963-1964(Marlborough-Gerson Gallery, New York, sold to Allan Frumkin)1964-1966(Allan Frumkin Gallery, New York, NY, sold to E.V. Thaw)1966(E. V. Thaw, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)1966-The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
- Schmalenbach, Werner, and René Wehrli. Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, 1880-1938. Zürich: Kunsthaus Zürich, 1952.Gordon, Donald E. Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1968.
Wolfgang Henze, email to Victoria Sears Goldman, Jan. 7, 2015, in CMA curatorial file.Wolfgang Henze, email to Victoria Sears Goldman, Dec. 11, 2014, in CMA curatorial file.Wolfgang Henze, email to Victoria Sears Goldman, Jan. 7, 2015, in CMA curatorial file.Wolfgang Henze, email to Victoria Sears Goldman, Dec. 11, 2014, in CMA curatorial file.Otto and Ilse Gerson Papers, Business Records, reel 4051, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.Myers, Bernard Samuel. Ernst Ludwig Kirchner: New York, Fine Arts Associates Otto M. Gerson, November 12 - December 7, 1957. New York: Fine Arts Associates, 1957.Eugene Victor Thaw, letter to Edward B. Henning, Nov. 17, 1967, in CMA curatorial file.Otto and Ilse Gerson Papers, Business Records, reel 4051, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.Galerie Wilhelm Grosshennig. Einladung zum Besuch meiner Ausstellung auserlesener Meisterwerke des 19. und 20. Jahrhunderts: Juni-August 1962. 1962.Gordon, Donald E. Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1968.Margaret Heuser-Mantell, letter to Margaret Burgess, Aug. 11, 2004, in CMA curatorial file.Tuchman, Maurice. Van Gogh and Expressionism: [Commentary]. New York: Guggenheim Museum. 1964. New York: Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 1964.Margaret Heuser-Mantell, letter to Margaret Burgess, Aug. 11, 2004, in CMA curatorial file.Eugene Victor Thaw, letter to Edward B. Henning, Nov. 17, 1967, in CMA curatorial file.Eugene Victor Thaw, letter to Edward B. Henning, Nov. 17, 1967, in CMA curatorial file.
Margaret Burgess, fax to Alice Adam (handwritten notation on fax), July 20, 2004, in CMA curatorial file.Eugene Victor Thaw, letter to Edward B. Henning, Nov. 17, 1967, in CMA curatorial file.The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 196 archive.orgThe Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 196 archive.orgCleveland Museum of Art. Art of the Twentieth Century in the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Dept. of Art History & Education, CMA, 1969. Mentioned: p. 1 archive.orgThe Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 245 archive.orgLovleva, L. I." Natalia Goncharova: Between East and West". Moscow, Soviet Union; State Tretyakov Gallery, (2013): 40-51. Reproduced: p. 46Kunsthaus Zürich, Kunsthaus. Expressionismus in Deutschland und Frankreich Von Matisse zum Blauen Reiter. München. Germany: Prestel, 2014. Reproduced: p. 59Cleveland Museum of Art. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 296Moeller, Magdalena M. Die Brücke 1905-14. Baden-Baden: Museum Frieder Burda; München: Hirmer, 2018. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 118-119 - Brucke Artists 1905 - 1910. Brücke-Museum Berlin, Berlin (Dahlem), Germany (organizer) (September 8-October 28, 1973).
- {{cite web|title=Wrestlers in a Circus|url=false|author=Ernst Ludwig Kirchner|year=1909|access-date=26 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1966.49