The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 26, 2024

Wrestlers in a Circus

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.)

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.
  • 1938-1957
    Artist’s estate, sold to Grosshennig Gallery
    1957
    (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.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 196 archive.org
    Cleveland 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.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 245 archive.org
    Lovleva, L. I." Natalia Goncharova: Between East and West". Moscow, Soviet Union; State Tretyakov Gallery, (2013): 40-51. Reproduced: p. 46
    Kunsthaus Zürich, Kunsthaus. Expressionismus in Deutschland und Frankreich Von Matisse zum Blauen Reiter. München. Germany: Prestel, 2014. Reproduced: p. 59
    Cleveland Museum of Art. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 296
    Moeller, 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