id: 142792 accession number: 1966.49 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1966.49 updated: 2024-03-26 01:59:17.477000 Wrestlers in a Circus, 1909. Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (German, 1880–1938). Oil on canvas; 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.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Contemporary Collection of The Cleveland Museum of Art and Bequest of William R. Valentiner 1966.49 title: Wrestlers in a Circus title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: 1909 creation date earliest: 1909 creation date latest: 1909 current location: 225 German Expressionism & Surrealism creditline: Contemporary Collection of The Cleveland Museum of Art and Bequest of William R. Valentiner copyright: --- culture: Germany, 20th century technique: oil on canvas department: Modern European Painting and Sculpture collection: Mod Euro - Painting 1800-1960 type: Painting find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS * Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (German, 1880–1938) - artist --- measurements: 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.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: inscription: signed lower left: E. L. Kirchner. translation: remark: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: Brucke Artists 1905 - 1910 opening date: 1973-09-08T04:00:00 Brucke Artists 1905 - 1910. Brücke-Museum Berlin, Berlin (Dahlem), Germany (organizer) (September 8-October 28, 1973). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS --- PROVENANCE Artist’s estate, sold to Grosshennig Gallery date: 1938-1957 footnotes: *
After Kirchner’s death in 1938, his estate passed into the hands of his wife, Erna.  The contents of the estate remained in the Kirchner home in Davos until 1946, when they were transferred to the Kunstmuseum Basel. In 1948 the collection was inventoried, and it remained at the Kunstmuseum Basel until 1954 under the supervision of the museum’s director, Georg Schmidt.  From 1954, Kirchner’s works were in the care of the estate administrator, Roman Norbert Ketterer, appointed by Kirchner’s heirs, who sold the CMA picture to Galerie Grosshennig on February 14, 1957. 
citations: (Galerie Grosshennig, Düsseldorf, Germany, sold to Otto Gerson Gallery) date: 1957 footnotes: citations: (Otto Gerson Gallery, New York, lent to Grosshennig Gallery on commission) date: 1957 - by 1960 footnotes: *
Although the mode of transfer of the Kirchner painting from Galerie Grosshennig to Otto Gerson Gallery is unclear, it occurred quickly, as the painting appears in a 1957 exhibition mounted by Gerson.  The Kirchner is also recorded in the Otto Gerson stock books by June 1958 (stock no. P47), and in the gallery inventory by October 31 of that year.  Neither the stock book nor the inventory clarify the circumstances of the transfer of the painting from Grosshennig to Gerson.  Because Wilhelm Grosshennig and the Gerson Gallery worked very closely together throughout the 1950s and 1960s, it is quite possible the painting was under joint ownership. 
citations: (Galerie Grosshennig, Düsseldorf, Germany, returned unsold to Marlborough-Gerson Gallery) date: By 1960-1963 footnotes: *
The Kirchner was once again with Galerie Grosshennig, having been lent on commission by Gerson.  It appeared in Grosshennig exhibitions in 1960 and 1962.  
citations: (Marlborough-Gerson Gallery, New York, sold to Allan Frumkin) date: 1963-1964 footnotes: *
After failing to sell at Grosshennig, the painting was returned to the Marlborough-Gerson Gallery, which had absorbed Gerson’s stock after his death in 1960.  After Gerson died, his widow, Ilse, Ralph Colin, executor of Gerson’s estate, and Frank Lloyd and Harry Fischer, who had founded Marlborough Fine Art in London, created the Marlborough-Gerson Gallery in New York in 1963. 
citations: (Allan Frumkin Gallery, New York, NY, sold to E.V. Thaw) date: 1964-1966 footnotes: *
Several pieces of correspondence indicate that Frumkin purchased the painting in Germany, which could mean that he saw it at Grosshennig but purchased it through Marlborough-Gerson shortly thereafter, or that Grosshennig was involved in the sale in some capacity, as the two dealers were still closely associated. In any case, the Kirchner was certainly back with Marlborough-Gerson by 1963, and therefore Frumkin could not have purchased it directly from Grosshennig. 
citations: (E. V. Thaw, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) date: 1966 footnotes: citations: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH date: 1966- footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: digital description: wall description: --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Schmalenbach, Werner, and René Wehrli. Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, 1880-1938. Zürich: Kunsthaus Zürich, 1952. page number: url: Gordon, Donald E. Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1968. page number: url:
Wolfgang Henze, email to Victoria Sears Goldman, Jan. 7, 2015, in CMA curatorial file. page number: url: Wolfgang Henze, email to Victoria Sears Goldman, Dec. 11, 2014, in CMA curatorial file. page number: url: Wolfgang Henze, email to Victoria Sears Goldman, Jan. 7, 2015, in CMA curatorial file. page number: url: Wolfgang Henze, email to Victoria Sears Goldman, Dec. 11, 2014, in CMA curatorial file. page number: url: Otto and Ilse Gerson Papers, Business Records, reel 4051, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. page number: url: 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. page number: url: Eugene Victor Thaw, letter to Edward B. Henning, Nov. 17, 1967, in CMA curatorial file. page number: url: Otto and Ilse Gerson Papers, Business Records, reel 4051, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. page number: url: Galerie Wilhelm Grosshennig. Einladung zum Besuch meiner Ausstellung auserlesener Meisterwerke des 19. und 20. Jahrhunderts: Juni-August 1962. 1962. page number: url: Gordon, Donald E. Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1968.
 page number: url: Margaret Heuser-Mantell, letter to Margaret Burgess, Aug. 11, 2004, in CMA curatorial file. page number: url: Tuchman, Maurice. Van Gogh and Expressionism: [Commentary]. New York: Guggenheim Museum. 1964. New York: Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 1964. page number: url: Margaret Heuser-Mantell, letter to Margaret Burgess, Aug. 11, 2004, in CMA curatorial file. page number: url: Eugene Victor Thaw, letter to Edward B. Henning, Nov. 17, 1967, in CMA curatorial file. page number: url: Eugene Victor Thaw, letter to Edward B. Henning, Nov. 17, 1967, in CMA curatorial file. page number: url:
Margaret Burgess, fax to Alice Adam (handwritten notation on fax), July 20, 2004, in CMA curatorial file. page number: url: Eugene Victor Thaw, letter to Edward B. Henning, Nov. 17, 1967, in CMA curatorial file. page number: url: The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. page number: Reproduced: p. 196 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1966/page/n220 The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. page number: Reproduced: p. 196 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1969/page/n220 Cleveland Museum of Art. Art of the Twentieth Century in the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Dept. of Art History & Education, CMA, 1969. page number: Mentioned: p. 1 url: https://archive.org/details/20thCenturyArtCMA/page/n1 The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. page number: Reproduced: p. 245 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1978/page/n265 Lovleva, L. I." Natalia Goncharova: Between East and West". Moscow, Soviet Union; State Tretyakov Gallery, (2013): 40-51. page number: Reproduced: p. 46 url: Kunsthaus Zürich, Kunsthaus. Expressionismus in Deutschland und Frankreich Von Matisse zum Blauen Reiter. München. Germany: Prestel, 2014. page number: Reproduced: p. 59 url: Cleveland Museum of Art. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014. page number: Mentioned and reproduced: P. 296 url: Moeller, Magdalena M. Die Brücke 1905-14. Baden-Baden: Museum Frieder Burda; München: Hirmer, 2018. page number: Mentioned and reproduced: p. 118-119 url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1966.49/1966.49_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1966.49/1966.49_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1966.49/1966.49_full.tif