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Lot Essay
'Gleichsam im planetaren Raum schwebend, erscheint der Schöpfergott, die Hände beschwörend emporgehoben, innerhalb eines Systems aus Segmenten, Horizontalen, Vertikalen, Ei- und Kugelformen im Bildzentrum. Sein aus geometrischen Grundformen zusammengesetzter Körper bildet eine von rechts unten aufsteigende Diagonale' (T. Michalski, op. cit., p. 3).
Schöpfung I, painted in 1916, is one of the major oils realised by Molzahn during the difficult, devastating years of the war. Detached as a 'Landsturmmann' on the Danish border, the artist was deeply inspired by the vast horizons of the Schleswig landscape, which prompted him to create his first large canvases, and most ambitious series - the Schöpfung. The present painting is the forerunner of the series (see fig.2), where Molzahn strove to fuse the multifarious sources of his creative inspiration: his pantheistic approach to the Creation, together with his profound biblical references, and his interest in Eastern religions. The artist's philosophical and religious syncretism finds in Schöpfung I its most complete expression. The text of Genesis is presented alongside the ouverture of John's gospel, 'In principio erat Verbum': John's light becomes the daylight of the creation, opposed to the darkness of the night - a chromatic dichotomy which dictates the structure of the whole painting, as T. Michalski points out; 'So trennen Tag und Nacht die hellere, sehende Gesichtspartie Gottes von dem in der Dunkelheit verschwimmenden Teil' (op. cit., p. 3). In Molzahn's powerfully daring vision, the artist is the mythos-poietés (creation of myths) who singles out the pure volumes, lines, geometrical shapes and volumes; the creator of the visual order - as God is the 'Logos creator': 'Zirkel, und Palette identifiziren den Schöpfergott mit dem irdischen Knstler (dem Architekten), der das Chaos der Welt stets aufs Neue durch seine schöpferischen Kräfte zu ordnen sucht' (op. cit., p. 3).
Molzahn's fascinating contaminations continue on the stylistic level. The artist's complex canvas mirrors his committment on many different formal fronts: his debt to the experiments of the Sturm artists (Campendonk, Chagall, Marc) -whom he had met and befriended in the years preceding the war-, as well as his proximity with Cubism and Futurism. As V. Haddad points out, 'Foremost a painter, the "German Boccioni" also created architectural fantasies in charcoal and graphite and participated in the 1919 Ausstellung fr unbekannte Architekten in Berlin. Bruno Taut, who was serving as Magdeburg's city-planning officer, chose Molzahn to teach advertising, graphics, typesetting, printing, and lithography at the school of applied arts there' (op.cit,1993,p.229): the artist's pantheistic Weltanschauung is mirrored by his highly eclectic approach to art, perfectly in keeping with his Bauhaus credo.
Schöpfung I, painted in 1916, is one of the major oils realised by Molzahn during the difficult, devastating years of the war. Detached as a 'Landsturmmann' on the Danish border, the artist was deeply inspired by the vast horizons of the Schleswig landscape, which prompted him to create his first large canvases, and most ambitious series - the Schöpfung. The present painting is the forerunner of the series (see fig.2), where Molzahn strove to fuse the multifarious sources of his creative inspiration: his pantheistic approach to the Creation, together with his profound biblical references, and his interest in Eastern religions. The artist's philosophical and religious syncretism finds in Schöpfung I its most complete expression. The text of Genesis is presented alongside the ouverture of John's gospel, 'In principio erat Verbum': John's light becomes the daylight of the creation, opposed to the darkness of the night - a chromatic dichotomy which dictates the structure of the whole painting, as T. Michalski points out; 'So trennen Tag und Nacht die hellere, sehende Gesichtspartie Gottes von dem in der Dunkelheit verschwimmenden Teil' (op. cit., p. 3). In Molzahn's powerfully daring vision, the artist is the mythos-poietés (creation of myths) who singles out the pure volumes, lines, geometrical shapes and volumes; the creator of the visual order - as God is the 'Logos creator': 'Zirkel, und Palette identifiziren den Schöpfergott mit dem irdischen Knstler (dem Architekten), der das Chaos der Welt stets aufs Neue durch seine schöpferischen Kräfte zu ordnen sucht' (op. cit., p. 3).
Molzahn's fascinating contaminations continue on the stylistic level. The artist's complex canvas mirrors his committment on many different formal fronts: his debt to the experiments of the Sturm artists (Campendonk, Chagall, Marc) -whom he had met and befriended in the years preceding the war-, as well as his proximity with Cubism and Futurism. As V. Haddad points out, 'Foremost a painter, the "German Boccioni" also created architectural fantasies in charcoal and graphite and participated in the 1919 Ausstellung fr unbekannte Architekten in Berlin. Bruno Taut, who was serving as Magdeburg's city-planning officer, chose Molzahn to teach advertising, graphics, typesetting, printing, and lithography at the school of applied arts there' (op.cit,1993,p.229): the artist's pantheistic Weltanschauung is mirrored by his highly eclectic approach to art, perfectly in keeping with his Bauhaus credo.