(Vienna 1861–1945)
“Aus dem Wiener Prater I” (landing stage at Heustadlwasser/Prater), c. 1930, monogrammed C. M., a label on the reverse, in the artist’s handwriting: “C. Moll Aus dem Wiener Prater I A”, oil on canvas, 60 x 70 cm, framed

Exhibited:
XVIII. Biennale Internationale Kunstausstellung 1932 (label on the stretcher), inserted in the artist’s handwriting: “Carl Moll Aus dem Prater I”/ 2500 Schweizer Francs/C. Moll Wien/XIX, Wollergasse 10
In 1932 Carl Moll took over the organisational management of the Austrian exhibition at the Venice Biennale.
Carl Moll, Seine Freunde. Sein Leben. Sein Werk, Verlag Galerie Welz, 1985, p. 43 See the aforementioned literature - p. 70, ill. 85/86, p. 71, ill. 87

This painting will be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné by Dr. Cornelia Cabuk, Belvedere Vienna.

Provenance:
Private Collection, Germany

This old branch of the Danube, left in its natural state, owes its name to the construction of a hay barn (called “Heustadl” in German) for the feeding of wild animals. The Krieau, a frequently flooded area of wetland (on which the hay barn was erected) was an island surrounded by this branch of the Danube. The tree-lined promenade known as Prater Hauptallee now divides the waters in two, into an upper and a lower Heustadlwasser.

The Heustadlwasser (c. 1930) appears here in the technique of broad brushstrokes practised by Carl Moll in his later works, powerfully representing nature in intense colours. The trees depicted on the right melt into one another, becoming a single object, with the exception of the light that glisteningly breaks through them, fighting through the treetops and gaining particular prominence.
The water with its one lone rower seems to pull us into its depths, an effect that Moll achieved by means of contrasting layers of colour, with areas of light and dark, divided and broken up by single brushstrokes.

A harmonic effect arises through the contrast of the dominating, thick, dark line of trees on the right, with the open bright space of water and sky on the left. People go about their activities – a peaceful walk, a conversation, leaving the jetty – undisturbed.