JULIUS MOESSEL (1872-1960).  SURREALIST MONSTERS (Artist's title: BALANCE OF POWER), 1941, 30" x 26"  OIL ON CANVAS (framed size: 38" x 34") signed/dated LOWER RIGHT.  On the lower left it says: WEST EAST.  Also titled on the back and has the artist's address on the back.  HERE ARE TWO OF THE LATEST AUCTION RECORDS ON THE ARTIST: 1. The Parade, sold at Bonham's and Butterfield's on 4/8/2008 for $7800.00; 2. A Unique Menagerie, sold at Bonham's and Butterfield's on 4/8/2008 for $9000.00.

JULIUS MOESSEL (1872-1960) WAS ONE OF THE CHICAGO ART SCENE’S MOST NOTABLE FIGURES FROM THE LATE 1920’S THROUGH 1950’S, BUT THE CHICAGO YEARS WERE ACTUALLY A SECOND CAREER FOR THE GERMAN ARTIST BORN IN 1871 IN FURTH. MOESSEL STUDIED AT THE MUNICH ACADEMY UNDER RUDOLPH VON SEITZ AND WHILE STILL IN HIS TWENTIES ESTABLISHED A SUCCESSFUL CAREER AS A MURALIST AND PAINTER OF ARCHITECTURAL DECORATION. MURALS IN THE JURY ROOM AT THE NUREMBERG (SITE OF THE FAMED WAR TRIALS), THE COURT THEATER AT STUTTGART AND THE CITY HALL AT LEIPZIG ARE BUT THREE OF THE PROLIFIC PAINTER’S MORE NOTABLE GERMAN PROJECTS. SPURRED BY THE ECONOMIC HARDSHIPS THAT BEFELL GERMANY IN THE TWENTIES, MOESSEL CAME TO CHICAGO IN 1926 TO PAINT A SERIES OF MURALS AT THE MUSEUM OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY, WHICH WAS THEN IN THE PLANNING STAGES. ALTHOUGH THAT COMMISSION FELL THROUGH, MOESSEL REMAINED IN THE STATES, TAKING ON PROJECTS IN DETROIT, CHICAGO AND ST. LOUIS, FINALLY SETTLING IN CHICAGO IN 1929. FINANCIAL SETBACKS OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION COMPELLED MOESSEL, AT AGE 60, TO TURN TO EASEL PAINTING. THE ARTIST’S LIVELIHOOD WAS FURTHER THREATENED IN THE MID 1930’S BY THE LOSS OF HIS EYESIGHT. FORTUNATELY, SURGERY RESTORED HIS VISION. ALTHOUGH HE HAD NO PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE OR TRAINING IN EASEL PAINTINGS, MOESSEL’S WORK SOON GAINED A LOCAL REPUTATION. HE BECAME WELL-KNOWN FOR DECORATIVE PAINTINGS OF EXOTIC BIRDS AND TROPICAL ANIMALS, AS WELL AS NIGHTMARISHLY SURREAL CANVASES REMINISCENT OF BOSCH; SOME OF HIS MORE WHIMSICAL WORKS ADORNED COVERS OF THE SATURDAY EVENING POST. HE EXHIBITED REGULARLY AT THE CHICAGO GALLERIES, AT SEVERAL ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO EXHIBITIONS AND IN NUMEROUS ONE-MAN SHOWS. TODAY, THE FIELD MUSEUM MURALS ARE THE ONLY WORKS ON PUBLIC DISPLAY IN CHICAGO BY THIS PAINTER, WHO, IN HIS DAY, AS CHICAGO TRIBUNE’S CRITIC PUT IT IN 1936, WAS “RECOGNIZED AS AN IMPORTANT FIGURE IN CHICAGO’S ART WORLD.”