Gustav-Adolf Mossa

Gustav-Adolf Mossa, La Donna Morta, 1908

Mossa's decade long Symbolist period (1900-1911) was his most prolific and began as a reaction to the recent boom of socialite leisure activity on the French Rivera,[9] his works comically satirising or condemning what was viewed as an increasingly materialistic society[10] and the perceived danger of the emerging New Woman at the turn of the century, whom Mossa appears to consider perverse by nature.[4]

His most common subjects were femme fatale figures, some from Biblical sources, such as modernised versions of Judith, Delilah and Salome,[11] mythological creatures such as Harpies or more contemporary and urban figures, such as his towering and dominant bourgeoise woman in Woman of Fashion and Jockey. (1906)[12] His 1905 work Elle, the logo for the 2017 Geschlechterkampf exhibition on representations of gender in art, is an explicit example of Mossa's interpretation of malevolent female sexuality, with a nude giantess sitting atop a pile of bloodied corpses, a fanged cat sitting over her crotch, and wearing an elaborate headress inscribed with the Latin hoc volo, sic jubeo, sit pro ratione voluntas (What I want, I order, my will is reason enough).[13]

Many aspects of Mossa's paintings of this period were also indictive of the decadent movement, with his references to Diabolism,[14] depictions of lesbianism (such as his two paintings of Sappho),[15] or an emphasis on violent, sadistic or morbid scenes.[16]

Though these paintings are the subject of most present day exhibitions, scholarly articles and books on the artist, they were not released to the public until after Mossa's death in 1971.[5]

In 1911, Mossa discovered Flemish Primitive and Gothic art while in Brugge and abandoned Symbolism.[17]

Mossa wrote several operas and plays, and contributed to a revival of dialectal theater with his first theatrical piece Lou Nouvé o sia lou pantai de Barb' Anto (1922), written in the Niçard dialect.[17] Following the play's success, Mossa established the Lou Teatre de Barba Martin group, who performed his comedies 'Phygaço' (1924), 'La Tina' (1926) and 'Lou Rei Carneval' (1935), until 1940.[6] His plays are still performed in Nice.[18]

Musée des Beaux-Arts de Nice, where Mossa worked as curator for over forty years

After the death of his father, Alexis, Mossa took over the curation of the Nice Museum of Fine Arts in 1927 and would keep the position until his death in 1971.[19] Mossa would later bequeath most of his own artistic pieces to the gallery.[2]

From the end of the Second World War, Mossa devoted himself to creating works about the City of Nice, illustrating official documents, drawing armorial bearings and traditional suits of the County, and producing several watercolours of the region's landscapes.[17]

Permanent

• The Musée-Galerie d' Alexis at Gustav Adolf Mossa is a museum dedicated to Mossa and his father in Nice[20]
• His works are part of The Fin-de-Siècle Museum section of the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium.[21]

Solo

• 1909 Nice, L'Artistique, Exposition d'oeuvres d'Alexis et de Gustav Adolf Mossa
• 1911 Paris, Galerie Georges Petit, Exposition d'oeuvres de G.A. Mossa
• 1913 Nice, Musée Municipal, Exposition d'images sur l'oeuvre de Schumann par G.A. Mossa
• 1913 Paris, Galeries George Petit, Exposition d'images de G.A. Mossa, inspirées par l 'oeuvre de Schumann
• 1974 Nice, Musée Jules Chéret, Alexis et Gustav Adolf Mossa, peintres niçois
• 1978 Nice, Galeries des Ponchettes, Gustave Adolf Mossa et les symboles
• 1989 Yokohama, Galerie Motomachi, Gustave Adolf Mossa
• 1992 Paris, Pavillon des Arts, G. A. Mossa: L'Oeuvre symboliste 1903-1918'
• 2010 Belgium, Felicien Rops Museum, L'oeuvre Secrète de Gustav-Adolf Mossa

Group

• 1976 Paris, Espace Pierre Cardin, Exposition Sarah Bernhardt
• 1981 Chicago, The David & Alfred Smart Gallery, University of Chicago, The Earthly Chimera and the Femme Fatale: Fear of Women in 19th Century Art
• 2008 Évian-les-Bains, Palais Lumière, Eros and Thanatos
• 2015 Sacramento, Crocker Art Museum, Toulouse-Lautrec and La Vie Moderne: Paris 1880-1910
• 2015 Paris, Musée d'Orsay, Splendour and Misery. Pictures of Prostitution, 1850-1910
• 2017 Frankfurt, Städel-Museum, Geschlechterkampf