Maurice Molarsky was born in Kiev, Russia, but spent the majority of his life in Philadelphia. He first studied art at the Pennsylvania Museum School of Industrial Arts (now The University of the Arts) in Philadelphia. He then enrolled at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, where he studied with Thomas Anshutz and William Merritt Chase. In 1904, Molarsky was one of the first to win a Cresson Traveling Scholarship from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, which he used to finance a trip to Paris to study art. When he returned to the United States, Molarsky brought with him a new style influenced by the great French modern painters, especially Manet and Degas. Molarsky launched himself into a full-time career as an artist. He exhibited often and widely, contributing works regularly to such venues as the Pennsylvania Academy, from 1904-50; the Art Institute of Chicago, from 1908-27; the National Academy of Design, New York, from 1914–40; and the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., from 1908–39. Among his many honors, Molarsky was awarded the Henry Thouron Prize for Composition and Mural Decoration from the Pennsylvania Academy. He also won a silver medal for the present painting at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, San Francisco, in 1915; a gold medal from the Philadelphia Art Club in 1919; a silver medal at the Sesqui-Centennial Exposition, Philadelphia, in 1926; and a gold medal from the Philadelphia Sketch Club in 1932.
Molarsky had his first one-man show in 1931 at the Newman Galleries in Philadelphia, an event which prompted one critic to praise Molarsky for “setting forth in striking arrangements the flamboyant beauty of women who glow like geraniums” (Edith Emerson, “Field Notes,” The American Magazine of Art XXII [March 1931], p. 225). Molarsky was held in high regard in Philadelphia. Following his death in 1950, a memorial exhibition of his work was held at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. He was remembered particularly as a fine portrait painter. One critic summarized his output in the genre: “[His] ability to catch both strength and subtlety developed early and remained with Molarsky to the end in portraits of men. It was when Molarsky turned his brush on women that he yielded to a flair for staging.”
