Art Appreciation
Regarded as a pioneer of Expressionism, Paula Modersohn-Becker was a German painter whose art career last only 10 years but produced over 700 paintings and 1000 drawings. She's also recognized as being both the first known woman painter to paint nude self-portraits, first to depict herself both pregnant and nude and pregnant, and first woman to have a museum devoted exclusively to her art.
Modersohn-Becker was born on February 8, 1876 in Dresden to a family that although well-to-do, faced social constraints due to a family member's unsuccessful assassination attempt on King Wilhelm of Prussia.
In 1888, when the family moved from Dresden to Bremen, Paula began to learn to draw. At the age of 16, her parents set up her first studio and their house. Later, she was sent to England to live with a maternal aunt to learn English. While there, she received her first instruction in drawing at St. John's Wood Art School.
On her return back to Bremen, while studying at a teacher's seminary, she received private lessons from a local painter, Bernhard Wiegandt. In 1896, she attended a six-week drawing and painting course in Berlin, organized by the Berlin Artists' Association. After graduating, she stayed in Berlin and was admitted to the first class of painting at the Women's Academy.
A couple of years later, Paula moved to Worpswede to join a colony of artists. The group was lead by artist who retreated to the countryside in protest against the domination of the art academy style and life of big city.
While in Worpswede, she created "sentimental" landscapes and scenes of peasant life. In December 1899, two paintings that were exhibited at Bremen Kunsthalle was subject to attack by art critic Arthur Fitger, who was more outraged by the inclusion of female artists rather than the actual artwork.
A year later, she moved to Paris and began studying at the Académie Colarossi;in the Latin Quarter. There, she was inspired by Paul Cézanne and other members of Les Nabis, a group who played an important role of early modernism art. Inspired by the contemporary artists, she moved far from the conventional paintings of her Worpswede group and incorporated the use of simplified forms and symbolism.
In 1901, Paula married Otto Modersohn, who she had known from the Worpswede colony. The following years, she and her husband would frequent Paris where she visited artists such as Auguste Rodin, Pierre Bonnard and Edouard Vuillard.On November 2, 1907, Paula gave birth to her daughter Mathilde. A few weeks later, she died of deep vein thrombosis, blood clots in her leg.Self-portrait, 1897
Old Peasant Woman, c. 1905
Self-portrait, 1906
Source:
Wikipedia
Beyond Realism, Amy Crawford, Smithsonian, December 2021, Vol. 52, No. 8
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