1468 - Paula Modersohn-Becker (1876, Dresden – 1907, Worpswede)

Paula Modersohn-Becker (1876, Dresden – 1907, Worpswede) Bridge Although Paula Modersohn-Becker primarily painted people—whether children, peasant women, or herself—in the extensive body of work she left behind despite her short life, the artist also explored pure landscapes. This moorland landscape, painted around 1900, shows a view of a small bridge built of simple planks and logs spanning a moor ditch, with birch trees and a moor cottage hinted at in the background on the left. Painted in shades of gray-green to gray-brown with a silver-gray sky, the work belongs to a group of early landscapes in which Paula Becker intensively explored the Teufelsmoor near Worpswede. Closely related is the “Moor Landscape with Bridge,” which the Landesmuseum Hannover acquired in 1953 from her daughter Tille Modersohn (Inv. No. KM 59/1953; Wvz. 76). In 1897, Paula Becker traveled to nearby Worpswede for the first time; in 1898, she took art lessons there from Fritz Mackensen, met her close friend Clara Westhoff, and quickly became part of the circle of friends of Otto Modersohn and Heinrich Vogeler. With her art, which tended toward a strong simplification of form and color and stood outside the accepted mainstream of the German art scene, she found little artistic inspiration in Worpswede. In late 1899, she also faced scathing criticism from conservative art critics when Gustav Pauli, the new progressive director of the Bremen Kunsthalle, dared to exhibit her paintings for the first time; they had to be removed after just five days. On New Year’s Eve 1899–1900, she traveled to Paris to study at the Académie Colarossi and won the academy’s competition in 1900. In Paris, she was fascinated by the art of Paul Cézanne, who “had the effect of a thunderstorm on me.” She was also influenced there by the major exhibition of the Nabis, with their emphasis on flat surfaces and color as a pure vehicle of meaning. In the summer of 1900, Paula Becker returned to Worpswede, where her relationship with the landscape painter Otto Modersohn—eleven years her senior—whom she held in high regard, grew closer. On September 12, 1900, the two became engaged, and in May 1901 they were married (in the same year as their friends, the Westhoff-Rilke and Vogeler couples). Under Otto Modersohn’s influence, Paula Becker devoted herself intensely to landscape painting—between August and December 1900, she produced 60 paintings featuring landscape motifs. In doing so, the artist explored the interrelationships of color, form, and composition through landscapes more intensely than ever before in her career. In her paintings, individual, highly simplified elements come together to form compositions characterized by flat planes and a high degree of density. A characteristic feature is a muted color palette with broken tones, which both reflects the conditions of the Worpswede moor and expresses her own deep emotions. Oil on painting board. Signed lower left with the monogram “PM-B.” On the reverse, a certificate of authenticity by Otto Modersohn (in pencil): “This painting is by Paula Modersohn-Becker, April 19, 1920.” Label from the La Boetie Gallery, New York (1971) with inscription; 41 cm x 53 cm. Framed. Lit./Catalog: Günter Busch and Wolfgang Werner (eds.): “Paula Modersohn-Becker 1876–1907. Catalog Raisonné of Paintings,” Vol. II, Munich 1998, no. 77, p. 72, ill. p. 73. Provenance: Private collection, London (1963); Dr. Ernst Hauswedell, Hamburg (1964), Auction 132 (June 6, 1964), Cat. No. 619, ill. p. 73; Helen Serger, Galerie La Boetie, New York (1971); private collection, Berlin (1972); private collection, Southern Germany. Oil on cardboard. Signed with the monogram “PM-B.” Confirmed by her widower, Otto Modersohn, on the reverse in 1920. Label from Galerie La Boetie, New York (1971). Mentioned in the catalogue raisonné, no. 77.