Bernhard Hoetger, Parisean Sculptures 1900–1910
Paula Modersohn-Becker, Drawings

4 JUN until 5 JUL 2025

With selected works by the sculptor Bernhard Hoetger – and in parallel to the exhibition Camille Claudel – Bernhard Hoetger at the Alte Nationalgalerie, Berlin – we put a focus on the artist’s early sculptural work executed while he was living in Paris.

Bernhard Hoetger (1874–1949) travels to the 1900 World Exhibition in Paris as a master student of the Art Academy Düsseldorf. Impressed by the pavilion showing Rodin’s works, he spontaneously decides to stay in Paris. In 1901 Julius Meier-Graefe and Samuel Bing signed him for their famous gallery La Maison Moderne; numerous “statuettesdécoratives” influenced by Art Nouveau are made. In 1903, Eugène Blot became his publisher and art dealer. Hoetger exhibited at the legendary Salon d’Automne for several years and got to know Maillol – both are considered the most important contemporary sculptors in the aftermath of Rodin; thus Hugo von Tschudi planned as early as 1901 to acquire works by Hoetger for the Berlin National Gallery.

Inspired by the dancer LoïeFuller, who presented a very special performance to the Parisian audience around 1900 wearing a wide swinging gown and using electric lighting effects, Hoetger created the important Art Nouveau sculptures “LoïeFuller” and “La Tempête” in 1901, both placing the dynamics of movement at the centre.

Bernhard Hoetger met Paula Modersohn-Becker (1876–1907) in Paris in 1906 and was immediately convinced of her extraordinary talent. He is one of the first collectors to acquire her paintings. Based on his design, the Paula Becker-Modersohn-House opened in 1927 at BöttcherstraßeBremen – being the first museum worldwide dedicated to a female artist. Paula Modersohn-Becker is represented in our exhibition with an exquisite selection of Worpswede composition sketches, illustrating how she elaborated her pictorial subjects and compositions using a drawing pencil.

Still on view through to July 5:
FIGURATION – Almut Heise, Birgitt Bolsmann, Rissa