Crouching Woman, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff
Karl Schmidt-Rottluff
Crouching Woman
DE
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Karl Schmidt-Rottluff

Crouching Woman, 1911


Blatt
374 x 500 mm
Druckstock
154 x 207 mm
Physical Description
Woodcut on laid paper
Inventory Number
65966A
Object Number
65966A D
Acquisition
Acquired in 1948 as a donation from the heirs of the Carl Hagemann estate
Status
Can be presented in the study room of the Graphische Sammlung (special opening hours)

Texts

About the Work

This woodcut is full of movement: in the rhythmic riveting of the woman’s unstable-looking pose and the abstract structure of the background. Schmidt-Rottluff’s woodcut œuvre reached a pinnacle in 1911, as did his work in the wooden sculpture medium that had gotten underway in Dangast in those years. The relief “Two Female Nudes” (Brücke-Museum, Berlin) and the woodcut “Crouching Woman” are thus intimately interrelated – not only in terms of format but also from the formal point of view. They are both based on the perceptive study of the naked human body in natural movement, one of the core concerns of Brücke art.

About the Acquisition

From 1900 onwards, the Frankfurt chemist and industrialist Carl Hagemann (1867‒1940) assembled one of the most important private collections of modern art. It included numerous paintings, drawings, watercolours and prints, especially by members of the artist group “Die Brücke”. After Carl Hagemann died in an accident during the Second World War, the then Städel director Ernst Holzinger arranged for Hagemann’s heirs to evacuate his collection with the museum’s collection. In gratitude, the family donated almost all of the works on paper to the Städel Museum in 1948. Further donations and permanent loans as well as purchases of paintings and watercolours from the Hagemann estate helped to compensate for the losses the museum had suffered in 1937 as part of the Nazi’s “Degenerate Art” campaign. Today, the Hagemann Collection forms the core of the Städel museum’s Expressionist collection.

Work Data

Basic Information

Title
Crouching Woman
Artist
Period Produced
Object Type
Physical Description
Woodcut on laid paper
Material
Technique
Geographic Reference
Label at the Time of Manufacture
Signiert unterhalb der Darstellung links (mit Bleistift): Schmidt-Rottluff
Captions Added Later
Bezeichnet unten links (mit Bleistift): Sch. 57.; nummeriert unten rechts: XXXVII
Verso bezeichnet und nummeriert unten links (mit Bleistift): DrHagemann, Nr 98.
Verso mittig Stempel des Städelschen Kunstinstituts, Frankfurt am Main (Lugt 2356), mit zugehöriger Inventarnummer
Watermark
  • Nicht vorhanden
Work Catalogues
  • Schapire H. 57

Property and Acquisition

Institution
Departement
Collection
Creditline
Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main
Picture Copyright
© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2023
Acquisition
Acquired in 1948 as a donation from the heirs of the Carl Hagemann estate

Work Content

Motifs and References

Genre

Iconclass

Primary
  • 31A14 human figure of ideal proportions, e.g. academic nude
  • 31D15 adult woman
Secondary
  • 31A234 squatting, crouching figure
  • 49D32 line (~ planimetry, geometry)
  • 49D43 prism ~ stereometry
  • 51L1 Motion

Research and Discussion

Provenance

Object History
Carl Hagemann (1867-1940), Frankfurt am Main
Nachlass Carl Hagemann, Frankfurt am Main, 1940
Schenkung der Erben an das Städelsche Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt am Main, 1948.

Information

Since 2001, the Städel Museum has systematically been researching the provenance of all objects that were acquired during the National Socialist period, or that changed owners or could have changed owners during those years. The basis for this research is the “Washington Declaration”, also known as the “Washington Conference Principles”, formulated at the 1998 “Conference on Holocaust-Era Assets” and the subsequent “Joint Declaration”.

The provenance information is based on the sources researched at the time they were published digitally. However, this information can change at any time when new sources are discovered. Provenance research is therefore a continuous process and one that is updated at regular intervals.

Ideally, the provenance information documents an object’s origins from the time it was created until the date when it found its way into the collection. It contains the following details, provided they are known:

  • the type of acquisition and/or the way the object changed hands
  • the owner's name and place of residence
  • the date on which it changed hands

The successive ownership records are separated from each other by a semicolon.

Gaps in the record of a provenance are indicated by the placeholder “…”. Unsupported information is listed in square brackets.

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Last update

24.11.2023