Naked Girl with Headscarf, August Macke
August Macke
Naked Girl with Headscarf
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August Macke

Naked Girl with Headscarf, 1910


Dimensions
75 x 58 cm
Physical Description
Oil on canvas
Inventory Number
2162
Acquisition
Acquired in 1987 as a gift from Kurt Möllgaard, property of Städelscher Museums-Verein e.V.
Status
Not on display

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About the Work

August Macke had his wife Elisabeth sit as a model for many of his numerous nudes – abstracting and standardising her facial features and body shapes. The painterly simplification goes back to his encounter with Henri Matisse’s works, which were, the year this painting was done, exhibited in the Cassirer art gallery in Berlin. Macke himself emphasised the model’s naturalness and purity in his nudes. Here the headscarf, the bowed head and the chaste posture of the arm are reminiscent of depictions of the Madonna. This type of sacralisation was typical of Macke’s nudes around 1910/11; it represents a counterpoint to the offensively erotic nudes of the 'Brücke' artists.

About the Acquisition

The Frankfurt businessman Dr. Kurt Möllgaard and his wife, Marga, began collecting modern art in 1945. From 1964 on they donated parts of their collection to the Städelscher Museums-Verein. Kurt Möllgaard commented on his activities: "In doing this, we have intentionally continued a tradition which is also cultivated to a considerable extent by those citizens of Frankfurt who had to leave their homes after 1933." In 1987 Kurt Möllgaard founded the Kurt und Marga Möllgaard-Stiftung, which remains active to this day.

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Last update

06.11.2024