Portrait of Dr. Carl Hagemann, 1928 – 1933

Dimensions: 121 x 90 cm

Physical Description: Oil on canvas

Inventory Number: 2058

Acquisition: Acquired in 1955 as a gift from Fritz Hagemann; formerly Carl Hagemann Collection

Status: On display, 1st upper level, Modern Art, room 12

Texts

About the Work

Carl Hagemann was Ernst Ludwig Kirchner’s most important patron and collector. In 1928, he visited the artist in Davos and sat for him on one of his self-carved chairs. Kirchner worked on this painting for several years. He finally finished it in 1932 and then gave it to Hagemann as a token of friendship. The work vividly shows that, in the early 1920s, Kirchner turned away from the emotional expressiveness of his Brücke years: he emphasised the lines, applied the colours as large cohesive sections and reproduced spatial structures two-dimensionally. Accordingly, he merged the doorway on the left with both a shelf and the carpet in the foreground to form a sort of mosaic. He described this change in his creative expression as his “new style”.

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: Portrait of Dr. Carl Hagemann

Painter

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner

Period Produced

20th century

School

expressionism

Object Type

painting (artwork)

Physical Description: Oil on canvas

Material

canvas

Technique

Label at the Time of Manufacture: Signiert und datiert verso: E. L. Kirchner / 28 / Bildnis Dr H.

Work Catalogues

Gordon 1968, Nr. 917

Property and Acquisition

Institution

Städel Museum

Departement

Modern Art 1800–1945

Collection

Städelsches Kunstinstitut

Creditline: Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main

Picture Copyright: Public Domain

Acquisition: Acquired in 1955 as a gift from Fritz Hagemann; formerly Carl Hagemann Collection

Work Content

Motifs and References

Genre

portrait

Main Motif

Persons Shown

Carl Hagemann

Research and Discussion

Provenance

Object History: Ernst Ludwig Kirchner

Schenkung an Carl Hagemann (1867-1940), Frankfurt, 1933

Nachlass Carl Hagemann, 1940

Depositum im Städel Museum, Frankfurt, 1941

Schenkung Fritz Hagemann an das Städelsche Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt am Main, 1955.

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: