Uwe M. Schneede

An accessible introduction to the life and work of this trailblazing pioneer of early modernism, published to coincide with a major exhibition at the Royal Academy, London. Paula Modersohn-Becker is today hailed as one of the great pioneers of modernism. When she died in 1907 at the age of just 31, she had completed more than 700 paintings and 1,000 drawings and prints. Despite selling only a few paintings during her lifetime, her distinct style, daring subject matter and perseverance in overcoming barriers to women left a significant artistic mark on the brief epoch between the old and the new, and paved the way for the German avant-garde. Uwe M. Schneede, one of the foremost experts on Modersohn-Becker’s work, shows how the artist translated her life’s experiences into her own, very distinctive, pictorial language. He focuses in particular on her time in Paris, where she absorbed the luminous palette and expressive brushwork of the French avantgarde, and which so strongly impacted her ambitions and artistic trajectory. Schneede’s lively narrative is supported by some 120 illustrations, and peppered throughout with quotations from Modersohn’s letters and diaries.

The portrait offers the possibility of observation and introspection, and is at the same time one of the most private and representative artistic genres. But what distinguishes the specifically female gaze? On the occasion of the major fall exhibition 2021 at Fondation Beyeler, this catalog brings together nine women artists from Europe and America from the beginning of modernism to the present day, whose works represent an outstanding contribution to the history of the portrait. The individual view of the artists on themselves and on their surroundings in the course of time is expressed. In the catalog, renowned authors explore the individual artists and their fascinating ways of reflecting on themselves and on others. The featured artists are Mary Cassatt, Marlene Dumas, Frida Kahlo, Lotte Laserstein, Paula Modersohn-Becker, Berthe Morisot, Alice Neel, Elizabeth Peyton, and Cindy Sherman.

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner’s move from Dresden to Berlin in 1911 marked a turning point in his art. Under the influence of the most modern metropolis in Europe, during the years between 1912 and 1915 the artist created works whose exaggerated and condensed styl e could be regarded as a true metaphor for the attitude to life during the early years of the twentieth century. During this time of rapid change the capital of the German Empire promised progress and countless opportunities, but also danger and profound e xistential fear. The city was not only the centre of industry, which continued to grow unchecked, but also of increasing motorised traffic and, with three million inhabitants, it was the biggest “city of tenement blocks” in Europe. But Berlin was also the metropolis of the arts, of hedonism, prostitution and accordingly of a sexuality that could be lived to the full as never before. Berlin vibrated with challenging energy and intellectual challenges. In this melting pot of opportunities and risks Kirchner c reated pictures of breathless, existential directness which he launched unerringly at the conventions of the Wilhelminian age. The main area of focus of the publication will lie on this dialectic and the resulting tension. It will reproduce Kirchner’s grea test masterpieces, and in order to demonstrate the profound changes in his style, a representative selection of his early works from Dresden will also be shown alongside the paintings, drawing s and prints from the time in Berlin.