The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 29, 2024

Seated Female Nude (Self-Portrait?)

Seated Female Nude (Self-Portrait?)

c. 1899
(German, 1876–1907)
Sheet: 62.2 x 33.9 cm (24 1/2 x 13 3/8 in.)
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

Paula Modersohn-Becker's career was extremely brief but prolific before dying from complications of childbirth at age 31.

Description

Although Paula Modersohn-Becker died in 1907, just as the Expressionist groups in Dresden and Munich were forming, the themes of her work prefigure the movement. This likely self-portrait exhibits her desire to convey not the idealized appearance of the female body but rather its fundamental essence, stripped of all the world’s trappings. She distilled the human body into flattened forms—achieved by erasing and blending the charcoal—and abbreviated the delineation of the feet, hands, and face. The sitter’s piercing stare invites the viewer to move beyond the body as flesh and blood toward her emotional or spiritual state.
  • after 1899-by 1921
    Ernst Rump [1872-1921], Hamburg
    1967
    (probably Dr. Ernst Hauswedell, Hamburg, June 1967, no. 1006)
    probably 1967-1973
    (Allan Frumkin Gallery, New York, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH)
    1973-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 240 archive.org
    DeGrazia, Diane, and Carter E. Foster. Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Exh. Cat. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2000. Mentioned: pp. 226-27, p. 296; Reproduced: p. 227
    Röver-Kann, Anne, and Wolfgang Werner, editors. Paula Modersohn-Becker, 1876-1907: Werkverzeichnis der Handzeichnungen. München: Hirmer Verlag, 2023. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 118-119, no. E II/87, Band I
  • Graphic Discontent: German Expressionism on Paper. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (January 14-May 27, 2018).
    Treasures on Paper from the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 9-June 8, 2014).
    Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 27-October 17, 2000); The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, NY (May 23-August 19, 2001); Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, TX (October 14, 2001-January 6, 2002).
    The German Tradition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 27-June 27, 1993).
    Directions in Drawing II: The Human Figure. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 5, 1991-January 12, 1992).
    Eastward from the Rhine: Romanticism to Abstraction, 1800-1925. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 12-September 9, 1984).
    German Drawings of the 18th, 19th, and 20th Centuries. The Cleveland Museum of Art (April 1-July 13, 1980).
    The Milieu of Edvard Munch. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 5-June 5, 1977).
    The Vocabulary of Prints. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (July 29-December 31, 1975).
    Year in Review: 1973. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 30-March 17, 1974).
  • {{cite web|title=Seated Female Nude (Self-Portrait?)|url=false|author=Paula Modersohn-Becker|year=c. 1899|access-date=29 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1973.35