Akte im Wasser, 1914 – 1918

About the Work

In 1890, Mueller learned the lithography technique. In this planographic printmaking method, the artist draws directly on the stone that will serve as a printing plate. Here as well, line dominated Mueller’s compositions. After the printing process, he coloured this lithograph of "Nudes in the Water" by hand in grey ink and chalks of different shades, thus combining the printmaking and drawing mediums. Closely linking emphatic line and planar zones of colour, this work bears a resemblance to the artist’s drawing Naked Girl Sitting by the Water (Städel Museum, Inv. No. 16097).

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.