Portrait of G. (Simon Guttmann), 1914

About the Work

The literary figure Simon Guttmann (1891–1990) had introduced the Brücke artists to the “Neopathetisches Cabaret”, a circle of poets around Georg Heym (1887–1912), Jakob van Hoddis (1887–1942) and others, in 1909. In 1912, Guttmann wrote the pantomime The Merry Puck for Heckel’s life companion Siddi Riha (1891–1982); the “Neopathetisches Cabaret” performed it. Schmidt-Rottluff portrayed the poet seated, his head enlarged to underscore its significance. The artist regarded the face as the “collecting point of all psyche, all expression”.

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.