Two People, Erich Heckel
Erich Heckel
Two People
de
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Erich Heckel

Two People, 1910


Blatt
645 x 479 mm
Druckstock
374 x 321 mm
Physical Description
Woodcut on laid paper 2nd state (of 2)
Inventory Number
65873
Object Number
65873 D
Acquisition
Acquired in 1948 as a donation from the heirs of the Carl Hagemann estate
Status
Can be presented in the study room of the Graphische Sammlung (special opening hours)

Texts

About the Work

Heckel rendered Adam and Eve with sparse, angular contours: their movements seem awkward, their faces almost coarse. Near-abstract forms are all that allude to the paradise from which the first human couple will be driven. The trees and bushes in the foreground have been cut into the wood like forceful pastose brushstrokes.

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.

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Last update

26.11.2024