BERNHARD HOETGER (1874-1949)

BERNHARD HOETGER (1874-1949)
'MÄDCHEN MIT REIF', CIRCA 1901
bronze, signed in the bronze with monogram
19cm high
Note: After studying at the Düsseldorf Art Academy under Karl Janssen, Bernhard Hoetger travelled to Paris and settled there from 1900 to 1907. He became acquainted with artists such as Paula Modersohn-Becker, Käthe Kollwitz, Karl Hofer and Henri Rousseau. He was most interested by Rodin's work, which strongly influenced his visual language in this early phase. As early as 1901, Hoetger achieved his artistic breakthrough with the sculpture “L'Aveugle (The Blind Man)”. This led to the first contact with Julius Meier-Graefe, director of the Art Nouveau gallery "La Maison Moderne", who included Hoetger's sculptures in the gallery's sales catalogue alongside works by George Minne, Charpentier and others. His time in Paris, during which the present example was also created, ended in 1909 with Hoetger's appointment as a professor at the Darmstadt artists' colony.