PAULA MODERSOHN-BECKER
1876 Dresden – 1907 Worpswede
AN ELDERLY WOMAN SITTING WITH TWO GEESE
black ink and pencil on paper, 170 x 100 mm
signed: inscribed lower right: F P.M.B. / T.M.
date: 1899/1900
provenance:
the artist’s estate;
Mathilde (known as Tille) Modersohn;
with Graphische Kabinett Kunsthandlung Ursula Voigt, Bremen, 1968;
Josef Haefelin, USA, acquired from the above;
Freeman’s Hindman, New York, 25.10.2025, lot 98.
exhibited:
- Bremen, Kunsthalle Bremen, Paula Modersohn-Becker, 115 Gemälde, 136 Zeichnungen, Aquarelle, Gouachen und Pastelle, May-June 1947, cat.no. 231;
- The Hague, Gemeentemuseum, Paula Modersohn-Becker, March-Mai 1952, cat.no. 121b;
- Bremen, Paula Becker Modersohn-Haus, Oct.-Nov. 1957 Düsseldorf, Kunstverein, March-April 1958, Paula Modersohn-Becker Gedächtnisausstellung zur 50. Wiederkehr des Todestages der Künstlerin, no. 234;
- Bremen, Graphisches Kabinett Kunsthandlung U. Voigt KG, Paula Modersohn-Becker, Sept-Nov 1968, no. 22 (ill. on the catalog’s cover).
literature:
- Anne Röver-Kann & Wolfgang Werner, Paula Modersohn-Becker. Werkverzeichnis der Handzeichnungen, Vol I, Hirmer Verlag, Munich, 2023, no. E III/38, p. 195, ill.
- Günter Busch and Liselotte von Reinken, Paula Modersohn-Becker in Briefen und Tagebücher, Frankfurt am Main 1979, p. 209 ill;
- Günter Busch and Liselotte von Reinken, Paula Modersohn-Becker The Letters and Journals, New York 1983, p. 175, ill.
Paula Modersohn-Becker created this drawing as part of a project submitted to one of the design competitions organized by the chocolate manufacturer Stollwerck in Cologne. Beginning in 1898, the company issued Sammelbilder (collectible picture cards) that were included in chocolate packaging. These small printed cards quickly became highly popular among children and collectors, stimulating a widespread collecting culture.
To generate new imagery for these cards, Stollwerck organized design competitions that offered substantial monetary prizes. The competitions served several purposes: they supplied fresh illustrations for the collectible series, promoted the Stollwerck brand, and encouraged collaboration with contemporary artists. For young artists, participation provided a valuable opportunity to sell their work and gain wider recognition, making these competitions an attractive platform within the emerging culture of commercial illustration at the turn of the twentieth century.
Paula Modersohn-Becker was a pioneering figure of early modernism in Germany. Born in Dresden and raised in Bremen, she trained as an artist in Berlin before settling in the artists’ colony of Worpswede. There she developed a distinctive style characterized by simplified forms, strong contours, and a direct, expressive approach to the human figure. Frequent visits to Paris brought her into contact with the work of modern painters such as Paul Cézanne, Paul Gauguin, and Vincent van Gogh, whose innovations strongly influenced her art.
Despite a career that lasted little more than a decade, Modersohn-Becker produced a remarkably original body of work, including portraits, depictions of rural life, and a series of groundbreaking self-portraits. Her paintings—often portraying women, children, and peasants with a striking sense of psychological presence—anticipated later developments in Expressionism. She died in 1907 in Worpswede, shortly after the birth of her daughter, leaving behind a body of work that would later be recognized as highly influential within the history of modern art.