Kind zwischen Bäumen (Child Among Trees) / Paula Modersohn-Becker
About this Item
Record Details
- Accession Number
- 2000/2.176
- Title
- Kind zwischen Bäumen (Child Among Trees)
- Artist
- Paula Modersohn-Becker
- Artist Nationality
- German
- Artist Life Dates
- 1876 - 1907
- Medium and Support
- black chalk on medium thick cream laid paper
- Object Creation Date
- circa 1905
- Object Creation Place
- Europe (continent)
- Germany (nation)
- Creation Place 1
- Europe (continent)
- Creation Place 2
- Germany (nation)
- Credit Line
- Gift of Herbert Barrows
- Style/Group/Movement
- German Expressionism
- Inscription
- Signed in graphite, initialed by Otto Modersohn, l.r.: f. PM-B./ OM.; inscribed in graphite, l.l.: 56, circled; inscribed in graphite,
- u.l.: 404.59
- Dimensions
- 21 cm x 23.4 cm (8 1/4 in. x 9 3/16 in.)
- Century
- 20th century
- Primary Object Classification
- Drawing
- Physical Description
- Drawing featuring a small child seated with its hands in its lap stares out at the viewer amid a forest of birch trees.
- Subject Matter
- In 1897 Paula Becker first visited the artists’ colony in Worpswede, twenty miles north of Bremen, with which she would be associated for the remaining ten years of her life. Influenced by the German Romantics, the "Worpsweders," co-founded by her future husband Otto Modersohn, dedicated themselves to an anti-academic, anti-industrial philosophy that looked to the surrounding rural landscape and its inhabitants for inspiration.
- During her short life, Modersohn-Becker produced a remarkable body of work: over five hundred paintings and almost twice as many drawings, many of which focus upon a single human form as the subject. In this work, a small child seated with its hands in its lap stares out at the viewer amid a forest of birch trees. This composition, characteristic of the artist’s style during this period, is free from anecdotal detail. The austere setting and clean line convey a simplicity that works to illuminate the fixed gaze of the child. It is at once a look that suggests vulnerability as well as a deeper inner resolve. True to Modersohn-Becker’s representations of the rural people in the north, this work, with its paring down to essentials, evokes a compassionate humanity.
- Primary Keywords
- bust-length
- child
- expressionism (art)
- half-length
- portraits
- seated
- self-portrait
- trees
- Secondary Keywords
- buildings and the land
- european
- european styles and periods
- figures
- landscapes (environments)
- modern european styles and movements
- natural landscapes
- people
- people (agents)
- people and culture
- people and occupations
- people by age group
- plants
- settlements and landscapes
- sketches
- styles and periods
- styles and periods by region
- the natural world
- vegetation and vegetation components
- vegetation components
- woods
- woody plants
- youth
- Rights
- If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please visit https://umma.umich.edu/about/services/request-image/ for more information and to fill out the online Image Rights and Reproductions Request Form.
Technical Details
- Collection
- University of Michigan Museum of Art
- Image Size
- 2252 x 1904
- File Size
- 570 KB
- Record
- 2000/2.176
- Link to this Item
-
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/musart/x-2000-sl-2.176/2000_2.176.jpg-2
Rights and Permissions
Related Links
Portfolios
Cite this Item
View the Help Guide for more information.
- Full citation
-
"Kind zwischen Bäumen (Child Among Trees); Paula Modersohn-Becker." In the digital collection University of Michigan Museum of Art. https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/musart/x-2000-sl-2.176/2000_2.176.jpg-2. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed April 26, 2024.
