Bernhard Hoetger
Sculptures from the Paris years 1900–1910
Paula Modersohn-Becker
Drawings

With selected works by the sculptor Bernhard Hoetger – and in parallel to the exhibition Camille Claudel – Bernhard Hoetger at the Alte Nationalgalerie, Berlin – we put a focus on the artist's early sculptural work executed while he was living in Paris.

Bernhard Hoetger (1874–1949) travels to the 1900 World Exhibition in Paris as a master student of the Düsseldorf Art Academy. Impressed by the pavilion showing Rodin's works, he spontaneously decides to stay in Paris. In 1901 Julius Meier-Graefe and Samuel Bing signed him for their famous gallery La Maison Moderne; numerous statuettes décoratives influenced by Art Nouveau are made. In 1903, Eugène Blot became his publisher and dealer. Hoetger exhibited at the Salon d'Automne for several years and got to know Maillol – both are considered the most important contemporary sculptors in the aftermath of Rodin; thus Hugo von Tschudi planned to acquire works by Hoetger for the Berlin National Gallery. Inspired by the dancer Loïe Fuller, who presented a very special performance to the Parisian audience around 1900 wearing a wide swinging gown and using electric lighting effects, Hoetger created the important Art Nouveau sculptures Loïe Fuller and La Tempête in 1901, both placing the dynamics of movement at the centre.

Bernhard Hoetger met Paula Modersohn-Becker (1876–1907) in Paris in 1906 and was immediately convinced of her extraordinary talent. He is one of the first collectors to acquire her works. Based on his design, the Paula Becker-Modersohn-House opened in 1927 at Böttcherstraße Bremen. Paula Modersohn-Becker is represented in our exhibition with a selection of Worpswede composition sketches, illustrating how she elaborated her pictorial subjects and compositions using a drawing pencil.

Cabinet exhibition in Berlin: June 4–July 5, 2025