LECTURE
January 11, 2024
19.00
Entrance fee 5,00 € | reduced 3,00 €
The painter and graphic artist Julie Wolfthorn
When the painter Julie Wolfthorn presented her painting “Hexchen/Waldhexe” at the opening exhibition of the Berlin Secession in 1899, she was already firmly established in Berlin’s artistic and cultural life after training in Paris, Italy, Belgium, Holland and Worpswede. From 1894, as a young artist, she took part in the major art exhibitions in Munich and Berlin and socialised in the influential circles of Berlin bohemia. In 1906, she joined forces with 11 female artists, including Käthe Kollwitz, Dora Hitz, Sabine Lepsius and Hedwig Weiß, to form the exhibition association “Verbindung Bildender Künstlerinnen Berlin – München”.
“Hexchen/Waldhexe” (Witch/Forest Witch), second version, 1899, oil on canvas,
The Jack Daulton Collection, Los Altos Hills, California/USA
Cover pictures for magazines, portraits, large-format still lifes and landscape painting – Wolfthorn’s range of subjects was broad and varied. Commissions for portraits of children and women secured her an income during the economically difficult times of the Weimar Republic. When the National Socialists seized power in 1933, the artist faced persecution as a Jew and was no longer allowed to exhibit outside Jewish institutions. In October 1942, she was deported to the Theresienstadt concentration camp and died there two years later.
January 2024 marks the 160th anniversary of Julie Wolfthorn’s birth – a joyful occasion to learn more about the life and work of Käthe Kollwitz’ fellow artist. Art historian and author Heike Carstensen has already published several books on Wolfthorn and will introduce the painter and graphic artist to the interested public at the Kollwitz Museum on January 11, 2024.