DOI issue:
No. 60 (March, 1898)
DOI article:Hagen, Luise: Lady artists in Germany
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18391#0112
Lady Artists in Germajiy
" MORNING HOURS " FROM A PAINTING BY BERTHA WEGMANN
whatever, and is perhaps
an outflow of the artist's
inmost individuality, an
escape from the over-
whelming grandeur of his
subject.
Fraulein Bauck's por-
traits are worked entirely
from without to within.
Gradually, at a slow pace
of her own, she unriddles
the soul of the person she
paints. She feels her way
into the subject, she takes
human nature as a com-
plex of qualities, passions,
moods, likes and dislikes.
Yet there is nothing of
the dissecting anatomist
about her; she never
begins painting a meta-
physical theory, but just
the one specimen of man-
kind before her. This she
does with truly feminine
keenness of observation;
she accentuates detail
without overbalancing it;
to her means devotion and worship. This is one her work is nearly always athletic, hardly ever
reason out of many why there is never a touch acrobatic; she never " overdoes " it.
of the nervous, of the supersensitive in her work. Fraulein Wegmann is more widely known as an
She never attempts to be striking or dazzling, never artist than is Fraulein Bauck. She is of Swiss
dreams of showing what she herself can do, but she extraction, and she carries into her work some of
just takes the spectator's hand and silently leads the especial qualities of that Teutonic tribe. There
him to a quiet spot, where, in the spirit of true is in it that transparency of style which is so ad-
priesthood and prophecy, in a voice expressive of mirable in the writings of Gottfried Keller, the one
awe and reverence she will say to him : Behold, German author who is unanimously proclaimed to
the beauties of Law Divine; behold and help me be the worthy successor of Goethe so far as the
worship. The very restfulness of her manner has building up of the language is concerned. If her
gained more friends for her than admirers ; her work be musical, Fraulein Wegmann's music is
pictures always sell, though they would hardly that of Gliick. She is quick and impulsive, brim-
attract the crowd. Most of her landscapes have ful of laughter at times, but with a sympathetic
been acquired by English purchasers. There is tear ready for any one in trouble. She can be
an undercurrent of sadness in her landscapes which extremely grave too, but she loves a sparkle of
runs along as an accompaniment to the melody, or light, she catches the sunbeams dancing on the
as the distant gurgling sounds of a brook that lawn, the playful fluttering of soft spring-tide
has wrought its way through some stubborn piece leaves courted by the teasing breeze. There is
of ground by which it is hidden from sight, a touch of motherliness in her treatment of any-
Sometimes you fancy you hear that plaintive note thing young, from the sprouting grass, the flap-
of unsatisfied longing for perfection characteristic ping leaf just bursting from the bud, to the new-
of Chopin's music, then again it is that moodiness born lamb and the winsome baby. Her touch is
of Beethoven's which prompts him to go off in a vigorous, her drawing and her anatomy are ex-
freak, giving for a finale just a wee bit of a tune tremely conscientious. She loves colours- and she
which seemingly bears no relation upon the subject iust revels in light. Perhaps in this she bears a
95
" MORNING HOURS " FROM A PAINTING BY BERTHA WEGMANN
whatever, and is perhaps
an outflow of the artist's
inmost individuality, an
escape from the over-
whelming grandeur of his
subject.
Fraulein Bauck's por-
traits are worked entirely
from without to within.
Gradually, at a slow pace
of her own, she unriddles
the soul of the person she
paints. She feels her way
into the subject, she takes
human nature as a com-
plex of qualities, passions,
moods, likes and dislikes.
Yet there is nothing of
the dissecting anatomist
about her; she never
begins painting a meta-
physical theory, but just
the one specimen of man-
kind before her. This she
does with truly feminine
keenness of observation;
she accentuates detail
without overbalancing it;
to her means devotion and worship. This is one her work is nearly always athletic, hardly ever
reason out of many why there is never a touch acrobatic; she never " overdoes " it.
of the nervous, of the supersensitive in her work. Fraulein Wegmann is more widely known as an
She never attempts to be striking or dazzling, never artist than is Fraulein Bauck. She is of Swiss
dreams of showing what she herself can do, but she extraction, and she carries into her work some of
just takes the spectator's hand and silently leads the especial qualities of that Teutonic tribe. There
him to a quiet spot, where, in the spirit of true is in it that transparency of style which is so ad-
priesthood and prophecy, in a voice expressive of mirable in the writings of Gottfried Keller, the one
awe and reverence she will say to him : Behold, German author who is unanimously proclaimed to
the beauties of Law Divine; behold and help me be the worthy successor of Goethe so far as the
worship. The very restfulness of her manner has building up of the language is concerned. If her
gained more friends for her than admirers ; her work be musical, Fraulein Wegmann's music is
pictures always sell, though they would hardly that of Gliick. She is quick and impulsive, brim-
attract the crowd. Most of her landscapes have ful of laughter at times, but with a sympathetic
been acquired by English purchasers. There is tear ready for any one in trouble. She can be
an undercurrent of sadness in her landscapes which extremely grave too, but she loves a sparkle of
runs along as an accompaniment to the melody, or light, she catches the sunbeams dancing on the
as the distant gurgling sounds of a brook that lawn, the playful fluttering of soft spring-tide
has wrought its way through some stubborn piece leaves courted by the teasing breeze. There is
of ground by which it is hidden from sight, a touch of motherliness in her treatment of any-
Sometimes you fancy you hear that plaintive note thing young, from the sprouting grass, the flap-
of unsatisfied longing for perfection characteristic ping leaf just bursting from the bud, to the new-
of Chopin's music, then again it is that moodiness born lamb and the winsome baby. Her touch is
of Beethoven's which prompts him to go off in a vigorous, her drawing and her anatomy are ex-
freak, giving for a finale just a wee bit of a tune tremely conscientious. She loves colours- and she
which seemingly bears no relation upon the subject iust revels in light. Perhaps in this she bears a
95