Head with Flowing Hair
1921
Karl Schmidt-Rottluff (German, 1884-1976)
Not on View

In 1905, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff became a founding member of the German Expressionist group Die Brücke, a Dresden-based artist collective dedicated to establishing a connection between the primitive work of the past and the art of the present by renouncing academic tradition. Schmidt-Rottluff was strongly influenced by the colorful palettes of van Gogh and Matisse, and though he began his career defining structure with the careful juxtaposition of flat areas of color, by the early 1920s he was using strong, simple lines to create form. This portrait is a superb example of the transition, as deep, jewel-toned washes fill jagged black lines that delineate eyes, nose, lips and hair. Though the depiction is admittedly stylized, the sitter resembles the artist’s wife, Emy Frisch, who was portrayed with similar features in a husband-and-wife double portrait that same year.

Details

  • Artist Name: Karl Schmidt-Rottluff (German, 1884-1976)
  • Title: Head with Flowing Hair
  • Date: 1921
  • Medium: Watercolor and ink on laid paper
  • Dimensions: 19 x 15-3/4 in. (48.3 x 40.0 cm)
  • Credit Line: Norton Simon Museum, The Blue Four Galka Scheyer Collection
  • Accession Number: P.1953.313
  • Copyright: © 2017 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn Reproduction, including downloading of ARS works is prohibited by copyright laws and international conventions without the express written permission of Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Object Information

Galka Scheyer, acquired in Germany by 1924;
Pasadena Art Institute, Pasadena, 1953-1954;
Pasadena Art Museum, Pasadena,1954-1975;
Norton Simon Museum, 1975.

European Modernists

  • Los Angeles, California School of Fine Arts, 1927-04 to ?-

The Blue Four and Their Contemporaries

  • Norton Simon Museum, 1991-06-20 to 1992-05-24

Works by the Die Brucke Artists

  • Pasadena Museum of Modern Art, 1973-04-24 to 1973-06-03

Contemporary German Watercolor Painting

  • California Palace of the Legion of Honor, 1936-06-06 to 1936-08-01

German Expressionist Exhibition

  • Norton Simon Museum, 1988-05-19 to 1989-06-18

Expressionists

  • Los Angeles, Hollywood Gallery of Modern Art (Lorser Feitelson), 1935 to ?-

Thirty European Modernists

  • Oakland Art Gallery, 1928-01-04 to 1928-01-29

From Europe to California: Galka Scheyer and the Avant-Garde

  • Norton Simon Museum, 2003-05-16 to 2003-10-13

The Galka Scheyer Collection: Klee, Nolde, Jawlensky, Moholy-Nagy, Schmidt-Rottluff, Schwitters, Archipenko, Kandinsky, Lissitzky, Feininger, Kirchner, Dix_1

  • La Jolla, Art Center in La Jolla, 1960-07-05 to 1960-08-14

Gaze: Portraiture After Ingres

  • Norton Simon Museum, 2009-10-30 to 2010-04-05

Bauhaus Painters; Spirit of Modernism: Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, Lyonel Feininger, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, El Lissitzky, Oskar Schlemmer, Alexander Archipenko, Alexei Jawlensky and Others

  • Seoul, Ho-Am Art Museum, 1996-02-08 to 1996-04-28

The Spirit of Modernism: Galka Scheyer in the New World

  • Norton Simon Museum, 1994-11-17 to 1996-01-14

The Blue Four-Galka Scheyer Collection From The Norton Simon Museum

  • Henry Art Gallery, 1997-07-17 to 1997-10-05

Permanent and Loan Collection, 1973

  • Pasadena Museum of Modern Art, 1973-01-30 to 1973-12-31
  • The Blue Four Galka Scheyer Collection, Norton Simon Museum of Art at Pasadena, 1976, no. 441 p. 155
  • Barnett, Vivian Endicott, The Blue Four Collection at the Norton Simon Museum, 2002, no. 415 pp. 415-416

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