(Dresden 1876–1907 Worpswede) Seated girl with a straw hat with a child in her lap, dated 04, tempera on card mounted on masonite, 74 x 58 cm, framed, (PS)

Provenance: private collection Bremen/Lucerne J. Dik, Munich (from 1961); Galerie Änne Abels, Cologne (from 1964); private collection Soest (from 1974) Exhibition: Munich, Haus der Kunst, 14.3-10.5.1964, Secession, Europäische Kunst um die Jahrhundertwende, cat. no. 344 (there entitled: Mutter und Kind (Mother and Child); exhibition label) Literature: Günter Busch, Wolfgang Werner (ed.), Paula Modersohn-Becker 1876–1907, Werkverzeichnis der Gemälde, Munich 1998, vol. II, cat. no. 514, p. 354f. with b/w ill. ‘In her representation of this child, Paula Modersohn-Becker clearly sets herself apart from tradition. A cheerful atmosphere of play, and bourgeois safety, are completely missing. Instead the children look serious and hold their heads slightly down. They do not exhibit a childlike lightness of being, but seem melancholy instead. The wide open eyes of the children are noticeable, which even when they are aimed at the viewer, seem to look straight through him. This effect is caused by the fact that their eyes forms unified dark circles, with no distinction being made between pupil and iris. Because of this the child, even when presented frontally in the nearest picture plane to the viewer, appears abstracted, distanced and its gaze does not make contact with the observer.’ (Helmut Friedel (ed.), Paula Modersohn-Becker 1876–1907 Retrospektive, Lenbachhaus Munich 1997, Kinder 1902–1905), p. 171. ‘Paula Modersohn-Becker manages in an inimitable way to capture in this picture the need of the child for closeness, tenderness and companionship. In doing so she eschews all sentimentality and the anecdoctal or superficial portrait-like moments. Instead she concentrates completely of the physical language of the child, its way of holding on to itself, leaning on one another, embracing one another or pulling younger or weaker children in with a protective gesture. Employing simple, spare means, the artist managed to express friendship, caring and the need for protection. (...) The repeatedly represented gestures of caring are arrestingly brought to bear, when an older or healthier girl places her arm lovingly and responsibly around a younger or more helpless child. In these as well as many other paintings by Modersohn-Becker, formal movements of circling, rounding, enclosing are accorded particular significance. Not least, they seem to point towards peace, stability and wholeness drawn from the artist’s own yearning and inner turmoil.’ (Christa Murken, Paula Modersohn-Becker, Kinderbildnisse, Ostfildern-Ruit 2004, p. 78f.)