In 1904, Käthe Kollwitz undertook a two-month trip to Paris with the aim of learning sculptural techniques.
As an established artist, Käthe Kollwitz expanded her artistic repertoire to include sculptural work, and in 1904, while studying at the Académie Julian in Paris, she visited the eminent sculptor Auguste Rodin in his studio.
During Auguste Rodin’s lifetime, those interested in visiting his two studios in the Rue de l’Université and in Meudon still needed letters of recommendation. Hugo von Tschudi, then director of the Berlin National Gallery, provided Kollwitz with the necessary letter in 1904: “Dear Rodin,” he wrote, “allow me to introduce Käthe Kollwitz to you (…). She is very talented and is one of our best artists.”
Kollwitz, who admired Rodin, reported in her diary on her encounter with the famous sculptor, which was “unforgettable” for her. The historical photograph shows the sculptor in his studio in 1898, with a larger-than-life work and working utensils behind him.
The historical photografie shows budding female sculptors working from a male nude model. Women in the 19th century who aspired to an artistic education could only do so within the framework of private training institutions. They were long denied the academic training opportunities of men, including drawing in front of an unclothed (male or female) nude model. This restriction meant that the field of genre and history painting, for example, remained closed to them. Their pictorial motifs were therefore often limited to flower and garden motifs. The studios in the ladies’ academies modelled their teaching on the royal academies. Unlike the men, however, the women had to pay a monthly fee, as the ladies’ academies had to finance themselves without state subsidies.
French sculptor Raoul Verlet (1857-1923) taught at the private Académie Julian and was among the many monument sculptors who decorated public spaces with pathetic baroque statues in late 19th century France.
This is how the artist recalls her stay in Paris:
“The decade between thirty and forty was, in every respect, a very happy one. We had what we needed to live, the growing children prospered, trips were made. I was in Paris twice during those years. The first time only for a short period, following an invitation from Lily and Heinrich Braun, the second time for longer. Paris enchanted me. In the mornings I was in the old Julian School in the class for sculpting, to familiarize myself with the basics of sculpture. The afternoons and evenings were spent in museums in the city that delighted me, in the cellars around the market halls or in the dance halls in Montmartre or in Bal Bullier. A colleague of mine, Ida Gerhardi, was there evening after evening to do sketches. The cocottes knew her and always gave her their things to keep while they danced. (…) We dined in the evening in one of those big places where the artists ate en masse, sitting together according to their nationality, on the Boulevard Montparnasse.”
Käthe Kollwitz, Diaries 1908-1943, p. 742.
