In the autumn and winter of 2017/18, the Hamburger Kunsthalle will
present the first extensive museum show of the work of the Hamburg-based
painter Anita Rée (1885–1933). Featuring some 200 paintings, works on
paper and art objects, the retrospective sheds light on an important and
multifaceted oeuvre, ranging from Impressionist plein air painting to
Mediterranean landscapes to portraits in the spirit of the New
Objectivity. The Hamburger Kunsthalle’s rich holdings of works by Rée,
comprising 13 paintings and 25 works on paper, will be supplemented by
significant pieces from private and public collections in Germany,
England, Switzerland and the USA.
Anita Rée (1885–1933)Selbstbildnis, 1930
Anita Rée took painting lessons from Arthur Siebelist in Hittfeld, did
further training in Paris in the winter of 1912/13, and worked from
1922 to 1925 in Positano in southern Italy. After her return to Hamburg,
Rée’s many portraits and public commissions brought her nationwide
recognition, and she was able to make valuable contacts in the art
world. She spent her last years living a reclusive life on the island of
Sylt, where she took her own life in 1933.
Anita Rée (1885–1933)Selbstbildnis, um 1913
The retrospective at the Hamburger Kunsthalle invites visitors to
discover a great artist. Anita Rée grapples in her art with questions of
identity, exploring the relationship of the individual to society and
the feeling of belonging in a fast-changing world. As a painter
straddling tradition and modernism, an independent woman on the art
scene, as a regional artist with international aspirations and someone
with South American and Jewish roots brought up in Protestant Hamburg,
Rée lived in many senses between different worlds.
Anita Rée (1885–1933)Blaue Frau, vor 1919
The exhibition stems from an interdisciplinary research
project involving in-depth art-historical and art-technological studies.
Archives in Hamburg, Germany and elsewhere in Europe were
systematically searched for traces of Rée’s life and work. With the
support of the ZEIT-Stiftung, her artistic methods and the materials she
used in her paintings and works on paper were investigated
scienti-ically. Thanks to the new insights thus gained, we are now able
to appreciate Anita Rée as an active and self-assured artist and not
view her merely as a victim of her times, gender or religion.
At the end of the exhibition, the Hamburger Kunsthalle will publish a
new catalogue raisonné of Anita Rée’s work, compiled in collaboration
with the art historian Maike Bruhns and funded by the Hermann Reemtsma
Stiftung.
Anita Rée (1885–1933)Stillleben mit Orangenbaum, vor 1920Anita Rée (1885–1933)Paar (Zwei römische Köpfe), 1922–1925Anita Rée (1885–1933)Weiße Nussbäume, 1922–1925Anita Rée (1885–1933)Teresina, 1922–1925Anita Rée (1885–1933)Bildnis Hilde Zoepffel, um 1928Anita Rée (1885–1933)Bildnis Hildegard Heise, um 1927Anita Rée (1885–1933)6. Doppelbüsi-Karte, 1929Anita Rée (1885–1933)Verirrtes Schaf in verschneiten Dünen, 1932/33Anita Rée (1885–1933)Gelber Dünenhügel, 1932/33Anita Rée (1885–1933)Affenschrank, 1932 [detail]Anita Rée (1885–1933)Affenschrank, 1932 [detail]Anita Rée (1885–1933)Marionetten für Die schöne Galathée (Pygmalion und Galathée), 1930 [detail]Anita Rée (1885–1933)Marionetten für Die schöne Galathée (Pygmalion und Galathée), 1930 [detail]
