Skeptical, open and clear, she looks at the world at any age.
Ottilie Wilhelmine Roederstein (1859–1937) must have been an exceptionally interesting person.
Now she looks at us, nine times, as a young girl, as a self-confident student, as a Parisian by choice, as an established artist in Frankfurt and far beyond.
And, almost at the end of her life, with a bunch of keys in her hand, as if the key in her hands would also close the last creative chapter.
Eva Maria Magel
Senior cultural editor of the Rhein-Main-Zeitung.
Follow I follow
Of the 80 or so fascinating and thematically diverse works that the Städel Museum now has for “Frei.
creating.
The Painter Ottilie W. Roederstein" shows in seven themed rooms and with a lot of archive material and wonderful photographs, the self-portraits, of which Roederstein made an unusually large number, particularly attract the viewer.
The bright eyes reflect the painterly gaze that is now gathered in the wing on Holbeinstrasse.
Roederstein made a name for herself early on as a portraitist and was able to make a very good living from her work.
Paint religious motifs
How her style has subtly changed, was quite modern, but still committed to nature, to the object, conservatively modern to a certain extent, can be understood in the themed rooms, as can her curiosity about new motifs, materials and techniques.
Where the viewer is first greeted by "Miss Mosher or Fin d'été", an extremely tall, narrow full-length portrait that brought Roederstein a silver medal in the Swiss Pavilion at the 1889 World Exhibition and which is somewhat reminiscent of Art Nouveau motifs, the path in the farthest room leads to one Pietà with a hint of Holbein and the signature "Paris 1897" - at that time Roederstein was already so established that she could paint religious motifs that fascinated her without being commissioned.
The painting normally hangs in the parish of Saint Peter and Paul in Hofheim am Taunus.
The two curators of the exhibition, Eva-Maria Höllerer and Alexander Eiling, show in an impressive and stimulating way how worthwhile it is to look at Roederstein's life story, work, contemporary history, art and above all the large network of friends and colleagues .
The fact that Roederstein spent most of her life and career in Frankfurt and Hofheim am Taunus makes the job all the more attractive for local visitors.
Roederstein, who moved to Paris as a young woman to complete her education and had a pied à terre there until the First World War, was internationally active and networked early on.
In 1891 Roederstein, who grew up in Switzerland, moved to Frankfurt with her partner Elisabeth Winterhalter.
It is not known whether the two were lovers.
In any case, like many women's teams back then, they enabled each other to do what a woman could not achieve alone: build a career, travel, make decisions on her own.
Winterhalter was able to practice as a gynecologist in Frankfurt, and she too was a pioneer who campaigned for women's education.
And Roederstein reckoned with good chances in a city where there were few painters and models - rightly so, as quickly proved.
From 1909 onwards, Winterhalter and Roederstein built a home and studio in Hofheim am Taunus, a hub for many international artist relationships.
The archive, maintained by friend and neighbor Hermann Jughenn, came to the Städel Museum in 2019, and its evaluation has already contributed to the exhibition and will be continued.
With 28 of its own works, including the first purchase by a female artist, the “Old Woman Reading” from 1902, the Städel can pursue the proven strategy of building up a comprehensive exhibition from its own holdings.
If the coolness of the museum rooms and the reduced admission price due to the renovation of the modern halls attract even more visitors than usual, the combination of Roederstein and Frankfurt should once again become a successful model.
"Free. creating. The Painter Ottilie W. Roederstein”, Städel Museum, until October 16. The catalog costs 39.90 euros in the exhibition, extensive digital and analog accompanying program.