Christian Rohlfs, Männchen, Charcoal & Watercolor, Certificate of Authenticity, Provenance: Paul Vogt, Essen

Christian Rohlfs

1849 Niendorf/Holstein - 1938 Hagen

Little Man

Charcoal and watercolor on paper

Sheet size: approx. 12.2 x 7.5 cm

Frame: 19.5 x 25.5 cm

Provenance: Paul Vogt Collection, Private Collection, Rhineland

Expertise: Galerie Utermann, Dortmund



Paul Vogt (* May 29, 1926 in Essen-Holsterhausen; † October 1, 2017 in Münster) was a German art historian and university professor.

Prof. Paul Vogt studied art history, archaeology, and prehistory in Göttingen and received his doctorate in philosophy in 1950 under Heinz Rudolf Rosemann (1900–1977) with a dissertation on the landscape in 16th-century Dutch printmaking. He was curator of the Museum Folkwang in Essen from 1954 and, succeeding Heinz Köhn, director from 1963 to 1988. This position also led to his appointment as director of the German Poster Museum. In 1977, he was appointed to the University of Duisburg-Essen.

Prof. Paul Vogt was an honorary member of the Folkwang Museum Association and a member of the Ruhr Cultural Foundation from 1984. He was awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.

400 of the works in the Rohlfs Collection at the Osthaus Museum were donated by Prof. Dr. Paul Vogt from Essen. Prof. Vogt, former chairman of the Ruhr Cultural Foundation and former director of the Museum Folkwang in Essen, and also the artist's nephew, was the administrator of Christian Rohlfs's estate.

Christian Rohlfs was born on December 20, 1849, the youngest son of a farmer in Niendorf. At the age of 15, he injured his right knee and was forced to spend two years in bed. During this illness, Christian Rohlfs began to draw. The poet Theodor Storm, who saw the boy's drawings, sent him to the art critic Ludwig Pietsch in Berlin in 1869. Pietsch gave him a letter of recommendation for the Grand Ducal Academy in Weimar, where Rohlfs studied from 1870 to 1874. Rohlfs received support from the Grand Duke, allowing him to live and work financially secure for many years. In 1871, his leg condition worsened, and in 1873, his right leg was amputated.
In 1876, Rohlfs transferred to the Academy in Weimar. from 1884, Christian Rohlfs worked as a freelance painter.
In 1901, Rohlfs met Karl Ernst Osthaus through Henry van de Velde. Osthaus appointed him to the planned Folkwang School in Hagen, but the school never began teaching there. In 1903, Rohlfs first saw works by Vincent van Gogh and contemporary French painters at the Folkwang Museum.
Christian Rohlfs's painting style originated in the naturalism of the Weimar School of painting, before a turn to Impressionism became apparent around 1880. In the 1890s, his paintings became increasingly colorful. Through a Neo-Impressionist phase, Christian Rohlfs arrived at his expressive late style around 1906. His turn to Expressionism likely followed his acquaintance with Emil Nolde, whom Rohlfs met during his summer stay in Soest in 1905. Christian Rohlfs created his actual work in the following years, already over 50 years old. He painted his most powerful works between the ages of 70 and 80.
In 1907, Christian Rohlfs joined the "Sonderbund Westdeutscher Kunstfreunde und Künstler" (Social League of West German Art Lovers and Artists), led by Karl Ernst Osthaus. In 1911, he became a member of the "New Secession" and in 1914 of the "Free Secession." On his 75th birthday, the city of Hagen honored him by making him an honorary citizen; in the same year, Rohlfs also became a member of the Prussian Academy of Arts.
In 1937, Rohlfs was ostracized by the Nazis and banned from exhibiting. 412 of his works were removed from German museums as "degenerate art."
from 1927 to 1937, Christian Rohlfs spent the summer months in Ascona every year. In 1929, the Christian Rohlfs Museum was founded in Hagen in honor of his 80th birthday. Christian Rohlfs died in Hagen on January 8, 1938.