Three years after the large retrospective of Hans Purrmann’s work at the Kunstforum der Berliner Volksbank, a major exhibition was dedicated to his wife and fellow artist. The comprehensive presentation of the works of Mathilde Vollmoeller-Purrmann were created in cooperation with the Purrmann-Haus Speyer.
Mathilde Vollmoeller-Purrmann’s life and work are exemplary for an entire generation of women artists around 1900. As for many of her contemporaries, the metropolises of Berlin and Paris are the formative stages of her artistic career. In Berlin, Mathilde Vollmoeller was a student of Leo von König and Sabine Lepsius. In Paris, she exhibited successfully at the “Salon d’Automne” and the “Indépendants” and was a member of the “Académie Matisse”. For a long time, it was assumed that she had given up painting after her marriage to fellow artist Hans Purrmann. It was only after the rediscovery of a large part of her oeuvre that it could be proven that Mathilde Vollmoeller-Purrmann continued her artistic activity throughout her life.
The exhibition focused on Mathilde Vollmoeller-Purrmann’s paintings and watercolours. In addition, the role of women artists around 1900 was illuminated. In this context, the artists’ Sabine Lepsius (1864 – 1942), Marg Moll (1884 – 1977) and Maria Slavona (1865 – 1931), who were friends of Mathilde Vollmoeller, were introduced. A juxtaposition of works by Hans and Mathilde Purrmann focused on this extraordinary artistic marriage.
With the exhibition “Mathilde Vollmoeller-Purrmann (1876 – 1943). Berlin – Paris – Berlin,” Mathilde Vollmoeller’s artistic work returned after around 100 years to the art metropolis of Berlin, where, under the influence of the portrait painter Sabine Lepsius, the artist decided to train professionally in painting and lived for many years. Her life and work are exemplary for a whole generation of women artists around 1900.