Henriette Hahn-Brinckmann, I wonder ...

Henriette Christine Hahn-Brinckmann

(1862-1934)

Danish/German painter and pioneer printmaker.

Exhibited in Germany 1898 and 1901.

(This supposedly portrait of Henriette appeared actually to represent her sister: Henrikka Møller-Hahn. See the comment of sept. 14th 2015) 

Two days ago I read expert Charles' recent posting in Modern Printmakers dealing with an early (1912) William Giles' (1872-1939) print and it left me wondering if Giles' orange sun disk may have been inspired inspired by a print by Henriete Hahn created a decade earlier in 1898.  She was then already known for her innovative floral designs combined with woodblock printing a few years earlier. I understand Giles visited Germany in the early 1900's because I know of his series of 1905 prints depicting the city of Quedlinburg, its castle and surroundings. 

Henriette was born in Kopenhagen in 1862 as the daughter of the sailing-ships captain Christian Hahn and Caroline Nielsen. She attended the Arts and Crafts school in Kopenhagen and was appointed teacher there and later acquired a position at the famous Arts and Craft School for Girls in Hamburg (Kunstgewerbeschule). She left for Paris to work and study in 1892 when Hamburg schools closed because of the outbreak of cholera.  

"Passionsblumen": 1897

She was later to become the third wife of founder and first  director Justus Brinckmann (1843-1915) of the Kunstgewerbe Museum. Earlier she created woodblock print illustrations for his book on Japanese pottery. Brinckmann's fascination for Japanese prints lead to exhibitions in Hamburg as early as 1896. He must have been fascinated by Henriette in person too because returning from Paris she presented him their (illegitimate) daughter in 1893, later marrying him and giving him another 3 children (read Brinckmann's interesting biography here*). During her marriage she was not allowed to be professionally publicly active by her husband, forcing her to continue her artistic career after his death in 1915. 

"Abenstimmung": 1904

Her innovative print "Schwanenwiek" shows a very Art-Deco flock of swans in the "Außer Alster" in Hamburg (Schwanenwik is the name of the Park) and is a purely Impressionist composition of the sun, its light and it's reflections. The swans' differences in perspective and volumes are very un-Japanese. It was printed probably from 6 blocks with watercolor paint, without a key block and with "flowing" colors. The leafless tree and trelliswork on the other hand are very Japanese elements. The orange sun and its reflections could inspired by Claude Monet's 1872 painting.

The vertical dimension of this large print (of an edition of 50 pulled) to emphasize this was meant to be an independent work of art and not an illustration. The print was widely praised and discussed at the time. 

Although Charles' posting was the reason for this posting this is a good opportunity to show some more examples of Hahn innovative works. By birth she is the (almost*) oldest(**) of the first generation of German (Nordic) women working with woodblock printmaking born 1860-1900 and working in Hamburg, Berlin, Dresden and Munich. 

(*) See also the discovery and research on Danish/German printmaker Emma Maier (Meier) (1859-1921) who also worked and teached in the Kunstgewerbe Schule in Hamburg.  

(**) printmaker Eleonore Doelter was born 1855 but only later in life became involved in printmaking.

Information on "Schwanenwiek": Birgit Ahrens in "Wege zur Gabrielle Munter und Käthe Kolwitz, 2013.

All pictures are mouse-clickable to embiggen and borrowed freely from the Internet for friendly, educational and non commercial use only.