Berlin’s reputation as a vibrant progressive city is well deserved, but finding the work of women in museum collections can be challenging even here. According to the director of the Neue Nationalgalerie, only 9% of the artworks in its collection are by women artists. And in the Spring of 2022, 14% of the 250 works on display in the museum were completed by women. While these numbers are higher than those of some institutions, museums in Berlin (and the rest of Europe and North America) have a long way to go. We can’t make museums expedite their processes of representing more women, but we can highlight the ones currently on display. This series of articles presents the work of female artists you can see today in Berlin.
The Berlinische Galerie: Berlin’s beloved female artists
The Berlinische Galerie exhibits modern art and architecture, showcasing works primarily from Berlin artists from 1870 to the present. Its extensive collection includes paintings, sculptures, prints, and multimedia works, highlighting the city’s rich artistic heritage and contemporary creativity. The museum has clearly and repeatedly communicated its aim to exhibit more works by women, and it has demonstrated a commitment to this goal in its archives, temporary exhibitions, and permanent collection. You’ll be able to find some of Berlin’s most famous female artists here, including Hannah Höch, Jeanne Mammen, and Sibylle Bergemann.
Women in the archive: Hannah Höch and Das Verborgene Museum
The BG’s extensive archival holdings include two significant collections for women artists: the Hannah Höch estate and the archive of Das Verborgene Museum (translation: the hidden museum).
Hannah Höch (1889-1978), one of the most influential German modernist, experimented with styles and media to communicate controversial opinions — including the value of women and “feminine” activities. She is remembered as one of the creators of photomontage and as the only woman allowed to participate in the Berlin Dada group. She also created a reputation for herself as a woman who lived outside the bounds of appropriate female behavior; she wore clothes made for men, had romantic relationships with men and women, and painted her politics onto her canvases. Her archive comprises around 12,000 items that document her life, work, and social context, and it is often in use as contemporary art historians rediscover her significance. You can explore parts of the archive online.
Das Verborgene Museum investigated and promoted the work of more than 150 women artists, some of whom were renowned in their time but fell into obscurity — Lotte Laserstein and Ulrike Ottinger among them. While in operation between 1986 and 2022, it partners with museums, including the BG, to stage exhibitions of artifacts in its archive and associated artwork from private and public collections. Since the BG accepted the responsibility to care for and promote the archive in 2022, it “continues the discovery of and research into women artists, to institutionalise it in a museum with a collection and an archive, and to increase its reach,” according to the The Art Newspaper. These archives also spill into the permanent and temporary exhibitions organized by the museum.
Temporary exhibition of female artists: Alicja Kwade and Nina Canell
Over the past few years, visitors to the BG encountered monumental sculptures made by women in the museum’s contemporary galleries. We crunched our feet on Canell’s seashells in “Tectonic Tender” and considered our biological reality during the chaos of Covid closures and modified openings through Kwade’s rhythmic works in “In Abwesenheit.” Other temporary exhibitions at the BG presented the photographs of Sibylle Bergemann from the GDR and the wooden sculptures of Louise Stomps (in conjunction with the DVM). Thematic exhibitions, such as “Images in Fashion — Clothing in Art,” prominently featured the women who defined fashion journals, illustrations, and textile arts in Berlin beginning in the nineteenth century.
Women permanently on view: from Julie Wolfthorn and Jeanne Mammen to Becky Sandstede
Visitors to the BG find work by women artists, including Julie Wolfthorn, Jeanne Mammen, Becky Sandstede, and Hannah Höch, hanging in the permanent galleries. Importantly, this isn’t only a history of women artists but of Jewish and queer artists. Julie Wolfthorn contributed to the Berlin Secession movement with innovative paintings and graphic works until, tragically, the Nazi government murdered her in a concentration camp. Her younger contemporary, Jeanne Mammen, was a queer painter and illustrator known for her vibrant depictions of Berlin’s urban life during the Weimar Republic, particularly her portrayals of emancipated women and marginalized communities. After the Second World War, Becky Sandstede participated in the development of German abstract expressionism in West Berlin and has received praise for her innovative use of color and form. These women are joined by female sculptors, architects, and photographers. While they comprise a small percentage of the total works on display, there are enough works created by women to keep you occupied for a visit.