Idea and story behind its construction
The connection between client and architect – Ludwig Roselius and Bernhard Hoetger – was unique in both their lives; ultimately, we have their collaboration to thank for the new face of Böttcherstrasse. Roselius repeatedly declared publicly that nobody but Hoetger could have built Paula Becker-Modersohn House. This was the first architectural test for the almost ideal pact of friendship between an artist and his patron. At the inauguration of the building, he referred to his pride in his investment and his confidence in the sculptor’s work. “Now that it has been completed, there can be no doubt in the mind of anyone who is au fait with the work of Paula Becker-Modersohn, that nobody but Hoetger could have built this.”Ludwig Roselius speaking at the inauguration of Paula Becker-Modersohn House on 2 June 1927. In: Walter Müller-Wulckow, Das Paula-Becker-Modersohn-Haus, Bremen 1930, p. 7.
- “Now that it has been completed, there can be no doubt in the mind of anyone who is au fait with the work of Paula Becker-Modersohn, that nobody but Hoetger could have built this.”Ludwig Roselius speaking at the inauguration of Paula Becker-Modersohn House on 2 June 1927. In: Walter Müller-Wulckow, Das Paula-Becker-Modersohn-Haus, Bremen 1930, p. 7.
As far back as early 1924, Ludwig Roselius outlined in a letter to HoetgerLudwig Roselius, letter dated 7 March 1924. his plans to build a house in Bremen in commemoration of the artist: a rather modest building-cum-mead hall. However, his plans changed over the course of the year when he decided to tear down most of the historical buildings on the left and in front of Roselius House and create space for “a large building”. “Perhaps I shall be able to house my entire Paula Becker-Modersohn collection somewhere.”Ludwig Roselius to Bernhard Hoetger, 10 December 1924. Historically, four small gabled houses on Böttcherstrasse – occupied by tradespeople – stood on the site along with two houses at Hinter dem Schütting 9 and 10, including the Schröder distillery and bar and a dance hall upstairs. The perimeter walls and roof of this building were retained; the bar became the public house “Zu den Sieben Faulen” and the dance hall was turned into an exhibition space with skylight. Roselius said, in retrospect,Ludwig Roselius, letter dated 18 September 1936, Bremen State Archive. “Paula Becker-Modersohn House is not and was never a unified building. When it was built, I did not have enough money for an entirely new build, so four old buildings had to be renovated, resulting in this extraordinarily romantic construct.”
- letter to HoetgerLudwig Roselius, letter dated 7 March 1924.
- “Perhaps I shall be able to house my entire Paula Becker-Modersohn collection somewhere.”Ludwig Roselius to Bernhard Hoetger, 10 December 1924.
- Roselius said, in retrospect,Ludwig Roselius, letter dated 18 September 1936, Bremen State Archive.
Hoetger’s tricky task was to incorporate parts of the old buildings into the new architecture and to build on the narrow site, which was bounded to the southeast by the rears of the commercial premises on Wachtstrasse, a four-storey, multifunctional museum that would be and have the impact of a significant work despite the tight site conditions.
As with all other new builds on this street, Paula Becker-Modersohn House had to fulfil multiple purposes, which the architectural design had to satisfy: a museum to house Roselius’ collection was moved to the top floor, below which were two floors of larger exhibition spaces for the “Bremen Art Show”, and on the ground floor arranged around an atrium were the craft workshops “Zu den Sieben Faulen”, the “Werkschau” craft shop and the artists’ public house. All the spaces were self-contained but interconnected like a warren. The appearance of the building is far from classical. Its proportions are hard to fathom, its overall scale impossible to grasp. On a narrow site, Hoetger managed to create a deceptively sprawling building. He mocked up the designs in clay, creating a large sculpture with an extensive interior. He saw architecture as sculpture on a large scale, which followed the rules of sculpting more closely than the laws of structural engineering. The functional aspect was of secondary importance to him, while the building structure itself was only sketchily developed. The masons often had nothing to go on but the clay model; if a wall collapsed, they started again. Heinrich Schmidt-Barrien describesHeinrich Schmidt-Barrien, Von der Bremer Böttcherstrasse, Bremen n.d., p. 26. “that it was more a case of modelling, sculpting and mysteriously giving form to metallic visions than traditional building and bricklaying.”
Work began in early 1926: the retained perimeter walls were provided with a new façade. The artists’ public house “Zu den Sieben Faulen” opened as early as that autumn, fully fitted out with furniture designed by Hoetger. The complicated building, which was not in any particular style and had very few similarities to existing buildings, was completed in early 1927 and inaugurated on 2 June, Roselius’ birthday. From this day forth, Paula Becker-Modersohn House was not only an attraction for the people of Bremen but a propaganda platform for developing a new “Nordic culture”. “Once we build another building like this and another, a new trend will emerge – ground-breaking, true to our roots, strong on Nordic values.”Ludwig Roselius at the inauguration of the building on 2 June 1927, ibid.
- Heinrich Schmidt-Barrien describesHeinrich Schmidt-Barrien, Von der Bremer Böttcherstrasse, Bremen n.d., p. 26.
- “Once we build another building like this and another, a new trend will emerge – ground-breaking, true to our roots, strong on Nordic values.”Ludwig Roselius at the inauguration of the building on 2 June 1927, ibid.
More of a walk-in sculpture than architecture
The combination of fine arts and applied arts, of architecture, visual art and craft was less of a tribute to the Bauhaus art school operating in Dessau at that time and more of a reference to the Gothic style and its mason’s guilds. Hoetger intended not structural calm and balance but saw the building structure as an organic construct, so the plan and all forms arising out of it – down to the decorative elements on the surface of the brick façade on which the sunlight plays – can only be seen in terms of motion and in terms of the movement of the user. The entrance looks like a “bocca”, an open mouthW. Müller-Wulckow, ibid., p. 22. in the diffuse light of a cave, which ingests those who enter into the strange, semi-mystical atmosphere of the ‘sacred’ building structure. “Nobody is unaffected by the suggestive allure of this entrance.”ibid., p. 23 The rational falls by the wayside; the experience of a magical space precedes the experience of sublime art. This explains why Hoetger moved the entrance to the exhibition space to the end of a winding stairway up to the first floor, also leading to the roof terrace over the atrium and the ‘Friesenstube’. Here, adjoining Roselius House, there were two ateliers for visual artists, one of them occupied for a time by Ernst Müller-Scheessel, while the other was used by Roselius’ daughter Irmgard Roselius. Wooden stairs at the side of the large exhibition space on the first floor led into the central tower with its winding stairway leading to the editorial offices of the periodical “Die Böttcherstrasse” on the second floor and the Paula Becker-Modersohn room on the third floor. According to Müller-Wulckow,ibid., p. 25. this stairway “is suggestive of the steady ascendency of this exceptional artist’s growth out of the close confines and the usual standard of pedestrian art.” The stair tower forms the central axis of the organic construct and was roofed in copper, beneath which there was originally an illuminated sign for Kaffee HAG.
- an open mouthW. Müller-Wulckow, ibid., p. 22.
- “Nobody is unaffected by the suggestive allure of this entrance.”ibid., p. 23
- According to Müller-Wulckow,ibid., p. 25.
At the marketplace end of Böttcherstrasse, Hoetger created a bridge connecting the two sides of the street and finishing off the outside of the Böttcherstrasse complex as a unified construct. Over the passage was a glazed plastic brick relief that was lit up in the dark; “illuminated as if by magic in the dark, a mysterious, curious construct looms out of the alley leading southwards. The allure of the fantastical and the unknown is irresistible. Better than any company nameplate or signpost, crossing the threshold marks the start of and the portal into the new Böttcherstrasse.”W. Müller-Wulckow, ibid., p. 21 After the golden ‘Bringer of Light’ was mounted in 1936, the original design of the entrance façade was lost. Nothing survives of the ornate glazing.
You can download a text about the Lichtbringer here:
- the start of and the portal into the new Böttcherstrasse.”W. Müller-Wulckow, ibid., p. 21
The most unconventional building in post-World War I Bremen, Paula Becker-Modersohn House was not only met with lack of comprehension and some criticism in the field, but it also heralded the aesthetic reception of Böttcherstrasse as a gradually emerging single, unified and harmonious ensemble – a Gesamtkunstwerk – which was unique in Germany. Though it was intended to epitomise a ‘Nordic Style’, the building was not emulated, not even by Hoetger himself, and the virtuoso art of modern brick architecture, which he mastered like no other, came to an end. Concrete, glass and steel were the chosen building materials for Atlantis House, which began construction in 1929. Whereas the brief for Paula Becker-Modersohn House was, by reviving old traditions, to be a beacon for a new Germany, to pave the way for shaping the future, not just in terms of architecture and culture but in terms of the confluence of idea and matter, spirit and deed. Roselius said at the inauguration of the building,Ludwig Roselius at the inauguration of the building on 2 June 1927, ibid. “Straddling the divide being between matter and spirit our God-given destiny is to transform matter into spirit. That is the innermost and most sacred purpose of life.”
Despite its chequered history and the ravages of World War II, Paula Becker-Modersohn House is still a treasure trove of fine and applied arts. After it was rebuilt, the craft workshops in the inner courtyard were reoccupied, art galleries and the photography forum moved into the spacious exhibition rooms and the winners of the annual “Böttcherstrasse Art Prize” were exhibited here. The former craft shop “Werkschau” is still known throughout Germany as a gallery for high-quality artistic craftsmanship from all over the world. Ultimately, however, the building reverted to its original use and became what it was intended to be: a museum dedicated to the artist Paula Modersohn-Becker.
- Roselius said at the inauguration of the building,Ludwig Roselius at the inauguration of the building on 2 June 1927, ibid.
Ludwig Roselius, Bernhard Hoetger and Paula Modersohn-Becker
Bernhard Hoetger got to know Paula Modersohn-BeckerIn art history books, the painter is referred to as Paula Modersohn-Becker, while Ludwig Roselius insisted on putting her maiden name first when naming the house dedicated to her. during her second stay in Paris, when she came to visit him in early 1906. “I was a little lonely.”Paula Modersohn-Becker to Bernhard Hoetger, Paris 5 May 1906. In: Paula Modersohn-Becker in Briefen und Tagebüchern, (ed. G. Busch, L. von Reinken), Frankfurt/M. 1979, p. 443. She had long renounced German painting traditions and had intuitively begun to assimilate the French late and post-Impressionist style of painting, especially the visual language of Paul Gauguin. Hoetger recognised her huge talent and encouraged her to be independent; in the most important artistic phase of her development, he became her friend and mentor – and one of the first of her peers to truly appreciate her work. “You gave me something wonderful. You gave me myself. I gained courage.”ibid.
He later followed in her footsteps, moving to Worpswede in 1916. He saw himself as a direct successor of hers, and it was no accident that he built his first home, a two-storey castle-like house, right beside her former atelier ‘Brünjeshof’. However, soon it became no longer just about perpetuating the memory of a friend and honouring and collecting her works, but rather elevating the painter to iconic status, on which Roselius and Hoetger were in full agreement. Together they created the legend of Paula, because both believed not only was her art superior to all contemporaneous art but was nothing less than timeless, mythical. She was stylised as a seer and high priestess of the truth: “Paula is the painter of truth. Never before was there a painter who painted the truth.”Ludwig Roselius at the inauguration of the building on 2 June 1927, in: idem.; Reden und Schriften zur Böttcherstrasse in Bremen, Bremen 1932, p.12. When inaugurating the house dedicated to her, Roselius sealedibid. her apotheosis: “Her love towards humankind, as the Saviour teaches, made her invincible.”
Client and architect saw in this exceptional artist’s oeuvre a reawakening of a Nordic myth, to which not only Hoetger was devoted as part of his identity, but which for Roselius, too, gradually became the defining purpose of the entire Böttcherstrasse, “The match that is burned to kindle a new and greater era for Germany.”Ludwig Roselius 1926
Text
Bernd Küster
Literature
- Nils Aschenbeck, Das Paula Becker-Modersohn Haus von Bernhard Hoetger, in: Projekt Böttcherstraße, Hrsg. H. Tallasch, Delmenhorst 2002, S. 157 ff.
- Walter Müller-Wulckow, Das Paula Becker-Modersohn Haus, Führer und Plan, Bremen 1930.
- Katharina Uhl, Januskopf Böttcherstraße, Kulturelle Erneuerung, gebaute Utopie und nationale Identität, Diss. Münster 2014
- Paula Modersohn-BeckerIn art history books, the painter is referred to as Paula Modersohn-Becker, while Ludwig Roselius insisted on putting her maiden name first when naming the house dedicated to her.
- “I was a little lonely.”Paula Modersohn-Becker to Bernhard Hoetger, Paris 5 May 1906. In: Paula Modersohn-Becker in Briefen und Tagebüchern, (ed. G. Busch, L. von Reinken), Frankfurt/M. 1979, p. 443.
- “You gave me something wonderful. You gave me myself. I gained courage.”ibid.
- “Paula is the painter of truth. Never before was there a painter who painted the truth.”Ludwig Roselius at the inauguration of the building on 2 June 1927, in: idem.; Reden und Schriften zur Böttcherstrasse in Bremen, Bremen 1932, p.12.
- Roselius sealedibid.
- “The match that is burned to kindle a new and greater era for Germany.”Ludwig Roselius 1926