Ottilie Roederstein (Zurich 1859 - 1937 Hofheim am Taunus) - Lot 127

Ottilie Roederstein (Zurich 1859 - 1937 Hofheim am Taunus) "Writing child": young schoolboy with slate tablet Oil on canvas (original canvas from the Paul Foinet house) 81 x 65 cm. Signed, localized and dated lower left: Paris 1885 On back, ink mark on stretcher: 186 Exhibition: Most probably the painting exhibited at the 1886 Salon des Artistes Français, no. 2041, under the title "Enfant écrivant". Ottilie Roederstein, born in Zurich and educated at the Beaux-Arts in Berlin and with Karl Gussow in Bern, moved to Paris in 1882, following her classmate and close friend Annie Hopf. There, she frequented the studios of Carolus-Duran and Jean-Jacques Henner, and was one of the first women to study the academic nude in evening sessions, which was considered rather inappropriate for female students. She exhibited her work at the Salons from 1884 onwards, and ran a studio, open to women in particular, at 77, rue Notre-Dame des Champs. In a photograph of this studio, dating from before 1887, our painting is on an easel, probably awaiting its presentation at the 1886 Salon (ill.1). This eight-year stay in Paris played a major role in the blossoming of his talent, as witnessed by two portraits painted at the same period as ours, using the same subtle, minimal palette and playing on shades of grey (ill.2.& 3.), now preserved in Frankfurt. The year of our painting was also the year of an encounter that changed the artist's personal life: in the summer of 1885, during a visit to her parents' home in Zurich, Ottilie met Elizabeth Winterhalter, a surgeon and gynecologist, who was to become her companion and the love of her life. After Paris, Ottilie moved to the banks of the Main in 1890, followed by Elizabeth in 1891, and her career took off. Popular and medal-winning, she was assigned a studio in Frankfurt's Stadel Museum, which today houses some of her work, as well as her archives. Illustration legend: -View of the studio at 77, rue Notre-Dame des Champs, 1885-1887. -Portrait of Dr. Elisabeth Winterthalter, 1887. Städel Museum Frankfurt, inv. 2033 -Portrait of a painter in a Paris studio, 1887. Städel Museum Frankfurt, inv. SG 424 Self-portrait of the artist, 1904, Städel Museum Frankfurt, inv. SG 134