Carl Hagemann (April 9, 1867, in

Essen Essen (; Latin: ''Assindia'') is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and D ...

– November 20, 1940, in

Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

) was a German chemist, industrial manager and one of the most important German art collectors and patrons in the first half of the 20th century.

Life

Hagemann grew up in a middle-class family in Essen, where he attended the humanist Gymnasium am Burgplatz. He studied philosophy and chemistry from 1886 to 1890 in

Tübingen Tübingen (, , Swabian: ''Dibenga'') is a traditional university city in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated south of the state capital, Stuttgart, and developed on both sides of the Neckar and Ammer rivers. about one in thr ...

Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

and

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

, and obtained a Ph.D. from the

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 Decemb ...

Johannes Wislicenus Johannes Wislicenus (24 June 1835 – 5 December 1902) was a German chemist, most famous for his work in early stereochemistry. Biography The son of the radical Protestant theologian Gustav Wislicenus, Johannes was born on 24 June 1835 in Kle ...

's team. Hagemann's ester, or ethyl-2-methyl-4-oxo-2-cyclohexenecarboxylate, is an organic compound that was first prepared and described by Hagemann in 1893. In 1894, he joined the

Bayer Bayer AG (, commonly pronounced ; ) is a German multinational corporation, multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company and one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. Headquartered in Leverkusen, Bayer's areas of busi ...

color factories and made a career there. In 1920 he became technical director of the

Cassella Farbwerke Mainkur Aktiengesellschaft Cassella AG, formerly Leopold Cassella & Co. and Cassella Farbwerke Mainkur AG, commonly known as Cassella, was a German chemical and pharmaceutical company with headquarters in Frankfurt am Main. Founded in 1798 in the Frankfurt Jewish Alley by ...

in Frankfurt. Following their incorporation into the newly formed

IG Farben Interessengemeinschaft Farbenindustrie AG (), commonly known as IG Farben (German for 'IG Dyestuffs'), was a German chemical and pharmaceutical conglomerate (company), conglomerate. Formed in 1925 from a merger of six chemical companies—BASF, ...

in 1925, he became a member of the board. By the age of 65, he retired in 1932. He also wrote a book called ''Spiele der Voelker'' (Schuster und Loeffler, 1921); in this book he shows examples of dance and play in Japan, Africa, India and China. Around the turn of the century, Hagemann started to collect art. His first collection objects were from popular graphics artists. In the second decade of the 20th century, first under the influence of his friend Ernst Gosebruch, the director of the Essen Museum of Art, Hagemann turned toward painters of ''

Die Brücke The Brücke (Bridge), also Künstlergruppe Brücke or KG Brücke was a group of German expressionist artists formed in Dresden in 1905. Founding members were Fritz Bleyl, Erich Heckel, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff. Later memb ...

'' and

Emil Nolde Emil Nolde (born Hans Emil Hansen; 7 August 1867 – 13 April 1956) was a German-Danish painter and printmaker. He was one of the first Expressionists, a member of Die Brücke, and was one of the first oil painting and watercolor painters of the ...

. He was a friend of

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (6 May 1880 – 15 June 1938) was a German expressionist painter and printmaker and one of the founders of the artists group Die Brücke or "The Bridge", a key group leading to the foundation of Expressionism in 20th-centur ...

until his death in 1938. In the course of four decades, Hagemann put together a very personal collection of paintings, prints and sculptures. A significant highlight of the pictures was Kirchner's "Berlin Street Scene" (

Neue Galerie New York The Neue Galerie New York (German language, German for "New Gallery") is a museum of early twentieth-century German and Austrian art and design located in the William Starr Miller House at 86th Street (Manhattan), 86th Street and Fifth Avenue i ...

). After his accidental death in 1940, he left a collection of about 1,900 art objects, including nearly a hundred paintings by

Karl Schmidt-Rottluff Karl Schmidt-Rottluff (Karl Schmidt until 1905; 1 December 1884 – 10 August 1976) was a German expressionist painter and printmaker; he was one of the four founders of the artist group Die Brücke. Life and work Schmidt-Rottluff was born in ...

Erich Heckel Erich Heckel (31 July 1883 – 27 January 1970) was a German painter and printmaker, and a founding member of the group ''Die Brücke'' ("The Bridge") which existed 1905–1913. His work was part of the art competitions at the 1928 Summer Oly ...

Otto Mueller Otto Müller (16 October 1874 – 24 September 1930) was a German painter and printmaker of the Die Brücke expressionist movement. Life and work Mueller was born in Liebau (now Lubawka, Kamienna Góra County), Kreis Landeshut, Silesia. Betwe ...

and others. Since it was considered

degenerate art Degenerate art (german: Entartete Kunst was a term adopted in the 1920s by the Nazi Party in Germany to describe modern art. During the dictatorship of Adolf Hitler, German modernist art, including many works of internationally renowned artists, ...

during the time of the Nazi regime, Ernst Holzinger, then director of the

Städel Museum The Städel, officially the ''Städelsches Kunstinstitut und Städtische Galerie'', is an art museum in Frankfurt, with one of the most important collections in Germany. The Städel Museum owns 3,100 paintings, 660 sculptures, more than 4,600 ...

in Frankfurt, took a high personal risk, as he hid the entire collection in the Städel. In this way, the collection survived the war largely unscathed. Today, pictures from Hagemann's collection are found in museums around the world, and some of them are privately owned. The graphics and drawings were received as a gift by the

Städel The Städel, officially the ''Städelsches Kunstinstitut und Städtische Galerie'', is an art museum in Frankfurt, with one of the most important collections in Germany. The Städel Museum owns 3,100 paintings, 660 sculptures, more than 4,600 ...

References

External links

Literature by and about Carl Hagemann in the catalog of the German National Library
(German) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hagermann, Carl Hagemann, Carlc Hagemann, Carl Hagemann, Carl Hagemann, Carl Cassella people Businesspeople from Essen German art collectors 20th-century art collectors 20th-century German chemists

Life

See also

References

External links