Advanced Search 
Thumbnail-size images of copyrighted artworks are displayed under fair use, in accordance with guidelines recommended by the Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for the Visual Arts, published by the College Art Association in February 2015.
Self-Portrait
Lotte Laserstein (German (active in Sweden), 1898 – 1993)
about 1932
Medium/Technique
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
36 × 21 cm (14 3/16 × 8 1/4 in.)
Credit Line
Mary L. Cornille and John F. Cogan, Jr. Fund for the Art of Europe
Accession Number2023.387
NOT ON VIEW
ClassificationsPaintings
Lotte Laserstein looks out with a subtle smile, a brush or porte-crayon raised to her lips. A star pupil at Berlin’s art academy, she specialized in the subject of the New Woman, the symbol for the modern, independent woman in society. She exhibited extensively and ran a thriving studio, but the rise of National Socialism and the Nazi Party forced her life and career in a different direction. Though she was baptized and raised Christian, three of her grandparents were Jewish and she was targeted, her art deemed Degenerate, a term used by the Nazi regime generally for modern, avant-garde art.
In 1937, she fled Germany when she was offered an exhibition in Sweden. Despite an active career, her work remained little known outside Sweden until very recently.
In 1937, she fled Germany when she was offered an exhibition in Sweden. Despite an active career, her work remained little known outside Sweden until very recently.
Inscriptionslower left: Lotte Laserstein
Provenance1991, sold by the artist to a private collector, Great Britain; 2023, sold by Thos. Agnew & Sons Ltd., London, to the MFA. (Accession Date: June 21, 2023)