The Modersohn Becker Rilke Correspondence

Download or read book The Modersohn-Becker/Rilke Correspondence written by Paula Modersohn-Becker and published by ERIS. This book was released on 2024-10-01 with total page 156 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The painter Paula Modersohn-Becker and the poet Rainer Maria Rilke first met at the Worpswede artists’ colony in 1900—a focal point of the kind of artistic innovations that were set to transform twentieth-century European culture. Modersohn-Becker and Rilke went on to enjoy an intense friendship over a period that saw both of them having to confront personal and financial challenges as they pursued their artistic vocations. This friendship was cut short by Modersohn-Becker’s tragically early death in 1907, but it left in its wake a remarkable series of letters. As fascinating and evocative when discussing the nature of married life and the difficulty of furnishing one’s home as they are when exploring the expressive possibilities of art and poetry, the letters exchanged by Modersohn-Becker and Rilke are a testament to both writers’ exceptional descriptive gifts and penetrating social intelligence. Brought together here in English for the first time and introduced by an illuminating essay by the art historian Jill Lloyd, The Modersohn-Becker/Rilke Correspondence provides a fascinating view of everyday life during an exceptionally fertile and exciting period of cultural production.