Cornelia Paczka-Wagner (German, 1864 - 1930)
"Self-Portrait"
circa 1898
algraphie (also known as an aluminograph, a lithograph using an aluminum plate instead of a stone)
44 x 30 cm
lower right in pencil signed "Cornelia Paczka" and inscribed with dedication
The Daulton Collection
The Cantor Arts Center, Stanford University, owns an impression of this self-portrait printed in red ink. (Cantor 1984.147)
References:
Jay A. Clarke, "Cornelia Paczka-Wagner: Representing the Symbolic Self," Cantor Arts Center Journal, Vol. 7, 2010-2011, pp. 76-91. This print, in particular, is reproduced as Figure 1 (color variant in red) and discussed at pages 77-78.
Katalog der XXVI. Jahres-Ausstellung in Wien (Wien: Verlag
der Genossenschaft der Bildenden Künstler Wiens, 1899), pg. 89, No. 533.
Discussion:
"[Cornelia] Paczka-Wagner ... made a name for herself as a printmaker in Berlin in the 1890s .... Born in Göttingen in 1864 as the daughter of the important economist Adolph Wagner, she moved to Berlin in 1870 and shortly afterwards began her artistic training in the Association of Berlin Artists [Verein der Berliner Künstlerinnen]. From the mid-1880s she attended Karl Stauffer-Bern's drawing and painting class together with Käthe Kollwitz before moving to [Prof.] Johann Caspar Herterich in Munich. In 1888 she moved to Rome, where she made close contact with Max Klinger and occasionally served as his model. In the context of symbolism, [Cornelia Paczka-Wagner] developed highly independent works in terms of technique and motifs. Paczka-Wagner mainly deals with depictions of women, to which she gives an elevating, mysterious aura through allegorization and idealization. In Rome she also met her future husband, the Hungarian painter Franz Paczka, with whom she lived there and in Madrid, before the couple returned to Berlin in 1895. [The signature on many of] her works ["Cornelia Paczka geb. Wagner"], to which she has added “geb. [geboren, or born] Wagner,” testifies to the importance she attached to her German maiden name, while the part "Paczka" refers to her marriage. In the following years she took part in international exhibitions and received numerous prizes, including the 1914 honorary award at the International Exhibition for Book Trade and Graphics [Internationalen Ausstellung für Buchgewerbe und Graphik] in Leipzig. From 1898 onwards, algraphy [algraphie, also known as aluminography], a variety of lithography, came to the fore in the artist's work. Here, too, the focus is on the figure of the woman, which, idealized, is captured in clear shapes and lines, but at the same time expressing a certain softness." B (translated from the German).
"Cornelia Paczka-Wagner (born 1864 in Göttingen; died after
1930) was a German painter and graphic artist. In Berlin, she was trained by
Karl Stauffer-Bern. She studied at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts [Königlichen Akademie der Bildenden Künste] in Munich and
at a private academy in Paris. In 1888, she moved to Rome to continue her
artistic education there. In 1890, she married the Hungarian painter Franz
Paczka. Around 1891, she was in close contact with Max Klinger and posed for
him. In 1894, she went to Madrid with her husband; and, from 1895, she worked in
Berlin. From 1896 to 1930, she was a member of the Association of Berlin Women
Artists [Vereins Berliner Künstlerinnen]." I (translated from the German).
