A life divided by borders

Lotte Laserstein was born in 1898 in Preussisch Holland, within the German Empire. Her early years were shaped by a household where her father worked as a pharmacist and her mother taught piano and painted porcelain. After her father passed away when she was four, the family moved to Danzig, and later to Berlin in 1912. In Berlin, she began her formal training at a school run by her aunt, eventually entering the Prussian Academy of Arts. She studied there from 1919 until 1925, becoming a star pupil under Erich Wolfsfeld.

The years in Berlin were marked by both professional rise and personal hardship. During the period of hyperinflation, she took on work illustrating anatomy textbooks to support herself. As a woman in the Weimar Republic, she found her place within the changing social landscape, often painting the "New Woman" with bobbed hair and masculine styles. However, the rise of the National Socialist regime changed everything. Because of her Jewish heritage, her studio was forced to close in 1935, and she could no longer easily find art materials or exhibit her work. In 1937, she left Germany for Sweden.

This move split her life into two distinct chapters. In Sweden, she settled in places like Stockholm, Öland, and eventually Kalmar. While the loss of her Berlin social circle was profound, she continued to find work as a portraitist and landscape painter. She lived through the heavy years of the war, losing her mother to the Ravensbrück concentration camp in 1943. She remained in Sweden for the rest of her life, passing away in Kalmar in 1993.

The brush and the subject

Her painting style underwent a noticeable shift during her time in Berlin. In the late 1920s, her work often featured strong contours and flat surfaces. By 1930, her brushwork had become looser and airier. She frequently chose female models, including her lifelong friend Traute Rose, to explore different aspects of female identity and presence. Her subjects ranged from the fashionable women of Berlin's cafes to more quiet, intimate portraits.

Some of her most noted works from her German years include:

• Die Tennisspielerin (The Tennis Player, 1929)
• Im Gasthaus (In the Tavern, 1928)
• Abend über Potsdam (Evening over Potsdam, 1930), a large-scale painting of friends on a terrace.
• Self-portrait with A Cat (1928)

In Sweden, her focus expanded to include more landscapes and still lifes alongside her commissioned portraits. Her later work reflected the experience of living in exile, capturing the textures of her new surroundings in the Swedish provinces. She was a member of the Swedish Academy of Arts and continued to produce a vast amount of work, with an estimated total oeuvre of approximately 10,000 pieces.

Recognition and rediscovery

For many years, Laserstein's name was not as widely known outside of specific circles. Her prominence in the Berlin art scene had faded following her emigration. It was not until the late 1980s that her work began to be rediscovered by a broader audience. This resurgence brought her paintings back into the light of international galleries and museums.

Her contributions to the New Objectivity movement and German Naturalism are recognized in collections such as:

• Moderna Museet, Stockholm
• Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin
• National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C.
• Städel Museum, Frankfurt
• Berlinische Galerie, Berlin

The recognition of her skill was evident through various honors, such as receiving the Ministermedaille from the Prussian Ministry of Science, Art and Education in 1925 and the Kalmar City Culture Prize in 1977. Her ability to document the changing face of women in the early twentieth century remains a central part of her historical presence.