Clara Hesse (Karlsruhe 1881-1954)
Art Nouveau Designs for Glass Lampshade Panes
1909
watercolor and ink on paper
signed and dated below right: "CLARA-HESSE. 1909."
titled above: "JE-EINE-SCHEIBE-EINES-8TEILIECEN [?]-LAMPENSCHIRMS-IN NATÜRLICHER-GRÖSSE-AUSGEFÜHRT-IN-GLASMALEREI-AUF OPAL-GLAS-ETC."
["ONE-PANE-EACH-OF-AN-8 PART-LAMPSHADE-IN-ACTUAL-SIZE-EXECUTED-IN-GLASS-PAINTING-ON-OPAL-GLASS-ETC."]
The Daulton Collection
provenance: private collection, southern Germany
Discussion:
Clara Hesse was born in Karlsruhe in 1881 to a family of artists: her father Georg Hesse (1845-1920) was a noted landscape painter, who trained in Berlin and Karlsruhe, and widely exhibited in Germany from the late 1870s; and her mother Marie Hesse nee Koch (1844-1911) was also a painter, of landscapes and floral still-life, who trained in Weimar and was a drawing teacher at the Großherzogliche Victoria-Pensionat [Grand Ducal Victoria Pension school for girls] in Karlsruhe.
Having likely studied in Karlsruhe under the tutelage of her
parents, Clara Hesse made a name for herself as a glass-art designer for the Grob
art glassworks [Kunstglaserei Grob] in Pforzheim. In 1906, her work was on display at the
anniversary exhibition for art and applied arts [Jubiläums-Ausstellung für
Kunst und Kunstgewerbe] in Karlsruhe. Clara’s striking designs for glass
work (such as lampshades) and in other areas of applied art (such as carpet
design) are in the tradition of Art Nouveau and were strongly influenced by her
careful study of nature.
After the death of her father, Clara Hesse managed his
estate, selling numerous works by her father and the family until 1923. She then drifted into obscurity, and it is not
known whether she was thereafter still active as an artist herself.
