Ancestress (Translation)
Vorfahrin (Primary Title)

Conrad Felixmüller, German, 1897 - 1977 (Artist)

1901–87
German
Works On Paper
Prints
Etching and drypoint on tan wove paper
Sheet: 19 3/4 × 12 3/4 in. (50.17 × 32.39 cm)
Plate: 11 3/4 × 9 3/4 in. (29.85 × 24.77 cm)
2009.185
Not on view

It is not clear from Felixmüller’s title whether the elderly subject of this portrait is his own family ancestor or the relative of a laborer in the working-class communities he often portrayed. Either way, when placed in the context of his images of infants and birth, he convincingly conveys his keen awareness of the dignity and vulnerability apparent on both ends of the cycle of life.

Signed in graphite lower right: "Felixmüller" Signed in plate lower right with artists monogram: "FM"
Inscribed in graphite beneath image lower left: "7/30." Inscribed in graphite on verso lower left: "77/ (336)"
The Ludwig and Rosy Fischer Collection, Gift of the Estate of Anne R. Fischer
©artist or artist’s estate

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