Image: Kunsthalle Bremen
The Kunsthalle Bremen will open 'Mehr Frauen! Bremer Künstlerinnen auf Papier' on 22 July, bringing together 60 works on paper by women artists active in Bremen in the first half of the 20th century. The exhibition runs through 8 November 2026 and asks who the contemporaries and collaborators were of Paula Modersohn-Becker, whose name remains the best known internationally.
According to the museum, a research project into its holdings of drawings by Bremen artists led to a striking result: in relation to the institution’s male-dominated overall collection, its Kupferstichkabinett preserves an above-average number of drawings by women from Bremen. The exhibition draws on that material and presents a selection that includes pencil drawings, watercolors and charcoal sketches. The source pages do not identify a curator for the exhibition, but they do say the project is rooted in the museum’s own collection research.
The show names a range of artists who were active in Bremen’s artistic circles, including Clara Rilke-Westhoff, Marie Bock, Anna Plate, Margarethe von Reinken, Agnes Sander-Plump, Dora Bromberger, Elisabeth Noltenius, Gustava Tölken and Olga Bontjes van Beek. On the exhibition page, the Kunsthalle says it is tracing the connections among these women and their ties to Bremen and the surrounding area.
The institution also places the exhibition in a broader social history. Its text notes that women were barred from studying at state art academies until 1919, sharply limiting their training opportunities. In response, Bremen-based artists organized collectively: the Bremer Malerinnenverband was founded in 1899, and some later joined the GEDOK, the ‘Gemeinschaft deutscher und oesterreichischer Künstlerinnen und Kunstfreundinnen’, from 1928 onward. The museum presents these networks as part of the story of how women artists secured visibility and support despite structural exclusion.
The geography of artistic exchange is another thread in the exhibition. The Kunsthalle says the show follows links to Worpswede, Fischerhude and Dötlingen, where artists lived and worked side by side and taught later generations in drawing and painting outside the academy system. It also points to artist families such as the Modersohn, Plump and Breling dynasties, and to friendships that grew out of local circles and GEDOK connections.
The exhibition’s focus remains on drawings and paper-based work, with the museum emphasizing the range of techniques represented. Among the works illustrated on the exhibition page are Marie Bock’s 'Vier Kinder auf einer Brücke', Dora Bromberger’s 'Stillleben mit Pfirsichen', Anna Plate’s 'Aufgeschnittene Apfelsine', Gustava Tölken’s 'Die glückliche Erbin' and Paula Modersohn-Becker’s 'Liegender weiblicher Akt mit Säugling in den Armen'. The museum also lists a curator-led public tour with Friederike Quander on 26 July at 15:00, and additional related programme entries appear on the exhibition calendar, including further guided visits later in the run.
