Paul, Bruno (1874-1968), Self-portrait, c. 1895

Bruno Paul(1874 Seifhennersdorf - 1968 Berlin). Self-portrait , c. 1895. Pencil on paper, mounted on cardboard, 53.5 x 35 cm, signed 'Paul' at upper left.

- Homo nudus -

In a mirrored situation, Bruno Paul looks at himself in the picture. While his body, which is the size of the format, is shown in profile parallel to the picture, he turns his head into the picture in order to become aware of himself there, whereby the lighter use of the drawing tool indicates that this is another level of reality - a mirror image, to be precise. The encounter with himself is a sober introspection of his own 'naked actuality'. A stock-taking beyond academic idealisation, whose point of departure and destination is the realisation addressed simultaneously to the observer: "I am what I am". And one's own form of existence is certainly deformed, which becomes particularly apparent when Paul portrays himself in the final position, directly challenging an academic view of the body. Piquantly, he has made this self-exploration on the inside cover of a portfolio of embroidered representations that serve as models for the study of fine forms of beauty.
Despite the realism of an unadorned, truthful self-portrait, there is an inscrutability. The sitter remains hidden from himself, as evidenced by the distanced gaze of self-observation. Accordingly, one half of the sitter's face appears to be erased in the mirror image.
Here Bruno Paul creates a self-portrait that is unique in his oeuvre and that, in the form of a pictorial self-reflection, poignantly illustrates the experience of self-alienation in modernity.

Alfred Ziffer (ed.): Bruno Paul. Deutsche Raumkunst und Architektur zwischen Jugendstil und Moderne, Münchner Stadtmuseum, Munich 1992, cat. No. 5, p. 26. There identified as a "Male Nude" of 1894/95.

About the artist

Bruno Paul's talent for drawing led him to study at the 'Kunstgewerbeschule' in Dresden from 1890 to 1893, while working as a draughtsman. From 1894 Paul studied under Paul Höcker at the Academy of Fine Arts, while also attending lectures at the Technical University. Between 1896 and 1900 he contributed graphic illustrations to the magazine 'Jugend' and between 1897 and 1906 numerous illustrations to the magazine 'Simplicissimus'. He also produced book illustrations and exhibition posters.
In 1898, together with Bernhard Pankok, Richard Riemerschmid and Hermann Obrist, he founded the 'Münchner Vereinigte Werkstätten für Kunst im Handwerk', designing furniture, textiles, wallpaper, carpets and metalwork. Paul was also one of the founding members of the 'Münchner Vereinigung für angewandte Kunst', established in 1903, whose aims anticipated those of the 'Deutscher Werkbund', of which Paul was also a co-founder.
The prizes Paul received for interior design in Paris (1900), St Louis (1904) and Dresden (1906) led to his appointment in 1907 as head of the teaching department at the Museum of Decorative Arts in Berlin, which Wilhelm von Bode secured against Kaiser Wilhelm II, despite Paul's earlier caricatures in Simplicissimus. With the construction and lavish furnishing of 'Haus Westend' for the director of the Berlin branch of the Vereinigte Werkstätten in 1908, Paul became a sought-after architect among the Berlin bourgeoisie, who also commissioned him to furnish ships of the Norddeutscher Lloyd. From 1907 to 1908 Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and from 1909 to 1910 the future Bauhaus architect Adolf Meyer worked in Bruno Paul's office.
In 1908 Paul developed the first 'Type Furniture Programme' and in 1911 the 'Series Furniture', which was produced at the Deutsche Werkstätten in Dresden-Hellerau until 1942. In 1910 Paul was entrusted with the artistic direction of the German section at the World Exhibition in Brussels. After his admission to the Prussian Academy of Arts in 1919, Paul focused his reform efforts increasingly on the field of state art education and published the programmatic paper 'Erziehung der Künstler an staatlichen Schulen'.
In 1924, he brought about the unification of the Unterrichtsanstalt and the Hochschule der bildenden Künste to form the Vereinigte Staatsschule für freie und angewandte Kunst - today's Universität der Künste Berlin. In 1925, Paul acquired the Richmodishaus in Cologne and founded the Vereinigte Zoo-Werkstätten in Berlin, initially producing lamps and later furniture. After international successes that consolidated Paul's leading role in the field of artistic interior design, he was forced to resign when the Nazis seized power. Together with Ernst Barlach, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Emil Rudolf Weiß, he was expelled from the Academy in 1937 for being "politically unreliable". Despite this, Paul was held in high esteem by Adolf Hitler, who included him on his "Gottbegnadetenliste" (list of those blessed by God), thus saving him from war service. After the war, Paul worked as an architect on the reconstruction of Höxter and Düsseldorf. In 1948 he turned down an appointment as president of the German Academy in East Berlin. In 1955 he was reinstated by the Akademie der Künste. In 1957 he moved to Berlin, where he died in 1968 at the age of 94.

Selected Bibliography

Alfred Ziffer (Hg.): Bruno Paul. Deutsche Raumkunst und Architektur zwischen Jugendstil und Moderne, Münchner Stadtmuseum, München 1992.

Sonja Günther: Bruno Paul. 1874–1968, Berlin 1992.

Andreas Strobl; Barbara Palmbach: Bruno Paul. Simplicissimus, München 2003.

Ralph Musielski: Bau-Gespräche. Architekturvisionen von Paul Scheerbart, Bruno Taut und der "Gläsernen Kette", Berlin 2003.