Spanish Coquette (From: Heaven and Hell on the Highway portfolio)

Arminius Hasemann

"Himmel Und Holle Auf Der Landstrasse" (Heaven and Hell on the Highway) was done in 1915 as a portfolio of 24 loose woodcuts (this being #20) plus text and an additional 17 small woodcuts within the text, for a total of 118 pages. This is an image from the 6th segment - Spain. This portfolio, the result of his walking trips through Europe, established H??asemann's reputation as a printmaker.

This woodcut, a synthesis of Art Deco and Expressionism, depicts a young Spanish woman lounging on a sofa. She has removed the long black opera glove from her right hand while her left arm dangles over the arm of the deco sofa. The surrounding composition is created with the use of short triangular lines, with the white of the paper creating the illusion of a sofa, painting, and window in the background, accomplished using only patterns of black triangles and diamonds.

Arminius Hasmann was born in Berlin, Germany on September 6, 1888, the son of a measuring instrument maker. He spent part of his youth in a boarding school in Filehne in Pomerania. He later attended the school of Decorative Arts Berlin and the Grand Duchy of Baden Art School in Karlsruhe where he studied sculpture and graphics as well as studying with his uncle, the painter Wilhelm Hasemann in Gutach and studied sculpture in Florence and Carrara, Italy. He exhibited 2 sculptures in the important 1912 Berlin Secession show.

Hasmann spent 1913 and 1914 exploring. Working as a traveling musician, he traveled with two violinists through Europe including a walking tour of Gibraltar through south Spain which ended in Barcelona, Spain. His first artistic successes allowed more travel. After the outbreak of the First World War he returned to Germany and took part in the war as a foot soldier in the German Army. In 1915, during the war, his portfolio on his travels was published. Titled Hopscotch on the Road with 41 woodcuts, a portfolio of 24 loose woodcuts plus text and an additional 17 small woodcuts within the text, a total of 118 pages. The work reached four editions by 1922 and made Hasemann famous in Germany.

After the war, Hasemann became interested in sculptural works for public spaces. Hasemann developed his style from a synthesis of expressionism and art deco. In mid 1932 he was conscripted into the Nazi party. After seizing its power Hitler "organized" the party as a cultural steward NSDAP, nationalizing art imagery. Hasemann was captured by the Soviet army and was released in East Berlin in 1945. After his release he worked with the Soviet army, creating a memorial bust of early 20th century German President Friedrich Ebert in 1965.

Hasemann had kept silent to the Nazis about his expressionist works in various media, but he did not succeed in denying his style. Few of his works from the Nazi era survived partly because the bronze public sculptures were melted down for the metal to be used in the war effort. Hasemann never regained his pre-war stature and ended his years living on his East German pension. Several of his post-war public sculptures are in Berlin and his books are represented in the German National Library in Berlin and the Achenbach Foundation for the Graphic Arts in San Francisco.