Landscape with Sheep Pen

Henriette Schmidt-Bonn

Henriette Schmidt-Bonn was not allowed to attend traditional university in Bonn (then a part of the Kingdom of Prussia, now a part of Westfalia, Germany) in 1900; it would take another twenty-one years until women would be accepted into the academic world. However, through her time at the Becker-Leber school of painting, which was spearheaded by Sophie Leber, she was introduced to noted printmaker and painter Heinrich Otto, who founded the first art school to accept both men and women in 1903. She would become his star pupil and go on to establish herself as one of Bonn's leading printmakers.

Schmidt-Bonn's most popular subjects were the German countryside and rural village scenes. Here, she shows a large oak growing beside a rutted dirt road, with a sheep pen in the background. The sky is cloudy but the composition still retains a luminous feel, showcasing her deft expertise with metal plate printmaking.