Lotte Laserstein

About Lotte Laserstein

This volume reintroduces the fascinating work of German-Swedish painter, Lotte Laserstein, who was known for her groundbreaking portraiture in the 1920s and 30s.

After being one of the first women to graduate from Berlin Art Academy in 1927, Lotte Laserstein began making a name for herself in Weimar era Berlin’s thriving art scene. She was a remarkable portraitist, capturing everyday citizens of Berlin from motorcyclists to girls playing tennis, to women applying makeup. This volume features fifty works by Laserstein that show her artistic development during the 1920s and 1930s. She was known for spurning the usual depiction of women and instead portrayed the “New Woman” who embraced fashion and personal freedom. Unfortunately, her career came to an abrupt halt in 1937 when she was forced to flee Nazi Germany for Sweden. She continued to paint in exile, but her work never regained the same intensity or sensitivity as her Berlin portraits and she fell out of the public eye. Laserstein’s pieces have recently been rediscovered and this volume aims to bring this long-forgotten artist’s works, from the key period in her career, back into the spotlight.