Oskar H. HAGEMANN

Oscar “Oskar” Hagemann was born on October 12, 1888 in Holoubkov near Pilsen, Austria-Hungary, and died on August 18, 1984 in Karlsruhe. He was a German painter.

Originally from Holoubkov in Bohemia, Oscar Hagemann moved to Lübeck and then to Baden-Baden in 1896 following the early death of his father. His mother recognized his talent early on and gave him his first painting and drawing lessons with Ivo Puhonny from 1901.

In 1906, at the age of 18, Oscar Hagemann enrolled at the Karlsruhe Art Academy. His first teachers there were Ludwig Schmid-Reutte, Walter Conz and Ludwig Wilhelm Plock. In 1908, he was accepted into Wilhelm Trübner’s master class.

While still a student, Hagemann took part in his first exhibitions in Munich and Baden-Baden, which led to the Wallraf-Richartz Museum in Cologne acquiring one of his works, “The Wine Tasting”.

From 1912 until the outbreak of the First World War, Hagemann lived with his first wife, the artist Gertrud “Gertel” Stamm-Hagemann (1891-1939), in Augustenburg Palace in Karlsruhe, which served as the cultural center of the Grötzingen painters’ colony in the 1890s. From around 1917 to October 1920, they resided in Sommerau Castle in the Spessart. Gertel Hagemann wrote the booklet “MUSCHIK” – a tale from the life of a horse that took place in Sommerau (today a district of Eschau in Spessart) as well as in Karlsruhe and the surrounding area and was published after her death in 1940. Between 1942 and September 30, 1944, Hagemann taught at the Karlsruhe Academy of Art and entered into his second marriage in 1943.

During the years from 1937 to 1943, Hagemann was regularly represented at the Great German Art Exhibition in Munich and was included in the Gottbegnadeten list of the Reich Ministry for Popular Enlightenment and Propaganda. Due to the war, he lived in Constance from 1944 to 1951 before returning to Karlsruhe-Durlach in 1951.

Hagemann considered himself a portrait painter, and his work consists mainly of portraits. He always used his first name with a “k” to sign his works: Oskar H. Hagemann. This spelling has become established in literature, exhibitions and the art trade.

Oskar Hagemann was a member of the German Artists’ Association and took part in the Third German Art Exhibition in Dresden in 1953 with three oil paintings.