Dachshund with a red slipper Paul Hoecker

A dachshund and his prey. With an attentive gaze, he sits facing the viewer, a bright red slipper firmly clamped in his mouth. Paul Hoecker transforms an everyday, comical incident into a pointed and affectionate animal portrait. He depicts the dog not as a representative animal study, but as the small protagonist of a domestic scene. The frontal gaze, the large drooping ears and the determination with which he presents his prey lend him an almost human personality. The subtle, idiosyncratic humour of this depiction is also evident elsewhere in Hoecker’s varied body of work. Appointed to the Munich Academy in 1891 and a co-founder of the Munich Secession in 1892, he was one of the innovators in art around 1900. Artists associated with the ‘Jugend’, ‘Simplicissimus’ and ‘Scholle’ movements emerged from his class. In 1898, his academic career came to an abrupt end when his homosexuality became the subject of public scandal in connection with his painting ‘Ave Maria’. Hoecker withdrew from public life and was increasingly forgotten. Only recently have his work and his biography – and with them his significance for Munich’s queer cultural history – been rediscovered. *The Dachshund with a Red Slipper* reveals a particularly personal side to his oeuvre: Hoecker’s delight in the unconventional and in motifs drawn from direct observation. | 1854 Oberlangenau – München 1910 | 19. Jahrhundert | Gemälde | Nummer: 26x2202 | Provenance: Privatsammlung, Rheinland; Privatsammlung, Deutschland.

Estimate:£2,534.73

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