Ottilie W. Roederstein

Ottilie W. Roederstein, born to German parents in Zurich in 1859, was one of the leading painters in the German-speaking world during her lifetime. She also enjoyed early recognition in Paris. As one of the few women of her time, she successfully dedicated her entire life to art and led an unconventional but respected existence in Germany together with her partner, the gynecologist Elisabeth H. Winterhalter. Although Roederstein's early work adhered to the conventions of the academy, the painter increasingly opened herself up to other currents in her more mature work and in the 1920s found her way to an austere, objective visual vocabulary.