Hanna and the Middle Way

Hanna Hirsch-Pauli Portrait of Venny Soldan-Brofeldt ca.1885 Gothenburg Museum of Art

Hanna Hirsch-Pauli (1864-1940) was a Swedish painter who studied in both Sweden and France, and who worked in the juste milieu style. This "middle way" style was thought to reconcile Classicism and Romanticism, or to fall somewhere in between Impressionist artists like Monet and such Pompier artists as Bouguereau. Not avante-garde but modern nonetheless.

Hanna, then Hanna Hirsch, studied in Paris from 1885 through 1887, sharing a studio with her friend the artist Eva Bonnier. Her painting of the Finnish artist Venny Soldan was accepted into the Paris Salon of 1887. It was extremely unconventional for the time, showing her friend seated on the floor, at work on a sculpture with clay on her hands, rather than in more proper bourgeois portrait pose.

Also in 1887, Hanna married the Swedish painter Georg Pauli.

Georg Pauli Hanna in Blue, Painting 1897 Jönköpings läns museum

Hanna hyphenated her name after her marriage though she continued to sign her art with her maiden name. Her output was not large, but very choice. For a nice selection of her images click here