Clara Westhoff
Clara Henriette Sophie Westhoff (21 September 1878 – 9 March 1954), also known by her married name Clara Rilke or Clara Rilke-Westhoff was a pioneer German sculptor and artist.
Also recorded as Clara Rilke · Clara Rilke-Westhoff · Clara Henriette Sophie Rilke-Westhoff
Clara Westhoff
Paula Modersohn-Becker · Public domain
- Name
- Clara Westhoff
- Born
- 21 September 1878
- Birthplace
- Bremen, German Empire
- Died
- 9 March 1954
- Place of death
- Fischerhude, West Germany
- Field
- Sculpture
- Training
- Fritz Mackensen
- Nationality
- Germany.
- Occupation
- sculptor and painter.
- Education
- Académie Colarossi.
- Languages
- German.
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Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q462333 · wikipedia · Clara Westhoff
In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Clara Westhoff • Born — 21 September 1878 • Birthplace — Bremen, German Empire • Died — 9 March 1954 • Place of death — Fischerhude, West Germany • Field — Sculpture • Training — Fritz Mackensen • Children — 1
Early life and career
Early life and career
At 17, Westhoff went to Munich, where she attended a private art school. In 1898 she moved to Worpswede and learned sculpture with Fritz Mackensen. She befriended Paula Becker (later Modersohn-Becker) and Ottilie Reylaender, who were painters there. She continued her studies in 1899 with Carl Seffner and Max Klinger in Leipzig and, in 1900, trained with Auguste Rodin in Paris, also attending the Académie Colarossi. By 1925 Westhoff had turned to painting so that, in addition to her sculptural work, she created an equally substantial body of work in painting.
Personal life and death
Personal life and death
In 1901 she married the poet Rainer Maria Rilke in Worpswede. Eighteen years later, she moved to Fischerhude with her daughter, Ruth Rilke. Her home there with a studio later became the "Café Rilke", which still exists. She died in Fischerhude on 9 March 1954.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1878
Clara Westhoff was born on 21 September 1878.
1954
Clara Westhoff died on 9 March 1954.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Clara Westhoff was born at Bremen.
Birthplace
Clara Westhoff died at Fischerhude.
Deathplace
Bremen.
Birth place
Fischerhude.
Death place
Legacy
Her work was privately owned or barely accessible to the public in various collections. With her comprehensive biography in 1986, Marina Sauer initiated a rehabilitation of the artist by freeing Clara Rilke-Westhoff from being seen only as the wife of Rilke and as a friend of Paula Modersohn-Becker. Clara Rilke-Westhoff is a pioneer among women sculptors in Germany.
Text attribution
Licensing
Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Clara Westhoff, revision 1338085623 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.NDB 21 623 624 Rilke-Westhoff, Clara Henriette Sophie Marina Sauer 118816969
- 2.Hans Egon Holthusen: Rainer Maria Rilke. Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg, 31. Auflage 1998, S. 53.
- 3.Foto von Rainer Maria Rilke im „Studio al Ponte“, 1904, Digitale Sammlung der Heinrich-Heine-Universität
- 4.Marina Bohlmann-Modersohn: Clara Rilke-Westhoff. btb Verlag, 2015, ISBN 978-3-641-12310-9 ( ).
- 5.https://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/artdok/6261/1/Bushart_Die_Bildhauerin_Clara_Rilke_Westhoff_1996.pdf, S. 230
- 6.https://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/artdok/6261/1/Bushart_Die_Bildhauerin_Clara_Rilke_Westhoff_1996.pdf, S. 230ff.
- 7.https://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/artdok/6261/1/Bushart_Die_Bildhauerin_Clara_Rilke_Westhoff_1996.pdf, S. 230
- 8.https://www.deutsche-biographie.de/pnd118816969.html
- 9.https://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/artdok/6261/1/Bushart_Die_Bildhauerin_Clara_Rilke_Westhoff_1996.pdf
- 10.https://www.arcinsys.niedersachsen.de/arcinsys/digitalisatViewer.action?detailid=v8580052&selectId=21239882
- 11.Clara Westhoff im bremer-frauenmuseum.de
- 12.Büste Rainer Maria Rilke — Die Großen Deutsche Kunstausstellungen 1937 – 1944/45.
- 13.https://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/artdok/6261/1/Bushart_Die_Bildhauerin_Clara_Rilke_Westhoff_1996.pdf, S. 230
References
Citations
References
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reference work
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Sculpture
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