Hannah Höch - Life Portrait

The Life Portrait is the last art work by Hannah Höch made between July 1972 and March 1973. The photographers Liselotte und Armin Orgel Köhne encouraged the artist to create the self-portrait in form of a collage and provided her with the original photographs.

The Life Portrait, with the dimensions 130 x 150 cm, is the biggest collage Höch has ever made. It marks the final point in her full and active life that spanned almost 100 years. The viewer gains an insight into the story of the extraordinary and self-confident woman who went through all the highs and lows – and in the same time gets an impression of life during the last century. Hannah Höch defined 38 sections of the image, gave detailed explanations on them and told about her personal experience in connection with these. These 38 parts are pictured in the book alongside the overview of the entire collage. The accompanying text, together with the original quotes, takes a closer look at Hannah Höch, her artistic work as well as at the political and social events of her time. Based on the stories and anecdotes, the text reflects the life of the artist and completes the collage with the additional biographical information.