We are happy to announce that part of the family owned estate of the painter Paul Hoecker (1854–1910) has found its way into the Forum Queeres Archiv München e. V..
Since 2019, a research project founded by members of the Forum has been investigating the life of the Munich based artist, who had to give up his professorship at the Munich Art Academy in 1898 due to a scandal surrounding one of his paintings. It was said that a male sex worker, with whom Hoecker also had private contacts, had served as a model for a painting of the Madonna (the painting in question is probably “Ave Maria” which is now part of the collection of the Neue Pinakothek in Munich).
The three folders we received from the family estate contain a wide variety of documents: photographs, letters and drawings.
In addition to a larger number of official letters (e. g. from Fritz von Uhde or Heinrich Prince of Prussia) the folders also contain private correspondence with Hoecker’s family, including letters to his mother and his niece Vally Walter, who often posed for him. Moreover, the documents also comprise the certificate with which Hoecker was accepted at the Munich Academy of Art.
Among the included photos are family pictures as well as photos depicting Hoecker’s work in the studio. Photography played a large role in his artistic work as he used photos to create templates for his paintings. Some of these preliminary photos and sketches are also part of the folders.