Background
Hagemann grew up in a middle-class family in Essen, where he attended the humanistic Gymnasium am Burgplatz.
Hagemann grew up in a middle-class family in Essen, where he attended the humanistic Gymnasium am Burgplatz.
He studied philosophy and chemistry from 1886 to 1890 in Tübingen, Hanover and Leipzig, and obtained a Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Leipzig in Johannes Wislicenus team
In 1894, he joined the Bayer color factories and made a career there. In 1920 he became technical director of the Cassella Farbwerke Mainkur Aktiengesellschaft in Frankfurt. By the age of 65, he retired in 1932.He also wrote a beautiful book called:"Spiele der Voelker" schuster und loeffler 1921.In this book he shows examples of dance and play in Japan, Africa,India and China.
Around the turn of the century Hagemann started to collect art
His first collection objects were from popular graphics artists. In the course of four decades Hagemann put together a very personal collection of paintings, prints and sculptures.
Significant high pictures of Kirchner"s Berlin Street Scene (Neue Galerie New York). After his accidental death in 1940, he left a collection of about 1900 art objects, including nearly a hundred paintings by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Erich Heckel, Otto Mueller, Emil Nolde and others
In this way, the collection survived the war largely unscathed.
Today, pictures from Hagemann"s collection are mostly found in museums around the world and some of them are privately owned. The graphics and drawings were received as a gift by the Städel in Frankfurt.
Since it was considered degenerate art during the time of the National Socialist German Reich, Ernst Holzinger, then director of the Städel, took a high personal risk, as he hid the entire collection in the Stadel.
Following their incorporation into the newly formed IG Farben in 1925, he became a member of the Board.