Through a travel grant from the Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts (DAI), he participated in the excavation at Kerameikos in Athens.
In 1895, he began work at the Antikensammlung Berlin (Antiquarium), subsequently spending several years as a directorial assistant (1897-1903).
[1] In 1903, he was named an associate professor of archaeology and philological auxiliary sciences at the University of Greifswald, later attaining a full professorship (1907) and a directorate of the academic art collections.
[1] He was responsible for continuation of the series Hellenistische Kunst in Pompeji (Hellenistic art in Pompeii), a multi-volume project begun by Franz Winter.
In Gercke and Norden's Einleitung in die Altertumswissenschaft, he was the author of the section on Greek and Roman private life, titled "Griechisches und römisches Privatleben".