Karl Ernst Osthaus

Karl Ernst Osthaus (15 April 1874, in Hagen – 25 March 1921, in Merano) was an important German patron of avant-garde art and architecture.

[1][2] Osthaus was born to a wealthy banking family, who also owned several businesses in the textile and metalwork industries.

Although in his early life he tended to German nationalism, active in the Alldeutscher Verband, the Pan-German League, and supporting figures such as the Austrian Georg von Schönerer, Osthaus's nationalism became tempered with interest in transforming Hagen and Germany into the leading centers of the European avant-garde.

[3]: 513  The Folkwang in Hagen sponsored some of the earliest exhibits of Expressionist painting, and the collection early on included works by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Emil Nolde, and Christian Rohlfs and work by non-German artists such as Aristide Maillol, Johan Thorn Prikker, and Henri Matisse.

Major architects including Henry van de Velde, Richard Riemerschmid, Peter Behrens, and Walter Gropius were all active in Hagen.