{{Short description|German sculptor}} {{More citations needed|date=September 2021}} {{Expand German|topic=bio|Clara Westhoff|date=August 2023}} {{Infobox artist | name = Clara Westhoff | image = Clara Rilke-Westhoff.jpg | image_upright = 0.9 | caption = Clara Westhoff, portrait by Paula Modersohn-Becker, 1905 | birth_name = | birth_date = 21 September 1878 | birth_place = Bremen, German Empire | death_date = {{death date and age|1954|3|9|1878|9|21|df=yes}} | death_place = Fischerhude, West Germany | field = Sculpture | training = Fritz Mackensen | movement = | works = | patrons = | influenced = | spouse = {{marriage|Rainer Maria Rilke|1901|1926|end=died}} | children = 1 }}
'''Clara Henriette Sophie Westhoff''' (21 September 1878 – 9 March 1954), also known by her married name '''Clara Rilke''' or '''Clara Rilke-Westhoff''' was a pioneer German sculptor and artist.
==Early life and career== At 17, Westhoff went to Munich, where she attended a private art school. In 1898 she moved to Worpswede and learned sculpture with Fritz Mackensen. She befriended Paula Becker (later Modersohn-Becker) and Ottilie Reylaender, who were painters there. She continued her studies in 1899 with Carl Seffner and Max Klinger in Leipzig and, in 1900, trained with Auguste Rodin in Paris, also attending the Académie Colarossi.<ref>(fr) [http://www.musee-orsay.fr/fr/espace-professionnels/professionnels/chercheurs/rech-rec-art-home/notice-artiste.html?nnumid=24189 Musée d'Orsay]</ref>
By 1925 Westhoff had turned to painting so that, in addition to her sculptural work, she created an equally substantial body of work in painting.
==Personal life and death== In 1901 she married the poet Rainer Maria Rilke<ref>[http://oxfordindex.oup.com/view/10.1093/benz/9780199773787.article.B00152994 Benezit Dictionary of Artists]</ref> in Worpswede. Eighteen years later, she moved to Fischerhude with her daughter, Ruth Rilke. Her home there with a studio later became the "Café Rilke", which still exists. She died in Fischerhude on 9 March 1954.
==Legacy== Her work was privately owned or barely accessible to the public in various collections.
With her comprehensive biography in 1986, Marina Sauer initiated a rehabilitation of the artist by freeing Clara Rilke-Westhoff from being seen only as the wife of Rilke and as a friend of Paula Modersohn-Becker. Clara Rilke-Westhoff is a pioneer among women sculptors in Germany.<ref>{{cite book|last= Sauer|first=Marina|title= Die Bildhauerin Clara Rilke-Westhoff (1878–1954): Leben und Werke|date= 1986|pages= 611|ISBN= 9783920699721|language= German}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last= Sauer|first=Marina|title= Clara Rilke-Westhoff: Die Bildhauerin (1878–1954)|date= 1990|pages= 160|ISBN= 9783548302324|language= German}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Westhoff, Clara}} Category:1878 births Category:1954 deaths Category:20th-century German sculptors Category:Académie Colarossi alumni Category:Rainer Maria Rilke Category:20th-century German women sculptors Category:Artists from Bremen (city)