Originating from Berlin, Hagedorn moved to Manchester in 1905 to train
in textile production. Having studied art under Adolphe Valette at the
local Manchester School of Art and then The Slade School of Art, his
training was completed by a period in1912-13 where, working under
Maurice Denis, he absorbed a range of avant-garde styles. On his return
to England, he made a consciously pioneering attempt to introduce
Modernism into Manchester through his work as both painter and designer,
exhibiting at the Manchester Society of Modern Painters, RA, RBA, RSMA
and with the NEAC. He became a British subject in 1914 and served as a
Lance-Corporal in the Middlesex Regiment during World War I.
In 1925 he received the Grand Prix at the International Exhibition of
Decorative Art, Paris and in 1935 he was elected RBA. He exhibited at a
number of leading galleries in London and the provinces, and was elected
to the Royal Society of British Artists, the Royal Institute of Painters
in Water Colours, the Royal Society of Marine Artists, the New English
Art Club and the NS.
Hagedorn has only been the subject of one exhibition and publication:
Manchester's First Modernist, a catalog produced by the Chris Beetles
Gallery on the occasion of the retrospective organized in conjunction
with the Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester.
