Monday 4 July 2011

Margarete Gerhardt (continued) and Helène Mass

Lina Elisabeth Margarete Gerhardt
(Frankfurt a/d Oder 1873 Berlin 1958)
painter and wood/lincut printer 

After some detective work new information about Margarethe Gerhardt came to me from friendly contact Thomas in Berlin.



Margarethe was born Jan. 8th 1873 in Frankfurt an der Oder and was trained in Berlin at the Schule der Berliner Künstlerinnen (Berlin Women Art School and Institute esth. in 1869). One of her teachers was influential and important Dora Hitz (1856-1924) friend and colleague of Käthe Kollwitz (1867-1945) one of Germanies most important artists.

Dora Hitz: Mädchen im Mohnfeld (Girl in field of poppies)
Margarethe traveled in Europe and received further training in Italy and in Paris. She was a member of many Berlin Art Institutions and was even appointed member of the board of the school where she was trained: in 1930, 1933 and 1936 probably until WW2 broke out. In addition to the earlier posting here are a painting (view on the Wannsee, probably around 1910-1920) and a picture from the van der Grinten Collection of a linocut print. The very nice oil painting is for sale at 400€. 

Margarethe (L.E.M.) Gerhardt, oil painting


Margarethe exhibited at the Grosser Berliner Kunstausstellung (Great Berlin Art Exhibition) with paintings and wood- and linocut prints in 1922, 1926, 1928 and 1933. After her death in 1958 an in memoriam exhibition was held in her honor in Berlin by her former School and Institute.

Helene Mass, oil painting
Among her fellow board members I found printer Helène Mass (1871-?) It is assumed she died during WW2. I found this nice oil painting (it's for sale on Ebay, modestly priced, might you consider to hang it) by her and in addition to the excellent postings and discussions by Charles (Modern Printmakers and Clive (Art and the aesthete: this Blog is sadly discontinued). Links to these Blog postings you'll find below. This is a good opportunity showing three new examples of her woodblock prints.

(from the van der Grinten collection)


Imagine listening to Beethoven's 6th symfony and looking at these merry musicians coming from the woods after the thunderstorm.


Another board member and colleague of Margarethe and Helène was Auguste Lind-Graf. The haystack in this nice print below is probably situated at the Ostsea, maybe the peninsula "kurische Nehrung".  I couldn’t find any biographical facts about her, but what nice colors.




http://gerrie-thefriendlyghost.blogspot.com/2011/04/margarethe-gerhardt.html 
http://haji-b.blogspot.com/2010/10/helene-mass.html
http://haji-b.blogspot.com/2010/11/helene-mass-four-more-woodcuts.html

4 comments:

  1. The Mass woodcuts are very interesting, Gerrie. Free in style and unlike anything I've seen by her. They look quite early.

    Charles

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  2. Hello Charles, thanks for stopping by. It's always nice discovering nice and new things and sharing it with enthousiasts like you. You and Clive having done the preliminary work making all the difference.

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  3. you always manage to find images by artists i already know (i've featured mass three times!) but images i have never seen, and, almost invariably, LOVE! thank you! beautiful.

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  4. Not always, sometimes. You are the true master of finding new images. But would you believe I actually managed owning two of them since only very short. Where does an ape pick up his fleas?
    Thanks for stopping by Lily

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