Gertrude Degenhardt (born 1 October 1940) is a German artist, especially a

lithographer Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by the German a ...

and illustrator, based in

Mainz Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main (river), Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-we ...

. She is known for illustrating the texts and albums of

Franz Josef Degenhardt Franz Josef Degenhardt (3 December 193114 November 2011) was a German poet, satirist, novelist, and – first and foremost – a folksinger/songwriter ( Liedermacher) with decidedly left-wing politics. He was also a lawyer, bearing the academic d ...

and of other political writers and singers including

François Villon François Villon (Modern French: , ; – after 1463) is the best known French poet of the Late Middle Ages. He was involved in criminal behavior and had multiple encounters with law enforcement authorities. Villon wrote about some of these ex ...

Liam O'Flaherty Liam O'Flaherty ( ; 28 August 1896 – 7 September 1984) was an Irish novelist and short-story writer, and one of the foremost socialist writers in the first part of the 20th century, writing about the common people's experience and from their ...

Bertolt Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known professionally as Bertolt Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a pl ...

, and

Wolf Biermann Karl Wolf Biermann (; born 15 November 1936) is a German singer-songwriter, poet, and former East German dissident. He is perhaps best known for the 1968 song "Ermutigung" and his expatriation from East Germany in 1976. Early life Biermann was b ...

. In the 1990s, she turned to topics around women, portraying them in art books such ''Women in Music'', ''Vagabondage in Blue'', and ''Vagabondage en Rouge''.

Early life, education, and family

She was born in New York City to German parents and grew up in Berlin from age two. Her childhood was marked by the Nazi regime, bombings, and the difficult time after World War II. Her family moved to

in 1956, where she finished her schooling. She studied at the Staatliche Werkkunstschule für Gebrauchsgrafik, a school for applied graphics, until 1959, and then worked for advertising agencies in

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

and

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in th ...

. She met

, his brother Martin, and their circle of friends, including other singer-songwriters (''Liedermacher'') ,

Hannes Wader Hannes Wader (born Hans Eckard Wader on 23 June 1942) is a German singer-songwriter (" Liedermacher"). He has been an important figure in German leftist circles since the 1970s, with his songs covering such themes as socialist and communist resis ...

, and Hein and Oss Kröher. In 1964, she married Martin Degenhardt, who died in 2002. Their daughter Annette became a guitarist and composer.

Career

From the mid-1960s, she has worked as a freelance artist. She designed covers for Franz Josef Degenhardt's albums, including '' Spiel nicht mit den Schmuddelkindern''. Illustrations to

's ''Das Große Testament'' received the "Schönstes Buch" (most beautiful book) award from the Stiftung Buchkunst in 1970.

Artistic style

In her works, Degenhardt appears as a keen observer of persons and their characteristics, rendered with a sense of absurdity and grotesque. Among her topics are enjoyment of life, hate, desire, admiration, bliss, disdain, greed, and suffering. Music and wine are frequent features of her work, also the Gonsbach valley, revolution (

Republic of Mainz The Republic of Mainz was the first democratic state in the current German territoryThe short-lived republic is often ignored in identifying the "first German democracy", in favour of the Weimar Republic; e.g. "the failure of the first Germa ...

vagabond Vagrancy is the condition of homelessness without regular employment or income. Vagrants (also known as bums, vagabonds, rogues, tramps or drifters) usually live in poverty and support themselves by begging, scavenging, petty theft, temporar ...

s, dance, musicians, tramps, Ireland ('' Farewell to Connaught''), and, again and again, her husband Martin Degenhardt. She portrayed

John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...

in an etching ''Give Peace a Chance''. Some sequences, such as ''Fiddle & Pint'', were first exhibited in Dublin. In the 1990s, she turned to women's topics such as ''Vagabondage'', cycles of wild and unique women, in books such as ''Women in Music'', ''Vagabondage in Blue'', and ''Vagabondage en Rouge'', with women making music in protest of political failures and social injustice. ''Vagabondage Ad Mortem'' is a

danse macabre The ''Danse Macabre'' (; ) (from the French language), also called the Dance of Death, is an artistic genre of allegory of the Late Middle Ages on the universality of death. The ''Danse Macabre'' consists of the dead, or a personification of ...

of 1995. Degenhardt illustrated many texts and books, such as

's ''Der Stromer'', and works by

Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known professionally as Bertolt Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a pl ...

Biermann Bierman or Biermann is a surname. The genealogy of the Dutch family :nl:Bierman, Bierman is published in the :nl:Nederlands Patriciaat, ''Nederland's Patriciaat'' (in Dutch) Notable people with surname Bierman or Biermann: *Adolph Biermann (1842� ...

, her brother-in-law Franz Josef Degenhardt, and other political authors, including covers of records of

Irish Folk Irish traditional music (also known as Irish trad, Irish folk music, and other variants) is a genre of folk music that developed in Ireland. In ''A History of Irish Music'' (1905), W. H. Grattan Flood wrote that, in Gaelic Ireland, there we ...

and singer-songwriters.

Awards

* 1968 Graphik-Biennale-Preis in Kraków, Poland * 1976 Graphik-Biennale-Preis in Fredrikstad, Norway * 1978 Silver Medal of the world exhibition of ''Buchkunst'' (book art) in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...

for the songbook ''Das sind unsre Lieder'', published by Hein & Oss Kröher * 2001:

Order of Merit of Rhineland-Palatinate The Order of Merit of Rhineland-Palatinate (german: Verdienstorden des Landes Rheinland-Pfalz) is a civil order of merit, of the German State of Rhineland-Palatinate. The order is presented for outstanding service to the state and people of Rhinela ...

* 2019: Hannes Gaab Prize of Mainz

Exhibitions

Exhibitions included: * 1988:

Museum der bildenden Künste The Museum der bildenden Künste (German: "Museum of Fine Arts") is a museum in Leipzig, Saxony, Germany. It covers artworks from the Late Middle Ages to Modernity. History Museum Foundation and First Museum The museum dates back to the fo ...

, Leipzig * 1989: The Kenny Gallery, GalwayThe Kenny Gallery, Galway
/ref> * 1990: * 1993: ''Vagabondage – Women in Music'', Kulturspeicher of

Stadtmuseum Oldenburg The Stadtmuseum Oldenburg is a municipal museum covering the history of the city of Oldenburg (city), Oldenburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Overview The museum consists of three historic houses with recreated interiors as well as the main building. ...

* 1993: * 1994: ''Imagines – Women in Music'', Galerie Kramer, Hamburg * 1995: ''Vagabondage ad Mortem'',

Andreas Paul Weber Andreas Paul Weber (1 November 1893 – 9 November 1980) was a German lithographer and painter. Early life Weber grew up in Arnstadt, where his father was a rail assistant. Encouraged by his mother and grandfather, he briefly attended the Kun ...

Museum, Ratzeburg * 1998:

Villa Musica Villa Musica is a foundation of the German state Rhineland-Palatinate and the broadcaster Südwestrundfunk. Its goals are to support young performers of classical music and to run concerts. It is based in Mainz at the . A second institute of the f ...

* 1999: Kulturspeicher, Oldenburg * 2002: * 2002: The Kenny Gallery, Galway * 2004: * 2005: Gallery of , Frankfurt * 2006: Schloss Landestrost * 2007: Stadtmuseum Borken * 2007: Maison de Rhénanie-Palatinat, Dijon * 2011:

Retrospective A retrospective (from Latin ''retrospectare'', "look back"), generally, is a look back at events that took place, or works that were produced, in the past. As a noun, ''retrospective'' has specific meanings in medicine, software development, popu ...

on the occasion of her 75th birthday in Kulturspeicher of

Degenhardt is listed as one of the 100 most influential women in

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; german: link=no, Rheinland-Pfalz ; lb, Rheinland-Pfalz ; pfl, Rhoilond-Palz) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the ...

Publications

* ''Das Fest kann beginnen''. Maison de Rhénanie-Palatinat und Edition GD, Mainz 2006. * ''Tanzende Paare''. Edition Villa Musica und Edition GD, Mainz 2004. * ''Vagabondage en rouge. Pinselzeichnungen, Lithographie, Radierungen''. Edition GD, Mainz 2001. * ''Fiddle & Pint''. Edition GD, Mainz 2000. * ''Quartette''. Edition Villa Musica und Edition GD, Mainz 1998. * ''Vagabondage in blue. Frauen an Trommeln''. Edition GD, Mainz 1996. * ''Vagabondage ad mortem. Musikanten des Todes''. Edition GD, Mainz 1995. * ''Musikfrauen – Women in Music''. Mittelrhein-Museum Koblenu und Edition GD, Mainz 1990. * ''Farewell to Connaught. 65 Kaltnadel-Radierungen von der irischen Westküste''. Büchergilde Gutenberg, Frankfurt/M. 1989. * ''Von der anderen Musik. Zeichnungen und Radierungen 1970–1985''. Kulturamt Böblingen 1985 * ''In praise of pints oder Maria zu Ehren. 40 Zeichnungen mit dem Gänsekiel''. Edition GD, Mainz 1983, * ''So ein Tag, so wunderschön wie heute''. Limpert, Frankfurt/M. 1974. * ''Nostalgia''. Edition GD, Mainz-Gonsenheim 1971 * ''Loppe Loppe Leiter. Linkisch Lied für Lust und Lümmel''. Eberwein, Offenbach 1967

References

External links

* *
Gertrude Degenhardt
artnet.de {{DEFAULTSORT:Degenhardt, Gertrude German lithographers German illustrators 20th-century German printmakers 1940 births Living people Artists from New York City 20th-century lithographers