Ida Gerhardi (2 August 1862 – 29 June 1927) was a German

Neo-Impressionist Neo-Impressionism is a term coined by French art critic Félix Fénéon in 1886 to describe an art movement founded by Georges Seurat. Seurat's most renowned masterpiece, '' A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte'', marked the beginn ...

painter who spent much of her career in Paris.

Biography

She was born in

Hagen Hagen () is the Largest cities in Germany, 41st-largest List of cities and towns in Germany, city in Germany. The municipality is located in the States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is located on the south eastern edge of the R ...

on 2 August 1862. Her father was a doctor. After his early death in 1869, the family moved to

Detmold Detmold () is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, with a population of . It was the capital of the small Principality of Lippe from 1468 until 1918 and then of the Free State of Lippe until 1947. Today it is the administrative center of ...

, where she grew up. Although she had wanted to be a painter since she was a young girl, she was twenty-eight before she was able to pursue her ambitions. In 1890, she enrolled at the Women's Academy of the "" and studied with the landscape painter,

Tina Blau Tina Blau, later Tina Blau-Lang (15 November 1845 – 31 October 1916) was an Austrian landscape painter. Life Blau's father was a doctor in the and was very supportive of her desire to become a painter. She took lessons, successively, with ...

.Biography and additional references
@ FemBio. Gerhardi-Selfportrait

In 1891, she moved to Paris, where she studied at the

Académie Colarossi The Académie Colarossi (1870–1930) was an art school in Paris founded in 1870 by the Italian model and sculptor Filippo Colarossi. It was originally located on the Île de la Cité, and it moved in 1879 to 10 rue de la Grande-Chaumière in the ...

, a popular school for foreign students. There, she befriended the composer,

Frederick Delius Delius, photographed in 1907 Frederick Theodore Albert Delius ( 29 January 1862 – 10 June 1934), originally Fritz Delius, was an English composer. Born in Bradford in the north of England to a prosperous mercantile family, he resisted atte ...

, and his future wife, the painter

Jelka Rosen Hélène Sophie Emilie Rosen, known as Jelka, (30 December 186828 May 1935) was a German painter, best known as the wife of the English composer Frederick Delius. She was born in Belgrade in 1868. She was the youngest of five children born to ...

. In 1900, she made the acquaintance of

Auguste Rodin François Auguste René Rodin (12 November 184017 November 1917) was a French sculptor, generally considered the founder of modern sculpture. He was schooled traditionally and took a craftsman-like approach to his work. Rodin possessed a uniqu ...

and joined the artistic circle at

Le Dôme Café Le Dôme Café () or Café du Dôme is a restaurant in Montparnasse, Paris that first opened in . Based on the example established by La Closerie des Lilas (created in 1847) and followed by Café de la Rotonde (created in 1911), Le Select (creat ...

. At first, she worked as a landscape painter, inspired by the

Barbizon school The Barbizon school of painters were part of an art movement towards Realism in art, which arose in the context of the dominant Romantic Movement of the time. The Barbizon school was active roughly from 1830 through 1870. It takes its name f ...

, but soon lightened her palette and began concentrating on portraits. She also did scenes from the amusement halls and pubs, which she visited with her friend,

Käthe Kollwitz Käthe Kollwitz ( born as Schmidt; 8 July 1867 – 22 April 1945) was a German artist who worked with painting, printmaking (including etching, lithography and woodcuts) and sculpture. Her most famous art cycles, including ''The Weavers'' and ''T ...

, at a time when it was just beginning to be acceptable for unaccompanied women to visit such establishments. She organized her own exhibitions and sold her works largely by herself. She also made purchases on behalf of

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. Life Osthaus was born to a wealthy banking family, who also owned several businesses in the textile a ...

, the founder of the

Museum Folkwang Museum Folkwang is a major collection of 19th- and 20th-century art in Essen, Germany. The museum was established in 1922 by merging the Essener Kunstmuseum, which was founded in 1906, and the private Folkwang Museum of the collector and patr ...

, including works by Rodin and

Aristide Maillol Aristide Joseph Bonaventure Maillol (; December 8, 1861 – September 27, 1944) was a French sculptor, painter, and printmaker.Le Normand-Romain, Antoinette . "Maillol, Aristide". ''Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online''. Oxford University P ...

. In 1907, she organized an exhibition of French art in Berlin at the then, in turn, an exhibition of German art at a gallery called "Les Tendances Nouvelles" in Paris. She was a member of the

Deutscher Künstlerbund The Deutscher Kuenstlerbund (Association of German Artists) was founded in 1903 the initiative of Count Harry Kessler, promoter of arts and artists, Alfred Lichtwark, director of the Hamburg Art Gallery and the famous painters Lovis Corinth, Ma ...

and participated in exhibitions by both the

Munich Secession The Munich Secession was an association of visual artists who broke away from the mainstream Munich Artists' Association in 1892, to promote and defend their art in the face of what they considered official paternalism and its conservative polic ...

and the

Berlin Secession The Berlin Secession was an art movement established in Germany on May 2, 1898. Formed in reaction to the Association of Berlin Artists, and the restrictions on contemporary art imposed by Kaiser Wilhelm II, 65 artists "seceded," demonstrating ag ...

. Due to failing health, she had to give up her Paris studio in 1913 and return to Germany, where she lived with her relatives in

Lüdenscheid Lüdenscheid () is a city in the Märkischer Kreis district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located in the Sauerland region. Geography Lüdenscheid is located on the saddle of the watershed between the Lenne and Volme rivers which b ...

. Gerhardi died in Lüdenscheid, Germany on 29 June 1927 from lung disease. Her remains were taken to Detmold. Her work was included in the 2015 exhibition ''Empathy and Abstraction: Modern Women in Germany'' at the

Kunsthalle Bielefeld The Kunsthalle Bielefeld is a modern and contemporary art museum in Bielefeld, Germany. It was designed by Philip Johnson in 1968, and paid for by the businessman and art patron Rudolf August Oetker.

Ida Gerhardi Förderpreis

In 1989, the Lüdenscheid Savings Bank, in collaboration with the Städtische Galerie Lüdenscheid, established the "Ida Gerhardi Förderpreis" (Sponsorship Prize). It is currently (2017) worth 5,000 Euros. Notable recipients include , and .

Selected paintings

File:Gerhardi - Frederick Delius.jpg, Frederick Delius File:Die geigerin gerhardi.jpg, Violinist File:Gerhardi-Pub.jpg, Bar Scene File:Gerhardi-Prince.jpg, Siamese Prince

References

External links

The Ida Gerhardi Förderpreis
website * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gerhardi, Ida 1862 births 1927 deaths 19th-century German painters 20th-century German painters German women painters German portrait painters Académie Colarossi alumni People from Hagen Deaths from lung disease 20th-century German women artists 19th-century German women artists

Biography

Ida Gerhardi Förderpreis

Selected paintings

References

Further reading

External links