Irma Blank (1934 – 14 April 2023) was a German-born Italian artist. Her work, based on printed text that she transcribed in ink, has been described as "drawing languages without words" and thus "a form of communication beyond specific language", including sounds.

Life and work

Blank was born in Celle, Lower Saxony. In 1955, age 20 and inspired by

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as t ...

Italian Journey ''Italian Journey'' (in the German original: ) is Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's report on his travels to Italy from 1786 to 1788 that was published in 1816 & 1817. The book is based on Goethe's diaries and is smoothed in style, lacks the spont ...

, she traveled to Syracuse, Sicily. Having made the decision to settle in Italy for good, Blank started working as a high school teacher, focusing on her own art at night. In 1973 Blank moved to

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

, where she met with the

concrete poetry Concrete poetry is an arrangement of linguistic elements in which the typographical effect is more important in conveying meaning than verbal significance. It is sometimes referred to as visual poetry, a term that has now developed a distinct me ...

artists and introduced language into her prints and paintings. In the 1970s she initiated a long-standing collaboration with fellow artist Mirella Bentivoglio. Blank's technique in ''Trascrizioni'', a cycle of works she started in 1973 and concluded in 1979, was to transcribe texts from printed material, such as newspapers, poetry and treatises, in black ink on transparent paper. During the process, she would "read" the material in monotonous sounds with her mouth closed, which she then recorded. Although Blank's work was exhibited at

Documenta 6 documenta 6 was the sixth edition of documenta, a quinquennial contemporary art exhibition. It was held between 24 June and 2 October 1977 in Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in northern Hess ...

in Kassel in 1977 and the 38th

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...

in 1978, her practice experienced a period of relative obscurity until it was reidiscovered and reappraised in the 2010s. Blank wrote in 2001: In 2017 Blank's work was exhibited at the 57th

. A travelling retrospective curated by Johana Carrier and Joana P. R. Neves. was staged at the in Lisbon and

MAMCO The MAMCO () is the contemporary art museum of Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of ...

in Geneva in 2019, at the

CAPC musée d'art contemporain de Bordeaux CAPC musée d'art contemporain de Bordeaux, formerly the Centre d'arts plastiques contemporains (CAPC), is a museum of modern art established in 1973 in Bordeaux, France. Building The museum is housed in the ''Entrepôt Lainé'', a former warehou ...

, the CCA Tel Aviv-Yafo and the

Bauhaus Foundation Tel Aviv The Bauhaus Foundation in Tel Aviv, Israel, has a private museum on the ground floor of a building built in the International Style in 1934, located on 21 Bialik Street. It is owned by American billionaire, businessperson, art collector and p ...

in 2020, at the in

Bellinzona Bellinzona ( , , Ticinese ; french: Bellinzone ; german: Bellenz ; rm, Blizuna )is a municipality, a historic Swiss town, and the capital of the canton of Ticino in Switzerland. The town is famous for its three castles (Castelgrande, Montebell ...

, the Centre d'Art in Valencia in 2021, and at the ICA (Institute of Contemporary Art) in Milan in 2021. An extensive monograph was published by Walther König in Cologne. Blank died in Milan on 14 April 2023, at the age of 88.

Selected exhibitions

Blank's works have been presented in solo and group exhibitions, including: * 1977: ''Metamorphosen des Buches'',

, Kassel * 1978: ''Materializzazione del linguaggio'', 38th

* 1979: ''Sprachen jenseits von Dichtung'', , Münster * 1981: 16th São Paulo Art Biennial * 1989: ''Konfrontation 1974–1989'', * 1992: ''Geteilte Bilder. Das Diptychon in der neuen Kunst.''

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 ...

, Essen * 1992: ''Kunstsache'', Kunstmuseum, Düsseldorf * 1997: ''Augenzeugen'', Die Sammlung Hanck, Kunstmuseum, Düsseldorf * 2010: ''Modernités plurielles de 1905 à 1970'',

Centre Pompidou The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the Centre national d'art et de culture Georges-Pompidou ( en, National Georges Pompidou Centre of Art and Culture), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English, is a complex building in the Beaubourg area of ...

, Paris * 2011: Irma Blank &

Silvie Defraoui Silvie Defraoui is a visual artist born in St. Gallen in 1935. Biography Silvie Defraoui spent her childhood in St. Gallen and in Grisons. She first studied painting at the l’école des Beaux-Arts d’Alger and later ceramics at the l’écol ...

: ''Writings'' Galleria Michela Rizzo, Venedig * 2012: ''Le mie parole, e tu?'' Galleria dell'Incisione,

Brescia Brescia (, locally ; lmo, link=no, label= Lombard, Brèsa ; lat, Brixia; vec, Bressa) is a city and ''comune'' in the region of Lombardy, Northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Garda and Iseo ...

* 2013: ''Senza Parole'' P420 * 2017: 57th Venice Biennale * 2019: Culturgest, Lisbon * 2019:

, Geneva * 2019:

* 2020: CCA Tel Aviv-Yafa * 2020:

* 2021: Bombas Gens, es Centre d'Art, Valencia * 2021: ICA (Institute of Contemporary Art), Milan * 2021: Museo Villa dei Cedri,

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Blank, Irma 1934 births 2023 deaths 20th-century German painters 21st-century German painters German emigrants to Italy People from Celle Italian contemporary artists