Irmgart Wessel-Zumloh (née Zumloh; ) was a German

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

and

graphic artist A graphic designer is a professional within the graphic design and graphic arts industry who assembles together images, typography, or motion graphics to create a piece of design. A graphic designer creates the graphics primarily for published, p ...

Life

After graduating from high school, she began studying law in 1928. She quit in her first year at University of Munich off this to study art with Fritz Burmann at the State Art Academy in

Königsberg Königsberg (, ) was the historic Prussian city that is now Kaliningrad, Russia. Königsberg was founded in 1255 on the site of the ancient Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teutonic Knights during the Northern Crusades, and was named ...

(then

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...

, now

Kaliningrad Kaliningrad ( ; rus, Калининград, p=kəlʲɪnʲɪnˈɡrat, links=y), until 1946 known as Königsberg (; rus, Кёнигсберг, Kyonigsberg, ˈkʲɵnʲɪɡzbɛrk; rus, Короле́вец, Korolevets), is the largest city and ...

), and later with Georg Tappert at the State Art School in Berlin. In 1932 Irmgart Zumloh passed her state examination for artistic teaching at secondary schools. She married the painter Wilhelm Wessel in 1934 and lived in Hemer,

Recklinghausen Recklinghausen (; Westphalian: ''Riäkelhusen'') is the northernmost city in the Ruhr-Area and the capital of the Recklinghausen district. It borders the rural Münsterland and is characterized by large fields and farms in the north and indus ...

, and Iserlohn. After an exhibition in 1933 in the Gustav Lübcke Museum in

Hamm Hamm (, Latin: ''Hammona'') is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located in the northeastern part of the Ruhr area. As of 2016 its population was 179,397. The city is situated between the A1 motorway and A2 motorway. Hamm railwa ...

, the Wallraf–Richartz Museum

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

was the first public institution to acquire graphics by Irmgart Wessel-Zumloh in 1934. In the Deutsche Graphikschau Görlitz and in the Wallraf-Richartz Museum Cologne, graphics by Irmgart Wessel-Zumloh were confiscated by the National Socialists as degenerate art. A study visit to Rome lasting several weeks became a key artistic experience. Through her encounter with Italian painting, she turned to oil painting, after having worked mainly with drawings and graphics. Iserlohn-Wesselgrab1-Bubo

In 1946, the Wessel couple co-founded the West German Artists' Association, and Wilhelm Wessel was its chairman from 1952 to 1957. Numerous solo and group exhibitions followed. In 1950 the Wessels traveled to the XXV

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 ...

and saw the spectacular performance of

Jackson Pollock Paul Jackson Pollock (; January 28, 1912August 11, 1956) was an American painter and a major figure in the abstract expressionist movement. He was widely noticed for his " drip technique" of pouring or splashing liquid household paint onto a hor ...

. In 1957 Irmgart Wessel-Zumloh became 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 ...

(Association of German Artists), and from 1961 to 1967 she was on the board. In the volume ''Wegzeichen im Unbekannten – Neunzehn deutsche Maler zu Fragen der zeitgenössischen Kunst'' (''Nineteen German Painters on Issues of Contemporary Art''), published by Wolfgang Rothe in Heidelberg in 1962, Irmgart Wessel-Zumloh was the only woman represented.

John Anthony Thwaites John Anthony Thwaites (21 January 1909 - 21 November 1981) was a British art critic and author, who lived and worked in West Germany from 1946. Biography Thwaites studied history at the universities of Lausanne and Cambridge. From 1931 he was a ...

, one of the leading art critics of the 1950s and 1960s, described Irmgart Wessel-Zumloh as one of the leading German artists of the time.

Exhibitions

* Municipal Gustav Lübcke Museum, Hamm 1933 and 1958 *

Stedelijk Museum The Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam (; Municipal Museum Amsterdam), colloquially known as the Stedelijk, is a museum for modern art, contemporary art, and design located in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

, Amsterdam 1954 (group exhibition) * X. Premio Lissone, Italy 1957 (group exhibition) * Blauer Saal, Soest 1957 * Osthaus Museum, Hagen 1958 and 1961 * Galerie Parnass, Wuppertal 1960 *

Museum Ostwall The Museum Ostwall (known as Museum am Ostwall until 2010) is a museum of modern and contemporary art in Dortmund, Germany. It was founded in the late 1940s, and has been located in the Dortmund U-Tower since 2010. The collection includes ...

, Dortmund 1967 * Städtisches Suermondt Museum, Aachen 1971 * Westfälisches Landesmuseum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte, Münster 1966 and 1999 * Märkisches Museum, Witten 1957 and 1971 *

Von der Heydt-Museum The Von der Heydt Museum is a museum in Wuppertal, Germany. The Von der Heydt Museum includes works by artists from the 17th century to the present time. History The museum is housed in the former city hall of Elberfeld, which in 1902 became a ...

, Wuppertal 1970 * Wilhelm-Morgner-Haus, Soest 1975 and 1985 * Galerie Schübbe, Düsseldorf 1981 * Villa Wessel in Iserlohn, Ausstellungen 1991, 1992, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2007, 2014 and 2017 * Kunstsammlung Gera 2000 Irmgart took part in further international exhibitions in Salzburg, Madrid, Paris, Barcelona, Lille, Bruges, Buenos Aires, Montevideo, and Venice as well as in the US and New Zealand. Between 1953 and 1980 Irmgart Wessel-Zumloh took part in a total of 25 annual exhibitions of the German Association of Artists.see ''Wessel-Zumloh, Irmgart'' in: ''Kunstreport 1903/1995. Der Deutsche Künstlerbund im Überblick'', n overview of the German Association of ArtistsDKB special edition Winter 1994/95, Berlin 1995. ISBN 3-929283-08-5 (p. 135) In addition, she participated numerous times in the exhibitions of the West German Artists Association after 1950, the Ruhr-Lenne Association, the Hanover Art Association and the Darmstadt Secession.

Awards

* 1952 Karl-Ernst-Osthaus-Preis from the city of

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 ...

* 1953 Industriepreis from the city of Iserlohn * 1957 Wilhelm-Morgner-Preis from the city of Soest * 1966 Konrad-von-Soest-Preis from the Westphalia-Lippe Regional Association (as the first woman)

Estate

In Iserlohn the is home to the "Wilhelm Wessel / Irmgart Wessel Zumloh e. V. " art association. The association has set itself the task of processing and maintaining the artistic legacy of the Wessel couple. There are also exhibitions from classical modernism to contemporary, with a focus on early post-war art and thus the artistic environment of the Wessels.

References

External links

Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:WesselZumloh, Irmgart 1980 deaths 1907 births People from Iserlohn German etchers 20th-century German painters German printmakers