Alice Brasse-Forstmann

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Alice Brasse-Forstmann , (* July 13 . Jul / 26. July  1903 greg. In Liepaja , Latvia , † 4. February 1990 in Berlin ) was a Baltic German painter and graphic artist. She used the stage names Alifo and Ali Fo .

Life

Alice Forstmann grew up shaped by German and Russian culture. At the age of 19 she began studying at the Art Academy in Königsberg , and from 1924 she spent two years at the University of Fine Arts in Berlin . During this time she devoted herself particularly to etching . In Königsberg she met her future husband, the painter and graphic artist Otto Adolf Brasse . After their marriage in 1928, both of them lived in their studio apartment in Berlin, except for interruptions due to the war. They were closely linked through their artistic partnership until Brasse's death in 1988.

During the National Socialist era , Alice Brasse-Forstmann fell out of favor with the regime . She had illustrated an article about Latvia with her own pictures in an edition of Westermann's monthly magazine , which aroused displeasure because they were considered to be too “Eastern”. After that, the artist did not exhibit any more for the time being. She and her husband lived on the money he earned as a children's book illustrator.

In 1945 there was a new beginning for them. Brasse-Forstmann participated, among other things, in the reconstruction of destroyed churches and made church tapestries and antependums .

From 1946 to 1980 Brasse-Forstmann was a member of the Professional Association of Visual Artists Berlin . In 1946 she had her first exhibition in London , and from 1955 others followed in Germany and other countries. Since all her possessions, including the pictures, were destroyed in a bombing raid in 1943, she was only able to exhibit works created after the war .

She mainly painted at night. She was a member since 1956 and from 1958 to 1983 also chairwoman of the Association of Berlin Women Artists . They exhibited together and sought an artistic discussion among themselves. In 1968 she was awarded the Cross of Merit on Ribbon of the Federal Republic of Germany. Since 1986 she has been a lecturer at the nursing home of the Evangelical Diakonie Association , where she gave lectures on artists.

Together with her husband, she maintained a close exchange with the artist couple Gisela Lehner and Hubertus Lehner .

From 1967 until their retirement in 1983, the artist couple worked in the Brücke Museum in Berlin-Dahlem . After that both were freelance again.

Alice Brasse-Forstmann died on February 4, 1990 after a serious illness in Berlin.

plant

Brasse-Forstmann worked in various techniques: etching, glass printing, woodcut and textile art . In addition, she created wall paintings, pictures in mixed media and book illustrations . Her representations are shaped by the Eastern European culture from which she came. They show, for example, rural motifs, rurality, down-to-earthness and Jewish life. Similarities to works by Käthe Kollwitz , who was also a member of the Verein der Berliner Künstlerinnen, or Otto Mueller can be seen in some works.

Much of Brasse-Forstmann's work has a biblical or church connection. She made artistic tapestries for the community in Berlin-Schmargendorf and the Tegel retirement home as well as for the branch of the Evangelical Diakonieverein in Göttingen . Some of their exhibitions also took place in church rooms.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Entry in the baptismal register of the Trinity Church in Libau (Latvian: Liepājas sv. Trīsvienības katedrāle)
personal data
SURNAME Brasse-Forstmann, Alice
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Forstmann, Alice
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Baltic-German painter and graphic artist
DATE OF BIRTH July 26, 1903
PLACE OF BIRTH Libau , Latvia
DATE OF DEATH 4th February 1990
Place of death Berlin