Bele Bachem

Bele Bachem (actually Renate Gabriele Bachem; born May 17, 1916 in Düsseldorf ; † June 5, 2005 in Munich ) was a German painter , graphic artist , book illustrator, set designer and writer .

Life and work

She was the daughter of the painter Gottfried Albert Maria Bachem and his wife Hedwig. She spent her childhood in Düsseldorf. Shaped by her father in art and literature, she went to the art academy in Berlin at the end of the 1920s , where she was taught by Ludwig Bartning and Max Kraus, among others . Her work quickly attracted attention and she was able to pursue her own style undisturbed. Soon she received her first commissions and was finally brought to Munich by Otto Falckenberg to design stage sets at the theater . In 1940 she married the art historian Günther Böhmer († 1992), and their daughter was born in the same year.

The flower binder by Bele Bachem (around 1942) from the holdings of the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart
Link to the picture

(Please note copyrights )

Shortly thereafter, her work caused offense among the National Socialists , and exhibitions were banned in the penultimate year of the war.

After the war ended, she published drawings in the satirical magazine Der Simpl . Some directors of the revived theater scene remembered them and invited them to draft stage sets. In the following years she illustrated and wrote books, designed film posters and the like. Later she taught herself in Munich. Bele Bachem for the porcelain manufactory of the company Rosenthal and for Tapetenfabrik brothers Rasch supplied numerous designs.

She is considered one of the most important German post-war artists and, along with Unica Zürn, is one of the few surrealist women in German literary illustration. The artist, who liked to depict beings half human and half animal, did not want to understand herself as a surrealist painter. Yet it is not infrequently referred to as such.

Cover and text drawings

• Peter Scher : Funny owls. With 20 drawings by Bele Bachem. (= German Soldier Library Volume 12), Siegismund, Berlin 1940.
• Catullus : poems. Latin and German. Transferred from Carl Fischer. With drawings by Bele Bachem. Heinrich FS Bachmair, Söcking 1948.
• Clemens Brentano : Gockel, Hinkel and Gackeleia . With colored illustrations by Bele Bachem. Ellermann, Hamburg 1952.
• Bodo Brodt: Parlez-moi d'amour! Small biography of the hit. With illustrations by Bele Bachem. Offenbach / Main 1956.
• Christine Brückner : Small games for big people. Bertelsmann Verlag, Gütersloh 1957.
• Lukian : Talks with hetaerae . Transferred from Carl Fischer. With 33 drawings by Bele Bachem. Emil Vollmer Verlag, Wiesbaden undated [1957].
• Old Chinese love stories. Translated into German by Franz Kuhn. With 28 illustrations by Bele Bachem. Emil Vollmer Verlag, Wiesbaden undated [1958].
• Stefan Békeffy : The dog called Mr. Bozzi. Dust jacket, cover drawing and illustrations by Bele Bachem. Blanvalet, Berlin 1959.
• Hansjürgen Weidlich : love stories for shy people. 17 illustrations (including cover), Rauhen Haus agency , Hamburg 1959.
• Ernst R. Lehmann-Leander (ed.): The belt of Aphrodite. 100 erotic poems from 1000 years of ancient culture. With 26 drawings by Bele Bachem. Emil Vollmer Verlag, Wiesbaden undated [1961].
• Günther Schwenn : Between all the muses. Espresso elegies. Peters-Verlag, Berlin 1964.
• From the slave of love. The most beautiful erotic stories from 1001 nights . Nymphenburger Verlagsanstalt, Munich 1980.

Own writings

• Bele Bachem: rose water sold out. Düsseldorf 1977.
• Bele Bachem: Signature Object No. 2: Your yesterday - your shadow. Rolandseck 1985.
• Bele Bachem: A common little malice. Düsseldorf 1980.

Works

Quotes

• "The longer you paint, the more you are an apprentice."
• "I love painting, traveling and love"

Awards

• 1952: " Toulouse-Lautrec " poster award from the city of Paris
• 1955: Poster Prize of the City of Vienna
• 1959: Prize of the State Graphic Collection in Munich
• 1962: Schwabing Art Prize
• 1966: " Water Lily Prize " from the city of Munich
• 1968: “Premier prix international IIIé salon de femme”, Cannes
• 1986: Medal " Munich shines - The friends of Munich "
• 1997: Cross of Merit on Ribbon of the Federal Republic of Germany

Art exhibitions

• 2015. Munich Künstlerhaus . Bele Bachem: "The longer you live, the more you become an apprentice."
• 2016. Bele Bachem (1916–2005) on her 100th birthday. Gallery in the Ismaning Palace Pavilion
• 1998. Joint exhibition "Der Faden der Ariadne" in the Herrenhof, Mußlach
• 1997. Aschheim culture building - Bollhagen gallery, Worpswede
• 1996 Hartmann Gallery, Munich Villa Rolandseck Gallery, Remagen Gallery of the BBV, Munich
• 1995. Markt Bruckmühl gallery
• 1994. Galerie Rutzmoser, Munich Hartgalerie, Germering Fischerplatz-Galerie, Ulm
• 1993. Osram House, Munich
• 1992. New Munich Gallery, Munich
• 1991. Schaffhaus Gallery, Neu-Ulm
• Galerie am Stephansberg, Bamberg
• 1988. Fischerplatz-Galerie, Ulm Galerie Kugel, Moers
• 1987. Götz Gallery, Stuttgart
• 1986. Wolfgang Ketterer Gallery, Munich
• 1985. Municipal gallery, Rosenheim Edwin-Scharff-Haus, Neu-Ulm
• 1984. Bollhagen Gallery, Worpswede
• 1983. Bodley Gallery, New York
• 1982. BMW House, Munich Turkuwaz Gallery, Ankara
• 1980. Bavarian Pavilion, Bonn International Art Fair Basel
• 1979. Lutzke Gallery, Wachtberg Harms Gallery, Mannheim Gallery im Falkenhof, Rheine
• 1978. Galerie Zwei müller, Baden near Vienna
• 1977. Municipal Gallery, Berlin Gallery Harms, Mannheim Gallery Europe, Berlin Gallery Brettschneider, Berlin Gallery Kamp, Amsterdam
• 1976. Galerie an der Düssel, Düsseldorf Galerie Harms, Mannheim Galerie AAA, Ascona
• 1973. Rutzmoser Gallery, Munich
• 1972. Hiepe Gallery, Munich
• 1971. Hell Gallery, Saarbrücken Gallery on Stephansberg, Bamberg Gallery Mensch, Hamburg Gallery Samuel Show, New York
• 1970. Ostheimer Gallery, Frankfurt a. M. Gallery in the evening, Munich Hartmann Gallery, Munich
• 1969. Galerie Griebert, Montreux Galerie Peithner-Lichtenfels, Vienna
• 1968. Lempertz Gallery, 1st retrospective, Cologne
• 1967. Voigt Gallery, Nürmberg
• 1966. Gallery von Sydow, Frankfurt a. M.
• 1965. Galerie Totti, Milan Galerie von der Höh, Hamburg
• 1964. Moering Gallery, Wiesbaden
• 1963. Gurlitt Gallery, Munich
• 1957. Santa Margaretha Biennale
• 1954. Bolzano Biennale
• 1952. Sello Gallery, Hamburg
• 1951. Munich Pavilion, Munich
• 1947. Gallery Kikio Haller, Zurich

literature

• Bachem, Bele . In: Hans Vollmer (Hrsg.): General Lexicon of Fine Artists of the XX. Century. tape 1 : A-D . EA Seemann, Leipzig 1953, p. 88 .
• Ulrike Camilla Gärtner: Bele Bachem. Catalog raisonné 1935–1986. Munich 1986.
• Olaf N. Schwanke: I tend to be gloomy. A long overdue essay on Germany's probably only literary surrealist: Bele Bachem. (PDF; 79 kB), In: Kritische Ausgabe , 1/2002, pp. 38–42.
• Theo Rommerskirchen: Bele Bachem . In: viva signature si! Remagen-Rolandseck 2005. ISBN 3-926943-85-8

Web links

• Literature by and about Bele Bachem in the catalog of the German National Library
• www.bele-bachem.de
• Last line: Bele Bachem (89), graphic designer by Michael Wenk, Die Welt from June 11, 2005
• Bele Bachem near Rosenthal
• Bele Bachem in HeidICON illustrations of the Simpl
• Bele Bachem on her 100th birthday , online as a PDF file, Munich City Museum 2016, accessed on July 30, 2016

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Waltraud Schwab: The Surrealist and Her Daughter. Taz, July 30, 2016, p. 30, online
2. ↑ Waltraud Schwab: The Surrealist and Her Daughter. Taz, July 30, 2016, p. 30, online
3. ^ Münchner Künstlerhaus: Exhibition Bele Bachem , accessed on July 30, 2016
4. ^ Community Ismaning : Announcement of the exhibition ( Memento of the original from July 30, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed July 30, 2016