Erna Pinner

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Erna Pinner (actually: Wilhelmine Pinner ; born January 27, 1890 in Frankfurt am Main ; died March 5, 1987 in Hampstead (London) ) was a German draftsman, puppet artist, writer and scientist.

Life

Erna Pinner came from the Jewish upper middle class in Frankfurt. At the age of sixteen she began her artistic training at the Städelsche Kunstinstitut in Frankfurt, after which she studied in Berlin with Lovis Corinth and in Paris with Félix Vallotton , Maurice Denis and Paul Sérusier . After returning to Germany, she met Kasimir Edschmid in 1916 or 1917 ; the private partnership also led to artistic collaboration. Erna Pinner illustrated the expressionist's works and designed costumes for his pieces. From 1919 she belonged to the Darmstadt Secession ; her works have been published by Die Dachstube publishing house. I.a. she illustrated Klabund's flower ship . She traveled through Europe with Edschmid, wrote features herself and continued to illustrate her partner's works.

In 1935 she was expelled from the Reich Chamber of Fine Arts and emigrated with her mother to England, whereas Edschmid stayed in Germany. Contact with Edschmid, who married the musician Elisabeth von Harnier in 1941 , broke off three years later and was not resumed until 1946. Erna Pinner stayed in the UK. There she succeeded in resuming her career, this time - after studying biology - as a descriptive scientist (in the field of zoology, paleontology and anthropology) and as an illustrator of popular scientific works.

Most of the youth work fell victim to the bombing of their parents' home in World War II . Of the almost life-size, once well-known Pinner dolls that she made from 1914 and inspired dancers like Niddy Impekoven , no original has survived. In addition to these grotesque human figures, the animals were in the foreground of their interest and work for life. In her youth she had already done studies in the Frankfurt Zoo, for which she later also designed posters. Her pig book was best known , but it was to have unexpected effects on her biography: A polio infection , which she probably contracted while sketching in the pigsty, later led Erna Pinner to mainly focus on drawing.

Works (selection)

  • Pig book. From birth to sausage. 1921.
  • Animal sketches from the Frankfurt Zoo. 1927.
  • A lady in Greece. With 30 drawings by the author. Darmstadt Publishing House, 1927.
  • I travel the world. With 104 pen drawings by the author. Reiss Verlag, 1931.
  • Felix Salten : Bambi's Children. Translation Barthold Fles . Illustrations Erna Pinner. Grosset & Dunlap, New York 1939.
  • Curious Creatures. 1951.
    • German miracle of reality. Paul Zsolnay, 1955.
  • Born Alive. (German: Panorama of Life. ) 1959.
  • Incredible and yet true. 1964

Exhibitions

  • I travel the world. The illustrator and publicist Erna Pinner. An exhibition by Barbara Weidle in collaboration with the German Exile Archive 1933–1945 of the Deutsche Bibliothek Frankfurt am Main, November 24, 2004 to March 19, 2005.

literature

  • Lutz Becker: From art to science. The amazing life of the Erna Pinner. In: I travel the world. The illustrator and publicist Erna Pinner. Weidle-Verlag Bonn 1997
  • Ulrike Edschmid : “We don't want to talk about it anymore.” Erna Pinner and Kasimir Edschmid - A story in letters. Munich 1999, ISBN 3-630-87027-9 .
  • Eva-Maria Magel: Art, a pig's life: the work of Erna Pinner. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . November 26, 2004 ( faz.net ).
  • Eva D. Becker: Erna Pinner's half life in exile. In: exile. Research. Findings. Results. Issue 2, 2004, page 61ff, Edita Koch Exilverlag Frankfurt am Main, ISSN  0721-6742 .
  • Paul Ferdinand Schmidt : Erna Pinner and the animals. In: German art and decoration: Illustrated monthly books for modern painting, sculpture, architecture, home art and artistic women's work, 63, 1928–1929, s. 205–207 ( uni-heidelberg.de ).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Kasimir Edschmid: Grotesque dolls by Erna Pirner. In: German art and decoration: Illustrated monthly books for modern painting, sculpture, architecture, home art and artistic women's work, 39, 1916-1917. Pp. 356-357 ( uni-heidelberg.de ).
  2. ↑ We don't want to talk about it anymore - Erna Pinner and Kasimir Edschmid - A story in letters. Deutschlandfunk , April 10, 1999, accessed on January 5, 2018.
personal data
SURNAME Pinner, Erna
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Pinner, Wilhelmine
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British artist, author, scientist with German roots
DATE OF BIRTH January 27, 1890
PLACE OF BIRTH Frankfurt am Main
DATE OF DEATH March 5th 1987
Place of death Hampstead (London)