Gerd Grimm

Gerd Grimm (born October 20, 1911 in Karlsruhe , † May 28, 1998 in Freiburg im Breisgau ) was a German graphic and fashion artist.

biography

Grimm began his artistic training in Karlsruhe in 1929 at the Akademie der Künste with Professors Wilhelm Schnarrenberger and Karl Hubbuch and then took him to the Nuremberg School of Applied Arts . From 1933 he was a master student of Prof. OHW Hadank in Berlin . Grimm has been working as a fashion draftsman for magazines such as “ Die Dame ” or “Elegante Welt” since the late 1920s . But as a so-called half - Jew in Nazi idioms he was only able to sell his work during the Hitler dictatorship through the mediation of his “Aryan” partner, the fashion illustrator Hildegard van Gülick, and with the support of friends without naming him. 1936–1939 he worked temporarily in France and England. During the Second World War , his Berlin apartment was destroyed and many of his early works were lost. He was drafted into the Wehrmacht in 1941 because he was “half-Jewish” and dismissed as “unworthy of military service”. Until the end of the war, he traveled almost every week from Berlin to Freiburg, where his parents lived, to avoid possible arrest.

In 1946, after his marriage to Hildegard van Gülick, Grimm went to the United States and lived in New York City . There he worked as a draftsman, illustrator and commercial artist, u. a. for Esquire and Vogue magazines . In 1951 he returned to Germany and settled in Freiburg. In 1952 a son is born. Since the fashion magazines are now focusing on photography , he had to earn his living from advertising - he designed the advertising campaign for the Reval cigarette brand for many years. But beautiful women remained the dominant theme throughout his life. Gerd Grimm became the draftsman of the “ Fräuleinwunder ”: “Grimm's Girls” became legendary. But even America did not let go of him - the downright New York addict kept returning to the States, but also toured South America and processed his impressions in numerous graphics. His work can be summarized with the catchwords fashion - girls - metropolises .

Exhibitions

• 2010/2011: Gerd Grimm - fashion, girls, metropolises , art gallery messmer , Riegel am Kaiserstuhl .

Web links

• Vita and work of Gerd Grimm