Gertrud Caspari

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Grave medallion with the portrait of Gertrud Casparis
Rattle stork
Knecht Ruprecht
Snowman in spring
wind

Gertrud Caspari (born March 22, 1873 in Chemnitz ; † June 7, 1948 in Klotzsche ) was one of the most important German children's book illustrators in the first half of the 20th century.

Life

Gertrud Caspari was born in 1873 as the fourth of five children of the businessman Robert Caspari. After the death of their father in 1888, the family moved to Dresden in 1894. Gertrud Caspari attended a drawing school there from 1895 to 1898 to work as a teacher. However, in 1897 she became seriously ill with Graves' disease , which confined her to bed for many years. While she was bedridden, she had the idea for a first illustrated children's book.

Her first picture book was published in 1903 under the title The Living Toy . The following year she successfully took part in the arts and crafts exhibition in Leipzig, where she showed applications in a frieze design. From then on, she regularly received orders to illustrate children's books, but she also illustrated school books and song books.

In 1906, together with her brother Walther Caspari , who worked as a graphic artist for political magazines, the Leipzig teachers' association commissioned her to design the picture book children's humor for the eyes and ears . The book was published in 1906 by Verlag Alfred Hahn in Leipzig and established a 40-year collaboration between the publisher and Gertrud Caspari. The writer Adolf Holst translated numerous illustrations into verse.

Her brother Walther died in 1913 at the age of 44, so that Gertrud Caspari was left to work on her own from now on. In the following year she moved from Bühlau to Klotzsche, where she lived until the end of World War II. During the Nazi era, she illustrated educational books for the Reich Propaganda Office. After the end of the Second World War, this led to accusations of collaboration with the National Socialists. Gertrud Caspari lost her apartment in Klotzsche and spent the last years of her life in Lößnitz in the Ore Mountains , where she lived in poor conditions. Shortly before her death, she moved back to Dresden. She died in a hospital on June 7, 1948 after a serious fall. Her grave is in the New Cemetery in Dresden-Klotzsche.

plant

Gertrud Caspari has published over 50 of her own children's books with illustrations. Illustrations by Gertrud Casparis are included in over 20 other works. In addition, postcards, games and calendars with their pictures appeared. In 1927 she made murals and glass windows for the children's rest home in the Tetschen district in Dittersbach .

Gertrud Caspari is considered to be the creator of a "modern toddler style", also known as the "Caspari style". “Her style of painting is characterized by large areas, often monochrome backgrounds, simple perspectives, sharp contours, simple figures and bright, warm colors.” Gertrud Caspari drew scenes from her Saxon homeland in addition to depicting children.

For Gertrud Caspari, the book format and the thickness of the pages were important in terms of child-friendly handling and she selected the materials accordingly. The illustrator's books fetch top prices in second-hand bookshops today . Some of the books have been reissued by the Gertrud Caspari Family Foundation.

Honor

Gertrud Casparis house in Dresden-Klotzsche ( location )

In 1954 a street in Dresden-Klotzsche was named after Gertrud Caspari. Gertrud Casparis' house at Königsbrücker Landstrasse 3 has been preserved. Since 1998 a memorial plaque on the house commemorates the well-known resident. In addition, a primary school in the district bears the name Gertrud Casparis.

Publications (selection)

  • The living toy (1903)
  • The summer trip! (1905)
  • Children's humor for the eyes and ears (1906)
  • Funny toddler book (1907)
  • Kinderland, you magic land (1908)
  • Illustrative and illustration book (1909)
  • Spring, spring everywhere! (1910)
  • King is our child (1910)
  • For the little ones! (1913)
  • Caspari Primer (1912)
  • Seasons (4 parts, 1912–1915)
  • What is this, my child ?: a book for the very young (1913)
  • Big People (1916)
  • From my sketchbook (1917)
  • Look here (1918)
  • Good morning (1918)
  • For the little ones (1920)
  • In the animal nursery (1925)
  • Just come in! (1925)
  • A very happy calculation (1927)
  • The funny 1 × 1 for our ABC shooters (1929)
  • Come children! Sing! (1934)

literature

  • Johannes Gebhardt: A German children's and fairy tale painter . In: Reclams Universum: Moderne Illustrierte Wochenschrift Vol. 40, No. 1, 1924, pp. 85–87.
  • Hans Ries: Illustration and illustrators of books for children and young people in German-speaking countries 1871–1914 . Wenner, Osnabrück 1992, pp. 463-465. ISBN 3-87898-329-8
  • Dieter Alfter: Kinderland, you magic land: life and work of Gertrud Caspari (1873–1948) . Museum im Schloss Pyrmont, Bad Pyrmont 1993. (= series of publications by the Museum im Schloss Bad Pyrmont, 24)
  • Wolfgang Neubert: Gertrud Caspari: The bibliography of books and other graphic works . Burgart-Presse Henkel, Rudolstadt 1994, ISBN 3-910206-13-1 .
  • Folke Stimmel: Caspari, Gertrud . In: General Artist Lexicon . The visual artists of all times and peoples (AKL). Volume 17, Saur, Munich a. a. 1997, ISBN 3-598-22757-4 , pp. 118 f.

Web links

Commons : Gertrud Caspari  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files
Wikisource: Gertrud Caspari  - sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Franz Kögler: Care and welfare . In: The Sudeten German self-governing bodies . Volume 9: Elbe cities of Tetschen, Bodenbach and the Tetschen district. Berlin 1931, p. 60 ff. The pictures p. 68, 70 and 64 show parts of the work and a glass window as well as Gertrud Caspari creating the wall painting.
  2. ^ Fedor Bochow: Caspari, Gertrud . In: Institute for Saxon History and Folklore (Ed.): Saxon Biography .