Gudrun Irene Widmann

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
GI Widmann 1958

Gudrun Irene Widmann (born December 2, 1919 in Reutlingen ; † July 28, 2011 there ) was a German painter and draftsman . Her work includes more than 500 paintings and numerous drawings.

GI Widmann 2009
Irene Widmann: My mother and I, 1946
Irene Widmann: In March the farmer, 1953

Live and act

Gudrun Irene Widmann was the daughter of Fritz Widmann (1884–1941, wholesaler at Haux & Krais) and Elisabeth Widmann (1892–1978) and was born the fourth of five children. Her family was interested in culture. Gudrun Irene Widmann visited z. B. the 1937 World's Fair with her father in Paris .

Widmann attended the List-Gymnasium in Reutlingen, which she left at the earliest possible point in 1935. The pedagogy at this institute, which she experienced as humiliating, strained her into old age. Her artistic talent was then further promoted by her drawing teacher. From 1936 to 1937 he studied textile design with Gustav Jourdan and Bernhard Pankok at the Stuttgart School of Applied Arts . She won a painting competition and with it a trip to Norway .

From 1938 to 1939 she studied at the Hermann Göring Master School for Painting in Kronenburg ( Eifel ), founded by Werner Peiner . She left the school in 1940/41 because she felt that her artistic freedom was restricted here too, although her tormentor promised a teaching position if she stayed. When she left Kronenburg anyway, Peiner arranged for the color cards to be withdrawn and prevented Widmann from being admitted to the Stuttgart Art Academy , nor should she be admitted to the Reich Chamber of Culture .

Through the mediation of her former drawing teacher Wolfgang Zeller in Reutlingen, she was able to continue her training as a private student with the artist Paul Kälberer in Glatt (Sulz am Neckar) and received the required painting, drawing and printing materials from Kälberer, which she also used in the time of shortage after the end of the Second World War. At Kälber's mediation, Widmann was admitted to the Stuttgart Art Academy under Hans Spiegel and Hermann Mayhofer-Passau , where she studied from 1941–1942.

This was followed by studies as a master class student with a studio with Herbert Dimmel at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna (1942-1944). From 1944 to 1945 she was required to work in factories in Reutlingen, sewing uniform buttons and manufacturing ammunition. In 1945 her parents' house in Reutlingen was hit by bombs, which destroyed the works she had previously created.

She and her mother initially spent the period between 1945 and 1951 with farmers in Tieringen on the Swabian Alb , where she worked in agriculture. Then she lived with friends in cramped conditions in Reutlingen. At the end of the 1940s, she set up a small studio in the attic of the Haux & Krais company. Times of prolonged illness followed.

At the end of the 1940s, Widmann was a co-founder of the “Notgemeinschaft Tübingen and Reutlingen Artists” and a founding member of the “Ellipse” artist group that emerged from the “Notgemeinschaft”. They formed friendships with Karl Langenbacher , Ugge Bärtle , Elisabeth and Günter Hildebrand , HAP Grieshaber and Hadwig Münzinger, among others . During this time there were joint exhibition projects and art trips with friends from the ellipse.

In 1951 she and her family moved into a new house with a large studio extension in Reutlingen- Sondelfingen . In 1952 she was a prizewinner at the Blevin Davis Competition in Munich . In 1954 she stayed for six months in the house of artist friend Gudrun Kneer-Zeller in Ulm.

Widmann was artistically active for 70 years and regularly exhibited her works in solo and group exhibitions. She was a member of artist groups such as Gedok , the Upper Swabian Secession (guest), the Association of Visual Artists Württemberg and the Artists Association of Tübingen . She had been married to the writer and art historian Gerd Gaiser since 1959 and had two sons. On July 28, 2011 she died after a short illness at the age of 91 in Reutlingen.

reception

Irene Widmann: Still Life with Doggy, 1974

Widmann's work was recognized nationally and internationally, especially in the 1950s. In the decisive years as a freelance artist, Widmann was a single mother; she also reflected this life situation in her pictures.

Detached from contemporary art movements, she went her own way in her artistic language with unusual color combinations and compositions in simplicity and clarity. Backed up with hidden, allegory messages, in which literary texts, passages or quotations were also included and inner images, premonitions and desires appeared as reflections of the self, she fulfilled the image of a metaphysical realist, as Georg Scheja referred to in 1962. Widmann's spirit of contradiction and her striving for artistic independence and recognition were constants in her life and her constantly developing work.

Exhibitions (selection)

From 1950 to 2009, Widmann continuously participated in the regular exhibitions of the Reutlingen artists in the Spendhaus, in the town hall or in the municipal gallery.

  • 1952: Kunstverein Ulm
  • 1967: Spendhaus, Reutlingen; Small gallery in the Elisabethenbad, Bad Waldsee
  • 1977: Spendhaus, Reutlingen
  • 1980: Adult Education Center, Herrenberg
  • 1982: Gallery at Eugenstrasse 17, Stuttgart
  • 1983: Thurn and Taxis Barn, Michelstadt Municipal Gallery
  • 1984: Cafeteria, art building on Schlossplatz, Stuttgart
  • 1985: Town Hall, Reutlingen
  • 1988: Kornhaus, Kirchheim unter Teck
  • 1990: Kreissparkasse, Reutlingen
  • 1995: Gallery Schloss Mochental, Ehingen / Danube
  • 2002: Galerie am Hausthof, Tübingen; BBKW. Focus , Alte Kelter, Fellbach (G, K); Retrospective , Städtische Galerie, Reutlingen
  • 2009: Municipal Gallery, Reutlingen
  • 2019: GI Widmann retrospective, Reutlingen Art Museum

Literature and Sources

  • Barbara Lipps-Kant: Gudrun Irene Widmann. Painting: monograph and catalog raisonné. Quodlibet-Verlag, Tübingen 2010, ISBN 978-3-935682060 .
  • Herbert Eichhorn, Maren Keß-Hälbig, Reutlingen Art Museum (ed.): GI Widmann, retrospective. Edition Cantz, Esslingen 2019, ISBN 978-3-947563-42-5 .

Web links

Commons : Gudrun Irene Widmann  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Schwäbische Rundschau: Irene Widmann was yesterday 90th December 3rd, 2009, accessed on September 30th 2019 .
  2. ^ Reutlinger Nachrichten: Irene Widmann on her 90th birthday | Südwest Presse Online. June 8, 2014, accessed September 30, 2019 .
  3. ^ Reutlingen Art Museum: GI Widmann | City of Reutlingen. Retrieved September 30, 2019 .
  4. ↑ biography . In: Kunstmuseum Reutlingen (ed.): GI Widmann, retrospective . cantz edition, Esslingen 2019, ISBN 978-3-947563-42-5 , pp. 127-128 .
  5. ^ Herbert Eichhorn MA, head of the Kunstmuseum Reutlingen Spendhaus, flyer for the retrospective on the occasion of the artist's 100th birthday in 2019
  6. ↑ Barbara Lipps-Kant: Gudrun Irene Widmann. Painting: monograph and catalog raisonné. Quodlibet-Verlag, Tübingen 2010, p. 21.
  7. ↑ Sarah debatin: GIWidmann, artist. Catalog for the 2019 retrospective.
  8. ↑ exhibitions . In: Kunstmuseum Reutlingen (ed.): GI Widmann, retrospective . edition cantz, Esslingen 2019, p. 120 + 130 .
personal data
SURNAME Widmann, Gudrun Irene
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Widmann, GI; Gaiser-Widmann, Irene; Widmann, Irene
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German painter and draftsman
DATE OF BIRTH December 2, 1919
PLACE OF BIRTH Reutlingen
DATE OF DEATH July 28, 2011
Place of death Reutlingen