Hertha Karasek-Strzygowski

Hertha Karasek-Strzygowski (born June 21, 1896 in Biala ; † May 7, 1990 in Berchtesgaden ) was an Austrian, after 1945 German painter, artist and writer.

Life

The house where Hertha Karasek-Strzygowski was born in Bielitz-Biala

She spent her youth in the Bielitz-Biala language island . At the age of 18 she went to Vienna to study at the art school for women and girls. She was denied a visit to the Academy of Fine Arts, as no female students were accepted there at the time. The hardships of the First World War made it necessary to continue studying in the nearby Krakow from 1917. There, too, only the art school remained open to her as a woman.

In 1921 she returned to Vienna as an artist, rented a studio and devoted herself to landscape painting , preferably the Alps and their world of experience.

In 1925 she married the Viennese art historian Josef Strzygowski . In the following years she traveled with him to the Baltic States, spent a semester in Finland , and visited Yugoslavia and Italy several times .

After Josef Strzygowski's death, she married the Sudeten German Alfred Karasek in 1942 . As a result, she lost her Austrian citizenship and was expelled to Germany in 1946 "with small hand luggage". After a short time she was able to create a new home for herself in Berchtesgadener Land . She lived and worked there until her death.

Works

Many of the works she created after 1945 are privately owned. Many of those from the period up to 1945 have been destroyed or lost.

Publicly owned images (selection)

• Germanisches Nationalmuseum Nürnberg: 15 larger traditional costumes and 9 red chalk drawings
• Museum of local history of the Bessarabian Germans in Stuttgart: 2 oil paintings, 30 red chalk and pastel drawings
• Former Federal Ministry for Expellees in Bonn: Some traditional costumes

Books

• The hand of fate guides us - Bessarabian diary. Elwert-Verlag, Marburg 1990, ISBN 3-7708-0933-5 .
• Volhyn diary. Elwert-Verlag, Marburg 1979, ISBN 3-7708-0652-2 .

Bibliography (selection)

• Alfred Karasek-Langer : Hertha Karasek-Strzygowski, life picture of an artist. Reprint Kulturwart, Wuppertal 1966.
• Alfred Karger: Hertha Karasek-Strzygowski. Biography and bibliography for his 70th birthday. In: Beuthener Abhandlungen zur Oberschlesischen Heimatforschung, Heft 16, Dortmund 1968.