Johanna Beckmann

The garden world

Johanna Beckmann (born May 3, 1868 in Brüssow ; † February 8, 1941 in Berlin ) was a German porcelain painter, silhouette artist and writer.

Life

Johanna Beckmann was born on May 3, 1868 in Brüssow / Uckermark. Soon the family must have moved to Stargard in Mecklenburg (today Castle Stargard ), because Johanna Beckmann spent her childhood and youth here. In April 1886 she took up vocational training in Berlin. She attended three renowned training centers: the educational establishment of the Royal Museum of Applied Arts , the Royal Art School and the drawing school of the Lette Association . After a short time as a drawing teacher, she began working as a designer and “silhouette painter” at the Königliche Porzellan-Manufaktur Berlin (KPM) in November 1891 . Here she spent twenty strenuous, but also successful, professional years. Their Art Nouveau decor gives their porcelains a high collector's value today.

After initially working in various techniques (plant drawings as book illustrations, decors for wallpaper, tiles, etc.), she concentrated on paper cutting in her further artistic development. She exhibited her first silhouette pictures in 1895/96 in the Eduard Schulte Art Salon in Berlin. Johanna Beckmann worked both as a draftsman and as a silhouette artist for well-known and much-read children's, youth and entertainment magazines such as "Westermanns monthly", "Über Land und Meer" and others. During her most creative years, the versatile artist enjoyed great popularity. Many recognized their work. In 1913, for example, she received the coveted Rome Scholarship.

Johanna Beckmann: To each his own . Black images and sayings . Martin Warneck Verlag, Berlin 1906, cover.

From 1905 on, Johanna Beckmann published about 30 books in which she illustrated her own texts with paper cutouts. But also for texts by Goethe, Eichendorff, Storm and others, their filigree silhouettes were a successful illustrative equivalent.

The First World War interrupted her successful artistic development. In the 1920s she only succeeded to a limited extent in building on the successes of the pre-war period. So the last years of her life were burdened by material need and by being forgotten.

Johanna Beckmann died on February 8, 1941 in Berlin. She was buried in Stargard Castle, in her "real home". Her grave is still there today as a memorial site.

Works (selection)

Nature. Of will and control. 1905.
Stork and the question of women. 1905.
Imp male. 1906.
To each his own. Children's book. 1906.
Little stars. Fairy tale. 1907.

literature

sorted alphabetically by author

Gudrun Mohr: Johanna Beckmann - The master of paper cutting. An artist's life between historicism, art nouveau and natural philosophy . Steffen Verlag , Friedland 2011, ISBN 978-3-941683-07-5 . ( Reading sample )
Gudrun Mohr: The artist Johanna Beckmann (1868–1941) as a plant draftswoman - on garden book illustration around 1900 . In: Die Gartenkunst 23 (1/2011), pp. 32–50.
Beckmann, Johanna. In: Franz Brümmer : Lexicon of German poets and prose writers from the beginning of the 19th century to the present . Volume 1. Brockhaus, Leipzig 1913, pp. 163-164.
Beckmann, Johanna. In: Elisabeth Friedrichs: The German-speaking women writers of the 18th and 19th centuries. A lexicon = repertories on German literary history. Volume 9. Metzler, Stuttgart 1981, ISBN 3-476-00456-2 , p. 19.

Web links

Commons : Johanna Beckmann - Collection of images, videos and audio files

personal data
SURNAME	Beckmann, Johanna
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German silhouette artist and writer
DATE OF BIRTH	May 3, 1868
PLACE OF BIRTH	Bruessow
DATE OF DEATH	February 8, 1941
Place of death	Berlin