Kate Steinitz

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Käte Steinitz (born Fanny Elisabeth Käthe Traumann , English Kate Steinitz or Kate Trauman Steinitz , pseudonym : Annette C. Nobody ) (born August 2, 1889 in Beuthen / Upper Silesia ; † April 7, 1975 in Los Angeles ) was a German, later US -american painter , art critic , librarian and teacher . In Hanover in the 1920s she published avant-garde ,typographical fonts, among others together with Kurt Schwitters , hosted numerous personalities from art history in her salon . The artist with Jewish roots, ostracized by the National Socialists , made a name for herself with works on Leonardo da Vinci after emigrating to the USA .

Life

family

Käte Steinitz was born the daughter of a Jewish district judge . In 1913 she married the doctor and art collector Ernst Steinitz , with whom she had three daughters.

Career

Käte Steinitz studied fine arts (painting and sculpture) in Berlin from 1911 to 1913 , where she was a student of Käthe Kollwitz and Lovis Corinth . She then studied art history in Berlin and Paris . In 1913 she married the physician Ernst Steinitz and gave birth to her first daughter in 1915 - her husband served as an officer in the First World War . When Ernst Steinitz was transferred to Hanover as a medical officer in charge of the military hospitals in 1918 , Käte Steinitz also moved there from Berlin.

In Hanover, the still young Weimar Republic , the painter made friends with Kurt Schwitters and took part with him in the DADA movement, but also maintained contacts with numerous other artists and with GEDOK in Hanover.

The shared apartment with her husband, initially in the Basse house at Georgstrasse 34 (later in Hindenburgstrasse ), quickly became a meeting point for the Hanoverian art scene. Guests and friends of the Steinitz met here, including, in addition to Schwitters, Christof Spengemann , El Lissitzky , Mary Wigman and Herwarth Walden , but also Raoul Hausmann , Lazlo Moholy-Nagy , Ludwig Hilbesheimer , Theodor Lessing and many others. Sometimes 50 participants from the abstract hannover , whose sponsor Steinitz was, met in their apartment . The art critic Curt Habicht , a freelancer at Hannoversche Kurier , also visited Käte Steinitz's salon several times: She later crossed out his photo entry from May 1927 in her guest book and added the comment: " 1933 burned books ".

While Kate Steinitz 1923-1930 at the Institute of Technology studied in Hannover art history, developed in parallel in cooperation with Kurt Schwitters the children's books Hahne Peter (1924), The Tale of Paradise (1925), that the printing part in the spaces A. Molling & Comp. and, with the participation of Theo van Doesburg , Die Scheuche (1928). She also founded the Apos & Merz publishing house , through which she published avant-garde , typographic works, and wrote articles in the features section in the Hannoversche Kurier and the Hannoversche Anzeiger , as well as in the magazines Koralle and the new line .

Meanwhile, Käte Steinitz, again together with Schwitters, organized the so-called “ Zinnober Festival ” in the former concert hall on the Goethe Bridge on January 7, 1928 , and then on December 20 of that year, with the participation of the Städtische Bühnen , the festival of technology in the town hall .

Steinitz also wrote the opera libretto The Clash with Schwitters .

However, after the seizure of power by the Nazis, everything changed: Steinitz husband, employed since 1922 as a senior physician in the Department Affairs at the Jewish Hospital of Siloam , was a Jew on March 31, 1933, first by the so-called " Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service on leave" and Finally released in May of the year. Before Kate and his three daughters , he emigrated to the USA via Holland and Israel .

Finally, Käte Steinitz, who sometimes also wrote under the pseudonym Annette C. Nobody , was under increasing pressure: on March 6, 1935, the Reichsschrifttumskammer banned her from publishing, among other things because of “ cultural Bolshevism ”. In 1936 the artist emigrated with her daughters to the USA, where she initially settled in New York .

In 1942, the year her husband died, Steinitz went to Los Angeles and began to work for the doctor Elmer Belt : As the librarian of his collection of literature on Leonardo da Vinci , she continued to expand the collection and then published her own writings on Leonardo.

In addition, Kate Trauman Steinitz , as she was now called in America, continued her own artistic work. In addition to painting, she designed graphics for magazines, designed covers and worked as a teacher of art history at various institutes in California .

In her 1963 book Kurt Schwitters. She wrote memories from the years 1918 - 1930 about her time in Hanover in haunting depictions.

Käthe-Steinitz-Strasse

The city of Hanover posthumously honored the famous artist in 1995 by naming Käthe-Steinitz-Strasse in the Groß-Buchholz district .

Works (incomplete)

Fonts

  • Kurt Schwitters, Käte Steinitz: Hahnepeter family , No. 1: Hahne Peter [1924], Merzverlag Kurt Schwitters, Hanover, Waldhausenstr. 5 11
    • Kurt Schwitters, Käte Steinitz: The fairy tales of paradise , part 1. 1. The Hahnepeter [among others] , Hanover [Georgstr. 34]: Apossverlag [1924]
    • ditto, in the Merz series ; [Vol. 2,] No. 16/17 , Hanover, Waldhausenstr. 5 II: Aposs-Verlag
    • in the Insel-Bilderbuch series , facsimile print of the original edition from 1924, Volume 1 [contains: 1. The Hahnepeter . - 2. The bird of paradise . - 3. Paradise on the meadow ] 1st edition, Frankfurt am Main: Insel-Verlag, 1979, ISBN 3-458-04906-1
  • Kurt Schwitters, Käte Steinitz, Theo van Doesburg (typographical design): Die Scheuche. Fairy tales , 12 pages in blue and Red print, 20.5 × 24.5 cm [cover title], [published in a cover other than “Merz” 14/5 by Merzverlag] Hanover: Apossverlag ([Leipzig]: [Carl Fr. Fleischer]), 1925
    • ditto: The scarecrow. Fairy tale. Typographically designed , 1925
    • ditto, reprint, Frankfurt (am Main): Biermann and Boukes, 1971
  • Käte Steinitz, Kurt Schwitters: Collision , libretto for a comic opera, 1928
  • Friedrich Kranich, Käte Steinitz, Kurt Schwitters (text): "With the help of technology" , with works by Walter Lehnhoff, Walter Gieseking, Otto Ebel von Sosen , Berlin: A. Fürstner, 1928
  • Kate Trauman Steinitz, Margot Archer (arr.): The Elmer Belt Library of Vinciana / finding list , [English, "Mimeographed"], Los Angeles, California: The Elmer Belt Library of Vinciana, 1946
  • Elmer Belt, Kate Trauman Steinitz, Margot Archer: Manuscripts of Leonardo da Vinci. Their history, with description of the manuscript editions in facsimile , Los Angeles, California: Elmer Belt Library of Vinciana, 1948
  • Leonardo da Vinci. Loan exhibition. 1452 - 1519 , exhibition at Los Angeles County Museum, June 3 to July 17, 1949, Los Angeles, California / [prepared by WR Valentiner in collaboration with William E. Suida and with the assistance of Ebria Feinblatt, Kate T. Steinitz, and Henry Trubner], Los Angeles, California: Los Angeles County Museum, 1949
  • Kate Trauman Steinitz: A reconstruction of Leonardo da Vinci's revolving stage [Reprint from: The Art Quarterly , Detroit, Michigan: Detroit Institute of Arts, 1949, pp. 325–338]
  • Kate Trauman Steinitz: Leonardo da Vinci's Trattato della Pintura: A bibliography of the printed editions , Copenhagen: Munksgaard, 1958
  • Kate T. Steinitz: Kurt Schwitters. Memories from the years 1918 - 1930 , contains u. a. Memories of musical occasions and personalities as well as sheet music examples in facsimile as well as photos and drawings, Zurich: Verlag Die Arche, 1963
    • ditto, one-time special edition for the 100th birthday of Kurt Schwitters 1987, Zurich: Verlag Die Arche, 1987, ISBN 3-7160-3101-1
  • Martina Weiß (Ed.): Billy. An artist book / Käte Steinitz. With an afterword by Martina Weiß and Stefan Soltek , 1st edition, Frankfurt, Main, Leipzig: Insel-Verlag, 2007, ISBN 978-3-458-17371-7

literature

  • Hiltrud Schroeder (Ed.): Sophie & Co. Important women of Hanover. Biographical Portraits , Hannover: Fackelträger-Verlag, 1991, ISBN 3-7716-1521-6 , p. 258
  • Ilse Steinitz-Berg: The fate of the Steinitz family in the game of political and cultural contemporary history. In: Kate Steinitz. A documentation , catalog for the exhibition from October 3 to November 5, 1989 in the Sprengel-Museum Hannover, Hannover: Sprengel-Museum, 1989, ISBN 3-89169-051-7
  • Herbert Obenaus : Liberal milieu in social isolation: The Steinitzkreis in Hanover during the last few years in the Weimar Republic. In: Hans-Dieter Schmid (Hrsg.): Hannover - on the edge of the city , in the series of Hannoversche Schriften zur regional and local history. HSRL , ed. from the University of Hanover, Regional and Local History Working Group, Volume 5, Bielefeld: Verlag für Regionalgeschichte, 1992, ISBN 3-927085-44-8 , pp. 121–142
  • Sabine Guckel: “Fine old thing with a new look ” .... In: Angela Dinghaus (Ed.): Frauenwelten. Biographical-historical sketches from Lower Saxony , Hildesheim; Zurich; New York: Olms, 1993, ISBN 3-487-09727-3 , pp. 329-337
  • Ines Katenhusen : Art and Politics. Hanover's confrontations with modernity in the Weimar Republic , at the same time a dissertation at the University of Hanover under the title Understanding a time is perhaps best gained from her art , in the series Hanoverian Studies , series of the City Archives Hanover , Volume 5, Hanover: Hahn , 1998, ISBN 3-7752-4955-9 , passim
  • Ulrike Wendland: Biographical handbook of German-speaking art historians in exile. Life and work of the scientists persecuted and expelled under National Socialism. Part 2: L – Z. Saur, Munich 1999, ISBN 3-598-11339-0 , pp. 661-664
  • Hugo Thielen : STEINITZ, (2) Kate Trauman. In: Hannoversches Biographisches Lexikon , p. 348 and others; online through google books
  • Hugo Thielen: Steinitz, (2) Kate Trauman. In: Klaus Mlynek, Waldemar R. Röhrbein (eds.) U. a .: City Lexicon Hanover . From the beginning to the present. Schlütersche, Hannover 2009, ISBN 978-3-89993-662-9 , p. 602.
  • Gabi Stief: A song of praise for the beret / Käte Steinitz was the focus of the young art scene in Hanover in the twenties, before she had to flee to America in 1936. The grandchildren want to donate the estate to the Sprengel Museum. In: Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung of November 14, 2017, p. 19

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Standesamt Beuthen, Birth Register 1889 No. 914, online at Ancestry: Eastern Prussian Provinces, Poland, Civil Status Register 1874-1945 . Retrieved March 30, 2016. In some biographical dictionaries, the maiden name is incorrectly given as Trautmann .
  2. ↑ USA, Petition for Naturalization, New York, Southern District No. 403263 (1936), online at Ancestry: New York, Naturalization Records, 1882-1944 . Retrieved March 30, 2016.
  3. ↑ see works
  4. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Hugo Thielen: STEINITZ, (2) Kate Trauman (see literature)
  5. ↑ a b c Compare this GND number of the German National Library
  6. ↑ a b Ines Katenhusen: “Unclear scientific attitudes produce unclear scientific results ...” The art historian, critic and writer Victor Curt Habicht. In: Art and Politics. Hanover's disputes ... (see literature)
  7. ^ Standesamt Berlin-Wilmersdorf, Marriage Register 1913, No. 104, online at Ancestry: Berlin, Deutschland, Heiratsregister, 1874-1920 . Retrieved March 30, 2016.
  8. ↑ a b c d e Hugo Thielen: STEINITZ, (1) Ernst. In: Hannoversches Biographisches Lexikon , p. 348
  9. ↑ Sabine Seitz and others: March 12, 1927: Foundation of the artists' association “Die Abstrakten” , radio broadcast on NDR 1 [ undated ], last accessed on January 29, 2013
  10. ↑ Noble Sheridan-Quantz: Lust and joke for children's hearts. From Hanover to the world , leaflet for the exhibition of children's books by the printing company in the Hanover Historical Museum from January 18 to April 15, 2012


personal data
SURNAME Steinitz, Kate
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Steinitz, Kate Trauman; Steinitz, Kate T .; Steinitz, Kate; Steinitz, Käthe (Biogr. H Emigration); Traumann, Kate; Traumann Steinitz, Kate; Trauman Steinitz, Kate Nobody (pseudonym); Nobody, Annette (pseudonym); Nobody, Annette C.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German painter of Dadaism, art critic, librarian
DATE OF BIRTH August 2, 1889
PLACE OF BIRTH Beuthen , Upper Silesia
DATE OF DEATH April 7th 1975
Place of death los Angeles