Käthe Ricken

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Käthe Ricken 1987
Self-Portrait
Grave sculpture by Rosmarie Kühne

Käthe Ricken , (* December 8, 1917 in Cologne as Katharina Marie Ortmann ; † November 7, 2005 in Krefeld) was a German painter .

Life

Käthe Ricken was the fourth of five children of the bailiff Fritz Ortmann and his wife Katharina geb. Brusselsbach born in Cologne . As a child she moved into nature with her brother Bruno, who later became a painter and graphic artist, to paint. From 1934 to 1936 she received training at the Krefeld School of Applied Arts (today's Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences ) with Peter Bertlings and Walter Breker , and with Laurens Goossens ( artist group 45 Krefeld ) and Ludwig Zaiser . From 1937 until the outbreak of the Second World War, she continued her studies in Hamburg . As a result of the war, only a few of her pre-war works have survived. In 1942 she married the weaving manufacturer Carl-Heinz Ricken. From this marriage there were five children whose upbringing made continuous, creative work impossible. Only a few children's portraits in pastel date from this period. In 1963 she intensively resumed painting. She became a member of the German Society for Painting and the Krefeld Art Association. Oil pastel pictures in bright colors dominated until well into the eighties, whereby the variety of blue tones in all shades particularly stands out. Thematically, motifs from nature, from everyday life and from people in their spatial relationships are presented. It is about the reproduction of the really essential and characteristic in clear, delimited contours: the general as the special and vice versa. In the nineties the color preference changed to red tones, now painted in acrylic, which, when diluted, gives the pictures something pastel-colored. The focus of the artistic concern is no longer on the concretely visible, but the implementation of philosophical, religious and ethical ideas and concepts in clearly understandable images. She found it difficult to avoid publicity in order to gain fame and reputation. People found her in the studio and were fascinated by her never-ending wealth of ideas, the luminosity of the colors and her completely unpretentious sincerity. During her lifetime she sold a large number of pictures at home and abroad. Her last works were created at the age of 80. Until her death in 2005, she was in need of care in her studio, surrounded by her pictures, which she viewed critically until the end. Once she stated, embracing her pictures with a wave of her arm: "Everything has to be overhauled." An impressive bronze grave sculpture of the deceased parents in Krefeld was created by their daughter Rosmarie Kühne in 2006.

Solo exhibitions

  • 1974 Viersen-Dülken municipal high school, oil pastels
  • 1975 House of the adult education center, cultural office of the city of Kempten, oil pastels
  • 1980 Beckershof Gallery, Krefeld, oil pastels
  • 1981 Goltenhof Gallery, Witten-Bommern, collages, oil pastels
  • 1993 Le Milan, La Roche Switzerland, acrylic work
  • 2006/2007 Galerie am Rhein, Cologne, the general and the special
  • 2007 Galerie am Rhein, Cologne, God and the World
  • 2008 Galerie am Rhein, Cologne, Variations
  • 2008 Galerie am Rhein, Cologne, women
  • 2009 Galerie am Rhein, Cologne, views and insights
  • 2010 Galerie am Rhein, Cologne, Italian trip

Group exhibitions

Reviews

  • Westdeutsche Zeitung of September 15, 1975 "Mother of five children exhibits oil pastels - a poet with honesty and loyalty" [1]
  • Rheinische Post from September 16, 1975 "Fragrant and dynamic" [2]
  • Köln Süd Stadt Magazin 8/2009 “Pictures full of poetry” [3] p. 12/13

literature

  • Krefeld artist directory, Verlag Fochem & Kleinsimlinghaus Krefeld 1985
  • "Insights and insights", subtle works by the artist Katharina Ricken, Kölner Stadt Magazin June – July 2009
  • Kristina Kühne: Pictures full of poetry, Katharina Ricken, an artist portrait, magazine for current affairs, art, culture and lifestyle, Cologne, August 2009

Individual evidence and documents

Web links

Commons : Käthe Ricken  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Ricken, Kathe
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ortmann, Katharina Marie (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German painter
DATE OF BIRTH December 8, 1917
PLACE OF BIRTH Cologne
DATE OF DEATH November 7, 2005
Place of death Krefeld