Ricarda Schwerin

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Ricarda Schwerin (born Ricarda Meltzer on January 30, 1912 in Göttingen – died July 29, 1999 in Jerusalem ) was a German-Israeli photographer . From 1930 she was trained at the Bauhaus in Dessau . After the Nazis seized power , she had to flee Germany and lived in Palestine from 1935 . Here, together with her husband Heinz Schwerin , she made toys that were presented at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1937 was presented. From the mid-1950s she worked again in a photo studio in Jerusalem, illustrated children's books and portrayed numerous politicians and personalities in the country.

life and work

Ricarda Schwerin
Etel Fodor-Midday
Bauhaus Archive, Berlin

Link to the picture
(Please note copyrights )

Template: Infobox painting/maintenance/museum

After the early death of her mother in 1915, Ricarda Meltzer grew up in a children's home and with various relatives. After she had refused confirmation , her father sent her to the Moravian Church boarding school in Königsfeld in the Black Forest . Here she met Meret Oppenheim . After graduating from school, Ricarda Meltzer applied to the Bauhaus in Dessau. She was accepted in the summer semester of 1930 and completed the preliminary course. She then studied for one semester each in the workshop for printing and advertising, in Walter Peterhans ' photo class and in the building finishing workshop.

In the summer of 1931, she met the Jewish communist Heinz Schwerin at the Bauhaus, who was elected to the Bauhaus student council in October of the same year. At that time, the political pressure on the Bauhaus management from the side of the municipal council, which was dominated by the National Socialists , was already increasing , with the aim of closing the facility. In the winter of 1931/1932, after the scandal surrounding the Communist student group (Kostufra), the disciplinary committee banned the members of the student council from the building , and Heinz Schwerin had to leave the Bauhaus without a diploma. For health reasons, Ricarda Meltzer was also given leave and was not allowed to study again in 1932. She was also banned from the Bauhaus because of her political activities.

The couple went to Berlin and Ricarda Meltzer worked in the photo studio of Grete Stern and Ellen Auerbach ringl + pit . In the winter of 1933, Ricarda Meltzer and Heinz Schwerin continued their studies at the School of Fine and Applied Arts in Frankfurt .

After the National Socialists seized power, Heinz Schwerin was arrested for distributing communist leaflets . Ricarda Meltzer went into hiding and destroyed all personal documents, including her photo reportage from Potsdam , which was supposed to be part of her thesis. After Heinz Schwerin managed to escape from prison, they both escaped to Prague in May 1933 . Here they founded the advertising agency Hammer und Brush . From Prague they emigrated first to Geneva and then to Hungary in 1935 . In Pécs the couple married in the presence of the Bauhauslers Etel Fodor-Mittag and Ernst Mittag . In August 1935, the Schwerin couple emigrated to Palestine.

In order to secure a living in Palestine, Ricarda Schwerin took on household chores in a hotel. From 1936 Ricarda and Heinz Schwerin set up a wood workshop. Here they designed wooden toys and founded the Schwerin Wooden Toys company . The toys sold well and were exported abroad . In 1937 the couple exhibited some products at the Paris World Exhibition . Ricarda Schwerin worked in the workshop until her daughter Jutta was born in February 1941, after which she took care of product sales. In March 1945 their son Tom was born.

Heinz Schwerin died in an accident in 1948 as a Haganah fighter in the Palestine War . Ricarda Schwerin moved with her children from the war zone to downtown Jerusalem. In order to earn a living for herself and her family, she took on household chores, opened a kindergarten and founded a private baby home for refugee children.

In 1955 she met the photographer Alfred Bernheim and initially worked as an assistant in his photo studio. The couple lived and worked together in Jerusalem until Bernheim's death in 1974. The photographers portrayed numerous politicians, emigrants and well-known personalities of the country, including Golda Meir , Mosche Dayan , David Ben-Gurion , James Baldwin , Martin Buber , Yitzchak Rabin , Heinrich Blücher and Hannah Arendt , whom she met at the Eichmann trial in 1961 .

"Under no circumstances should you give up photography."

– Hannah Arendt : Letter to Ricarda Schwerin, 1974

In addition, Ricarda Schwerin and Alfred Bernheim devoted themselves to architectural photography. In 1969 their joint photo book Jerusalem - Rock of Ages was published . A documentation of contemporary Israeli architecture with photographs by Ricarda Schwerin was published in the art magazine Ariel . She provided the illustrations for two children 's books . After Bernheim's death, Ricarda Schwerin continued to run the photo studio for three years. In order to secure her livelihood, she trained as a tourist guide at the age of 65 . She worked for a Jerusalem tourist office until old age. Ricarda Schwerin died in Jerusalem on July 29, 1999.

Her daughter Jutta Oesterle-Schwerin was involved in politics in the Federal Republic and was a member of the German Bundestag for the Green Party from 1987 to 1990 . Her son, Tom Segev , is a historian of the history of Zionism .

reception and honoring

Graffiti "Hannah Arendt: Nobody has the right to obey", based on a photograph by Ricarda Schwerin in Hanover-Linden

Most of the photographer 's estate with the negative collection is now in the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. In 2012 her daughter published the memories of her mother in the book Ricarda's Daughter - Life between Germany and Israel . In 2011 and 2013, exhibitions at the Bauhaus Dessau were dedicated to the photographer's artistic work:

  • Kibbutz and Bauhaus , Dessau 2011
  • From the Bauhaus to Palestine: Chanan Frenkel , Ricarda and Heinz Schwerin , Muche/Schlemmer Master House, Dessau, 2013

Works by Ricarda Schwerin (selection)

  • Jerusalem - Rock of Ages - illustrated book, together with Alfred Bernheim
  • Sippurim LeNivi – Children's Book (Illustration)
  • Nono - Children's Book - Children's Book (Illustration)

literature

  • Jutta Schwerin: Ricarda's daughter - life between Germany and Israel . Spector Books in cooperation with the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation, Leipzig 2012
  • Ines Sonder, Werner Möller, Egri Ruwen: From Bauhaus to Palestine: Chanan Frenkel, Ricarda and Heinz Schwerin [on the exhibition of the same name in the Dessau Masters' Houses Muche - Schlemmer from June 26 to October 13, 2013] , Leipzig 2013
  • Volkhard Knigge , Harry Stein (eds.): Franz Ehrlich . A Bauhausler in resistance and concentration camps. (Catalogue for the exhibition of the Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora Memorials Foundation in cooperation with the Weimar Classics Foundation and the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation in the New Museum Weimar from August 2, 2009 to October 11, 2009.) Weimar 2009, ISBN 978-3-935598- 15-6 .
  • Ricarda Schwerin . In: Patrick Rössler , Elizabeth Otto : Women at the Bauhaus. Pioneering modern artists. Knesebeck, Munich 2019. ISBN 978-3-95728-230-9 . pp. 156-161.

web links

Commons : Ricarda Schwerin  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

itemizations

  1. ^ a b c d Ricarda Schwerin. Women. Biographical Research, accessed March 9, 2019 .
  2. ^ a b c Bauhaus Dessau Foundation: Ricarda Schwerin. Retrieved March 9, 2019 .
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g h Ricarda Schwerin. Retrieved March 9, 2019 .
  4. ↑ a b c d The Bauhaus myth – a success story? Not for everyone (biography Ricarda Schwerin). January 14, 2019, retrieved March 10, 2019 .
  5. ↑ Renata Schmidtkunz: Back to Dessau. 1 July 2013, retrieved 9 March 2019 .
  6. ↑ Objects - Photography Heinz and Ricarda Schwerin (1935). In: Arts in Exile. Retrieved March 10, 2019 .
  7. ↑ Objects - Photography Heinz and Ricarda Schwerin (1935). In: Arts in Exile. Retrieved March 10, 2019 .
  8. ↑ Heinz Schwerin. Retrieved March 10, 2019 .
  9. ↑ Birgit Meyer: Women in the men's union: Politicians in leading positions from the post-war period to the present day . Campus, Frankfurt 1997, ISBN 3-593-35889-1 , p. 235 .
  10. ↑ Photography in Palestine and Israel: 1900-Present Day | Jewish Women's Archive. Retrieved March 9, 2019 .
  11. ↑ How it went on | Monopoly - Magazine for art and life. 8 July 2013, retrieved 9 March 2019 .
  12. ↑ Information Center for Israeli Art | The Israel Museum, Jerusalem. Retrieved March 9, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Schwerin, Ricarda
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Meltzer, Ricarda (birth name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German-Israeli photographer
BIRTH DATE January 30, 1912
PLACE OF BIRTH Goettingen
DATE OF DEATH July 29, 1999
PLACE OF DEATH Jerusalem