Tatiana Ahlers-Hestermann

Tatiana Ahlers-Hestermann (born March 28, 1919 in Hamburg ; † January 30, 2000 in Hamburg) was a German textile , mosaic and glass artist .

Tatiana Ahlers-Hestermann

Life

Tatiana Ahlers-Hestermann was the daughter of the German - Russian artist couple Alexandra Povòrina and Friedrich Ahlers-Hestermann . Her brother Andreas, who was born in 1916, only lived a few weeks. Both parents were recognized painters. Tatiana Ahlers-Hestermann decided on her own form of expression: first she chose textile art, later she also designed mosaics and glass windows for churches.

At the age of nine, she moved with her parents from Hamburg to Cologne, because her father had received a professorship at the progressive Cologne factory schools . In Cologne she grew up in an artistic environment. In 1933 Friedrich Ahlers-Hestermann was dismissed by the National Socialist government. The family was spied on. On the one hand, the regime disliked the mother, who was of Russian descent, and on the other hand, the lack of enthusiasm for the dictatorial regime was criticized. For example, the family refused to hang swastika flags out of the window. Since they were under heavy surveillance in Cologne, the parents decided to move to Berlin, where they hoped to be able to go underground in the metropolis. At that time Tatiana Ahlers-Hestermann was already studying in Munich, but after completing her training in 1939 she moved back to live with her parents in Berlin. There the family stayed in contact with other artists. She and her parents cultivated numerous artist friendships there, for example with Jeanne Mammen and Hans and Elsa Thiemann .

Church themes played a prominent role in both life and work. In 1944 Tatiana Ahlers-Hestermann converted from the Russian Orthodox Church to the Roman Catholic Church in Berlin . In 1945 she fled with her mother from the Allied bombing raids from Berlin to Worpswede to the sculptor Clara Rilke-Westhoff .

When Friedrich Ahlers-Hestermann was called to Hamburg to rebuild the State Art School in 1947, she went with him to his native city. The mother, Alexandra Povòrina, stayed in Berlin. She was a lecturer at the Berlin-Weißensee School of Art .

In Hamburg, Tatiana Ahlers-Hestermann initially took care of the father's household; she referred to herself as the “house daughter”. Professionally, the first time in Hamburg was very difficult for her. It was not until the 1950s, when the economy and culture were rebuilt, that she received lucrative contracts.

education

In Cologne , Tatiana Ahlers-Hestermann visited the Oberlyceum and the study institute of the Evangelical Community eV Antoniterstraße. She was not allowed to take the Abitur examination because she was not a member of the National Socialist Association of German Girls .

In 1937 Tatiana Ahlers-Hestermann began studying textile art at the Cologne factory with Agnes Renard . She dealt strongly with the teachings of the church father Augustine and Thomas Aquinas . She studied in Cologne until 1938. This was followed by a year-long study of textile art at the Academy for Applied Arts in Munich with Else Jaskolla , whose specialty was historical embroidery techniques. For example, she studied the technology of old Coptic fabrics. Between 1939 and 1942 she attended the painting and drawing classes in evening classes at the Reimann School in Berlin .

plant

She was already working on her first orders in the 1940s: the first major work was a wall hanging for the conference room of the Chamber of Commerce in Ulm 1940/41 (150 × 230 cm), which was burned during the war. In 1943 she created two hangings, each 200 cm high, for side altars in the Sacred Heart Church in Berlin-Charlottenburg . In 1948 she designed and realized a “ Schutzmantelmadonna ” for the St. Elisabeth children's home in Hamburg-Bergedorf .

During the 1950s she worked for a wide variety of clients: industrial companies such as BP British Petroleum , insurance companies, for public clients such as bookhouses and schools as well as for Catholic and Protestant church communities. During this time she was also in discussion as a lecturer for the Hamburg State Art School. However, since she did not have a tailor's exam, she could not be appointed.

In the 1960s the artist created numerous ecclesiastical antependums and she began to design stained glass windows for churches. A major project in 1966 was the stained glass windows for the chapel of the German military cemetery in Bastia on Corsica . Her mother Alexandra Povòrina was initially supposed to receive the contract, but she had died in the meantime (1963) and Tatiana Ahlers-Hestermann was considered the artistically creative successor.

Tatiana Ahlers-Hestermann and her parents' grave in Berlin-Reinickendorf

In the following decade, Tatiana Ahlers-Hestermann created numerous mosaics for art-in-building orders, but continued to work in the textile sector. She created a reconstruction of the Art Nouveau theater curtain for the Münchner Kammerspiele , which Richard Riemerschmid had designed in 1901 . During the Nazi dictatorship , this was removed on Hitler's orders .

During the 1980s she worked on numerous glass windows for churches and continued to work on textiles; until the end she was a sought-after artist.

She died on January 30, 2000 in Hamburg. Her grave is in the Dankes cemetery in Berlin-Reinickendorf .

Exhibitions

• A Hamburg artist family. Friedrich Ahlers-Hestermann - Alexandra Povòrina - Tatiana Ahlers-Hestermann. Forum for the bequests of artists , Hamburg (April 18 - May 2, 2010).

literature

• Jens Hauswedell (Ed.), Margot Schmidt (Red.): Tatiana Ahlers-Hestermann. Artist in Hamburg. Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-89181-352-X .
• Anke Münster: Art is play and deep seriousness. The imaginist Alexandra Povòrina (1885–1963). Life and work. Dissertation, University of Giessen, 2004.
• Maike Bruhns : Ahlers-Hestermann, Tatiana . in: The new rump. Lexicon of fine artists in Hamburg, Altona and the surrounding area . Wachholtz, Neumünster 2005, ISBN 978-3-529-02792-5 . P. 9.