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Emma Bormann (Austrian, 1887–1974).

Ulm, Blick Von Munster Auf Die Kaiserplatz [View From Ulm Cathedral To The Kaiserplatz, Germany]

c1920s. Woodcut, titled and signed in pencil in lower margin, 38.7 x 41.7cm. Slight crinkles to margins.

The vantage point for this view was from the Ulm Minster (161.5 m/530 ft), which is currently the tallest church building in the world. Construction of the church began in 1377 and was completed in 1890.

Vienna-born artist Emma Bormann initially studied at the University of Vienna, receiving a doctorate in prehistory in 1917. While at university she also took classes in graphic art, focusing on etching and lithography. She went to Munich in 1917 and became an art teacher and began making woodcuts. Self-taught, she developed a “unique style that blended Expressionism and Impressionism and combined respect for traditional woodcut craft with a more modern sensibility.” She had her first solo exhibition in 1920 at the Kunstlerhaus in Vienna. In 1924 she married Eugen Milch, a physician and artist, who went to China on a medical mission. Eventually Bormann and their two daughters joined him and experienced considerable hardship during the war years. Despite this, she continued her artistic activity and had a solo exhibition in 1947 at the Smithsonian, where the graphic arts curator stated “Dr Bormann-Milch is unquestionably one of the outstanding woodcutters of our time. Aside from her phenomenal skill in suggesting tone and atmosphere in this intractable medium, the artist possesses a certain heroic and monumental quality of design.” After 1950 she travelled widely, and her work was exhibited frequently during her lifetime. It seems that Bormann did not date her prints. Numerous international institutions hold her work, including the Albertina; British Museum; V&A; Metropolitan Museum of Art; National Gallery of Victoria. Ref: Wiki.

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Item #CL205-28

Price (AUD): $1,850.00  other currencies