Fridel Dethleffs-Edelmann:
Artist over two world wars

Self-portraits bring us closer to the personality - here the artist Fridel Dethleffs-Edelmann. Her self-portraits also allow conclusions about her artistic work, with self-portraits by Fridel Dethleffs-Edelmann being only a small part of her many works.

It becomes clear at first how hard her life was often - in her drawings and sketches:

Since she had to cope with most of her life (1899-1982) with two world wars and their consequences, that's no wonder. Fortunately, her parents (innkeepers, distillers of alcohol) protected Fridel and her brother with the greatest love from the worst. Arist and Fridel got married in 1931 - it was a happy time until 1939: Arist developed the Wohnauto, a residential car dreamed of by Fridel in 1924, for painting in the outdoors. Her daughter Ursula was born healthy in 1933. In addition to the Dethleffs sporting goods factory, the small caravan plant was founded. In World War II Arist was drafted in 1940 as a soldier. He came back unwounded. Under his leadership, the caravan plant grew. Ursula was - under the care of her mother - celebrated for her artwork as a child prodigy. The family was economically successful - almost everything was good. Until Fridel fell ill with a brain tumor; she was operated on but the consequences hindered her work greatly. Arist went completely blind. The factory was sold.

All this is hidden in her drawings and sketches.

In her self-portraits, painted in oil, a motif appears again and again: the artist at work.

In 1932, the subject appears for the first time at the "Self-Portrait in the Malkutte". It was awarded the First State Prize in the exhibition "The Woman in the Picture" by the Badischer Kunstverein Karlsruhe. The HOUSE OF ART in Munich has acquired the painting. (The picture was often exhibited - most recently in New York and Bilbao by the Museum Guggenheim.) The artist stands in the white-gray paintbrush thoughtfully with the brush in her hands in the wild.

In 1942 she painted herself In the studio - she is the center of attention in the studio - as well as in the family. The bright sunlight falls from behind on her and on her dark brown painters smock. The large bouquet of flowers is behind her on a side table. Her easel is only visible from the side.

1950 also in the studio. It's dark outside the studio windows. Behind her is a glowing table lamp. The artist stands tall, a little to the left of the middle - she wears the bright paintbrush again, but her right side is shaded. She painted herself as transparent as she did next to the curtain. It is there, but it does not dominate. Again, the easel plays no role.

In 1952 she recalls the award-winning painting from 1932 with the new painting. She stands again with a paintbrush and brush in front of the landscape - but this time in winter. The distance to the background is low. The face is almost striking, plain. The new objectivity is detached from the stereotypical of modernity.

Also in 1952, the self-portrait was created in the studio. Behind her the studio window, under her bookshelf. A yellow bouquet with zucchini is placed under the studio window. The artist has taken the picture of the easel. She holds it in the hand. In front of her on the table an empty Chianti bottle from Italy; symbolic of her own emptiness. The artist alienated the woman in the picture so much that she is hardly recognizable anymore.

Her last known self-portrait in oil on canvas dates back to 1955: she is standing in the studio in a white painter's coat with two paintbrushes in her hand. She is in thought and looks past the viewer. Its white artist's hat is illuminated to a third, two-thirds are shaded. Her head, however, is completely in the shade. Behind her are pictures in the studio with modern graphic figures.