Louise Stomps
Natural Figures. Sculptures 1928 – 1988
15 Oct 2021 - 17 Jan 2022
DAS VERBORGENE MUSEUM is a guest at the Berlinische Galerie
Human suffering, sensual fragility and defenceless creatures are pivotal themes in the work of the Berlin-born sculptor and printmaker Louise Stomps (1900–1988). After training at the Prussian Academy of Fine Arts in Berlin and attending a sculpture class given by Milly Steger at the Berlin Association of Women Artists, she had her own studio from 1930. Hardly any of the work she produced in the 1930s has survived, as her studio was bombed during the Second World War. In the autumn of 1945, Louise Stomps showed her works – among other places – at the first Sculpture Exhibition organised by Galerie Rosen in Berlin. In 1960 the artist moved into an old mill in Bavaria. She was inspired by the varieties of wood growing in the area, including beech, pine and local oak. Wood became a key protagonist in her late oeuvre, and natural materials are the most important components in her work. Stomp’s view of nature as the primal source of all life encouraged her formal turn to organic abstraction. In the 1970s she created sculptures three to four metres high, such as “Eos”, “Pilgrim”, “Ascetic” and “Gilgamesh”. The exhibition and catalogue will honour this extraordinary sculptor for the first time, exploring her work in depth and placing it in an international context.
Human suffering, sensual fragility and defenceless creatures are pivotal themes in the work of the Berlin-born sculptor and printmaker Louise Stomps (1900–1988). After training at the Prussian Academy of Fine Arts in Berlin and attending a sculpture class given by Milly Steger at the Berlin Association of Women Artists, she had her own studio from 1930. Hardly any of the work she produced in the 1930s has survived, as her studio was bombed during the Second World War. In the autumn of 1945, Louise Stomps showed her works – among other places – at the first Sculpture Exhibition organised by Galerie Rosen in Berlin. In 1960 the artist moved into an old mill in Bavaria. She was inspired by the varieties of wood growing in the area, including beech, pine and local oak. Wood became a key protagonist in her late oeuvre, and natural materials are the most important components in her work. Stomp’s view of nature as the primal source of all life encouraged her formal turn to organic abstraction. In the 1970s she created sculptures three to four metres high, such as “Eos”, “Pilgrim”, “Ascetic” and “Gilgamesh”. The exhibition and catalogue will honour this extraordinary sculptor for the first time, exploring her work in depth and placing it in an international context.