Margarete Koehler-Bittkow (German/American, 1897-1964). "Portrait of Girl", c. 1950. Watercolor & ink on Japanese paper. Initialed lower right. Dimensions: 9 1/2" x 7 1/2". Work comes matted: 16" x 13 1/4".Evidence of a great artist is simplicity of line and power of image. Koehler-Bittkow shows us that mastery here with this watercolor drawing on a delicate Japanese striated paper. A charming rendering of a young girl- perfectly alluring .Koehler-Bittkow was an extraordinary printmaker and fiber artist (Harvard University has her fiber work in their permanent collection). Koehler-Bittkow is a woman artist well recognized among the artistic circle of the Bauhaus. The Bauhaus is a German artistic movement which lasted from 1919-1933. Its goal was to merge all artistic mediums into one unified approach, that of combining an individual artistry with mass production and function. Bauhaus design is often abstract, angular, and geometric, with little ornamentation. Koehler- Bittkow was an early student of the German Bauhaus school and later textile instructor who excelled in printmaking under Fenninger and Klee instruction. Her B&W prints are powerful, hard-edged and methodically executed abstractions. She fled Nazi German with her husband and art colleagues seeking safe-haven in Boston from the clampdown on artists and intelligentsia. Making her home in Belmont, Mass she sought artistic solace with fellow emigrants continuing to make art and exhibit at the Margaret Brown gallery. Her prints mark her as a German expressionist in the tradition of Katie Kollowitz.

Good

18 x 16 in

0.3 lb