Exhibition
Paintings by Anneliese Bollengraben-Hülsenbeck - a new look at a Wuppertal artist
Just over a year ago, the archive of the University of Wuppertal made an exciting acquisition: Paintings, drawings, texts and biographical documents of the Wuppertal artist Anneliese Bollengraben-Hülsenbeck (1920-2007). This generous gift from the family includes a dozen paintings from the artist's estate. Some of these mostly figurative and colourful works of art as well as other loans from the Bollengraben family can now be seen in the exhibition.
The artist found inspiration for her works in texts by Else Lasker-Schüler as well as in the dance theatre of Pina Bausch. However, she was particularly fond of flowers and gardens - as well as people. "I consciously work in colour, although colour has gone a bit out of fashion recently": this is how she described her work at an exhibition opening. Many of the works on display are executed in her preferred mixed media technique, in which various painting materials such as ink, oil pastels and pastel or watercolour are combined in one picture. The drawings from the field of costume design and stage design close the artistic circle to Anneliese Bollengraben-Hülsenbeck's many years of teaching at the Werkkunstschule Wuppertal - a forerunner of today's university of Wuppertal.
To the exhibition
The exhibition in the foyer of the University Library (Gaußstr. 20) can be visited until 4 December during opening hours (Mondays to Fridays from 8 am to 10 pm, Saturdays from 10 am to 10 pm and Sundays from 10 am to 7 pm). Admission is free. The vernissage will take place on Tuesday, 12 November at 6 pm.
About the artist
Born in 1920 in Wuppertal-Elberfeld, Anneliese Bollengraben-Hülsenbeck studied at the Meisterschule des deutschen Handwerks in Wuppertal from 1937 to 1941, where she graduated with honours as a commercial graphic designer. She then taught costume design there and in 1943 followed the former director of the master school, Professor Theodor Paul Etbauer, to the State Master School for the Design Crafts in Salzburg. Costume design, art history and commercial art were the main focus of her teaching activities there. Inspired by the painter Max Peiffer-Watenphul, who also taught in Salzburg, she began painting.
Anneliese Bollengraben-Hülsenbeck returned to Wuppertal in 1947 and taught costume design, fashion graphics and art history at the Werkkunstschule until 1962. From 1948 to 1950, she also worked as a graphic designer in the advertising department of the Märkische Seifenindustrie Witten/Ruhr. In 1954, she married the graphic designer and artist Horst Bollengraben (1926-1997). From 1962, she was self-employed in the field of industrial advertising and also worked as a journalist. However, an eye condition then severely restricted her artistic work.
It was only after an eye operation in 1976 that Anneliese Bollengraben-Hülsenbeck began a further phase of artistic creation. A first solo exhibition took place in 1983 at the Backstubengalerie in Wuppertal-Elberfeld, and the artist was also represented in many group exhibitions, such as those of the BRAK artists' group, which she co-founded. In 1994, works by her and her husband were shown in an exhibition at the Sparkasse Wuppertal. A final exhibition took place in 2004 at the Lutherstift Wuppertal. Anneliese Bollengraben-Hülsenbeck died in Wuppertal in 2007.
