Ilse Fehling was a German costume designer and sculptor associated with the Bauhaus and Nazi propaganda films.
Ilse Fehling | |
|---|---|
 Ilse Fehling in 1928 | |
| Born | April 25, 1896 Danzig-Langfuhr, Germany |
| Died | February 25, 1982 Munich, Germany |
Early life and education
editIlse Fehling was born on April 25, 1896, in Danzig-Langfuhr, Germany. In 1919, Fehling enrolled at the Reimann School in Berlin, where she studied art and fashion design. While in Berlin, she additionally studied at the city's Kunstgewerbeschule.[1] It was there that Fehling began to study sculpture.[2]
In 1920, Fehling matriculated at the Bauhaus Weimar, where much of her work focused on theatre design. Additionally, she studied sculpture, painting, and theory of harmonization [2] under a number of prominent artists including Oskar Schlemmer, Paul Klee, and Gertrud Grunow.[3] [4] Out of her work at the school, Fehling's best known is the rotating round puppet stage she designed and later patented[5] in her theater class with Lothal Schreyer.[2]
Career
editIn 1923, she left the Bauhaus for Berlin to work as a freelance sculptor and stage and costume designer.[3]
Fehling received the Rome Prize from the Prussian Academy of Arts in 1932; she later studied in Rome using a grant associated with the award.[1] In the following years, her work took influences from Cubism.[3]
Following the Nazi rise to power, Fehling's work was deemed degenerate and its exhibition was banned.[3] Much of her work was lost due to bombing and confiscation during World War II.[1]
Fehling had begun working as a costume designer in 1926 [6] and continued this work after the 1933 rise of Nazism in Germany, working on propaganda films including Der Herrscher.[7]
In 1940, Fehling began work at Tobis-Europa as the chief outfitter.[2] Here she optimized the costume department by expanding and continuing to develop it.[2] While working there, Fehling implemented a system for reusing previously-worn costumes.[2] During World War II, she published an article on creative costume reuse in the popular fashion press as an inspiration to women living under rationing.[8]
By 1946, Fehling lived in Rottack before returning to Munich in 1952 where she lived out the rest of her life.[2] Fehling opened her own studio after settling in Munich, where she worked on sculptures, stage sets, and press drawings.[2] Fehling did some additional work in Geneva, where her daughter was an international student.[2] Her final design project was for the Cologne cinema "Die Lupe" in 1965, where she conceptualized the interior design.[2]
Personal life and death
editIn 1923, Fehling married Henry S. Witting. In 1928, she gave birth to a daughter, Gaby; she divorced Witting a year later.[1] Fehling died on February 25, 1982.
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b c d "Ilse Fehling". www.bauhaus100.com. Archived from the original on 2019-04-06. Retrieved 2019-04-06.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Biografie". www.bauhauskooperation.de (in German). Archived from the original on 2023-03-27. Retrieved 2022-05-03.
- ^ a b c d Gotthardt, Alexxa (2017-04-03). "10 Forgotten Female Pioneers of the Bauhaus". Artsy. Retrieved 2019-04-06.
- ^ Müller, Ulrike (2009). Bauhaus Women: Art, Handicraft, Design. Flammarion. ISBN 978208030120-8.
- ^ "Mujeres en la Bauhaus". La Vanguardia. 2019-03-12. Retrieved 2019-04-06.
- ^ "Ilse Fehling". www.filmportal.de (in German). Retrieved 2023-01-02.
- ^ Jung, Gerrit (2014-04-11). Veit Harlan – Ein Filmemacher im Faschismus (in German). diplom.de. ISBN 9783836631051.
- ^ Otto, Elizabeth (2019). Haunted Bauhaus: Occult Spirituality, Gender Fluidity, Queer Identity, and Radical Politics. MIT Press. ISBN 9780262043298.