Julie Wolfthorn

Julie Wolfthorn (January 8 1864 – December 29 1944) was a German painter. Born as Julie Wolf(f) to a family of Jewish faith, she later styled herself as "Julie Wolfthorn" after the city of Thorn were she was born in.

Life

Wolfthorn was born in Thorn (Toruń) in the Prussian Province of Prussia. She studied painting in Berlin since 1890, and returned there after a stay in Paris. In 1898, she was co-founder of the Berlin Secession and the „Verein der Künstlerinnen und Kunstfreunde Berlin“. In 1905, Julie Wolfthorn and over 200 female artists signed a petition to be allowed to join the „Preußisch-Königliche Kunstakademie“, which was turned down.

With Käthe Kollwitz, she founded the exhibition cooperation „Verbindung Bildender Künstlerinnen“. The two women are elected to directors of the „Secession“ in 1912, but she and Fanny Remak are expelled in 1933. Julie Wolfthorn stays in Berlin, cooperating with the „Kulturbund Deutscher Juden“ under pressure from the Nazis, which declare it illegal in 1941, arresting the members and seizing the possessions.

On October 28 1942, 78 year old Julie Wolfthorn and her sister Luise Wolf (which like all other family members except the painter called themselves Wolff or Wolf) were transported to Theresienstadt. She is said to have continued drawing, as far as possible under the circumstances, until her death on December 29 1944.

Work

Wolfthorn was known for her portraits, among others of Ida Dehmel, Richard Dehmel, Gabriele Reuter, family members of writers Hedwig Lachmann and Gustav Landauer, the family of architect Hermann Muthesius, opera singer Irmgard Scheffner, many actrices like Tilla Durieux or Carola Neher, and many other famous people of her time from Berlin, mainly female activists.

Literature

* Hedwig Brenner: "Jüdische Frauen in der bildenden Kunst II." Konstanz 2004.