Ida Kerkovius

pseudonym: -

birth data

date of birth: 1879

place of birth: Riga

death data

date of death: 1970

death: Stuttgart

biography

At the age of 20, Ida Kerkovius begins her artistic education at a private painting school in her hometown Riga. Impressed by the style of a Hoelzel student, she decided in 1903 during an exhibition to start her studies with Adolf Hoelzel in Dachau, where he had his private painting school in 1891. While studying at the Bauhaus in Stuttgart, she not only gets to know Johannes Itten and Paul Klee, but also she learns how to paint following the Bauhaus conventions. The 40-year-old Kerkovius decided to turn into weaving. In 1930, she had her first major solo exhibition at the Stuttgart Kunstverein, which was received with extremely positive comments by critics and her colleagues. After the National Socialists seized power she was labelled a "degenerate artist" and was no longer allowed to exhibit. During the war, her studio in Stuttgart was completely destroyed in a bombing raid, so a significant part of her lifes work was lost. The last two decades of her work were characterized by high recognition: not only is she awarded the Federal Cross of Merit (first class), but also she received the title of Professor in 1958 and became honorary member of the State Academy of Fine Arts in Stuttgart.