To begin to offer an answer to this question, longtime art collector Anna Lenz conducted twenty interviews with the life partners and wives of well-known contemporary artists, including, among many others, Elizabeth Goldring-Piene, wife of German multimedia artist Otto Piene; Karin Girke, widow to the late painter Raimund Girke; Rotraut Klein-Moquay, artist and wife of Yves Klein; and art historian and critic Antje von Graevenitz, wife of op-artist and cofounder of the New Tendency movement Gerhard von Graevenitz. With photographs by Roswitha Pross, the interviews are presented here, offering insight into the women’s biographies and their lives with the artists. With great openness, Lenz’s interview subjects speak of their families, life plans, and their own professional trajectories, as well as their initial meetings and long-term relationships with the artists. Together, the interviews offer an insightful—and highly personal—piece of contemporary art history.
Reviews
Table of Contents
Foreword
The urge to keep on working,
to write, has always been with me
Antje von Graevenitz
From the kind of rustling, Holweck always knew
very well whether I was in good form
Christiane Mewes-Holweck
We’re in a family business
Christine Uecker
It’s great good fortune to live together for so long
Danielle Morellet
I never get bored
Edith Talman
Some days Otto and I think that together we SEE it all!
Elizabeth Goldring-Piene
For me he’s not an artist, but a man
Essila Paraiso
I prefer the visual; I can deal
with it better than the auditive
Franziska Megert
“My wife earns our daily bread,
and I earn the bread rolls for Sunday”
Gertrud Bartels
I wanted to gather knowledge, attain insights
Hannelore Ditz
For myself I wish a place for books, art and friends
Karin Girke
All this is absolutely my life
Kitty Kemr
Dani Franque – a brief portrait as related by her daughter
Léonore Verheyen
I love enjoying life
Marie-Madeleine Opalka
With my ideas I was always a bit too early:
That was my problem
Nanda Vigo
Intuition is our authentic well-spring
Rotraut Klein-Moquay
If you’re happy, everything else falls into place
susanne de vries
I’ve always drawn the strength to cope
with everything else from painting
Uta Peyrer-Prantl
From the very beginning, I was always there-
seven days a week and at least eight hours a day
Ute Mack
At my age you can speak of dreams only with difficulty
Vlasta Prachatiká
List of Illustrations
Photo Credits
Imprint