Miriam Sommerburg, Carved Wood German Expressionist Sculpture Jewish Woman Refugee Artist Judaica, c.1950s

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Miriam Sommerburg (American female artist, born Germany, Hamburg, 1900–1980 New York)
Modernist Wood Carved Sculpture, Carving depicting a family group.
… Read more Miriam Sommerburg (American female artist, born Germany, Hamburg, 1900–1980 New York)
Modernist Wood Carved Sculpture, Carving depicting a family group.
Before being forced to flee Germany during the outbreak of World War II, Miriam Sommerburg had an established career as a prominent and sought-after woodcut artist. There she studied with Richard Luksch (he belonged to the group around Gustav Klimt and left the Wiener Sezession with him in 1905. Created works for the Wiener Werkstatte) and Friederich Alder. Ultimately, she settled in the United States and began to explore a vast range of materials and techniques, including oil painting, watercolor, other methods of printmaking, and wood carving sculpture. At times, she applied her woodblock techniques to these new media—for example, by using incisions to add texture to a painting. Sommerberg was interested in exploring relationships and human emotions, which did not waver through her move. She famously said, “Art doesn’t belong on a pedestal. It belongs to the ordinary people and should be treated honestly.”
Sommerburg would find international renown and go on to have her works displayed at the Boston Art Museum, the 1964 World’s Fair in New York City and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. and the Ghetto Fighters House Archives at Kibbutz Lohamei Hagetaot, a community of Holocaust refugees and survivors, among them fighters of the ghetto undergrounds and partisan units in Israel.
In 1944, as the Allies continued to gain ground in Europe and the Nazi atrocities came to light, President Franklin D. Roosevelt allowed 1000 refugees into the country as personal guests. These guests would be staying at Fort Ontario in the city of Oswego, New York. Refugees came from Italy, Germany, and many other countries throughout Europe. Miriam was one of those refugees who stayed at the fort in the 1940s. Miriam Sommerburg went to Greenwich Village New York after the Shelter closed in 1946 and produced an impressive body of work. She held nine one woman shows, won numerous prizes and watched her work being added to the permanent collections of several museums, including the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art.
She studied with Richard Luksich and Friedrich Adler. She exhibited at Syracuse Museum, California Society of Etchers, Society of American Graphic Art, Allied Art of America, Audubon Artists, National Association of Women Artists, Boston Art Museum and was invited to participate in the Ford Foundation Grants and the Academy of Arts & Letters. See less