Karla Woisnitza
Karla Woisnitza | |
|---|---|
 portrait by Simone Kornfeld, 2019 | |
| Born | 16 August 1952 |
| Nationality | German |
| Education | Dresden Academy of Fine Arts |
Karla Woisnitza (born 16 August 1952) is a German artist.
Early life and education
[edit]Woisnitza was born in Rüdersdorf. Before she went to art school, she took part in a drawing group in her hometown led by the artist Erika Stürmer-Alex. She studied set design from 1973 to 1979 at the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts. In her core curriculum, she studied with Günter Hornig, who was an inspiration to a number of influential performance artists in East Germany[1] and who gave his students room for creative experimentation despite the conservative climate of the academy.[2] During her studies, Woisnitza brought together women artists and founded loose networks.[1] These included her fellow students and upcoming artists like Christine Schlegel, Marie-Luise Bauerschmidt, Sabine Gumnitz, Monika Hanske, Cornelia Schleime, and Angela Schumann. They realized a number of collective events together.[1] These informal performances involved body actions, such as Face Painting Action (Gesichts-malaktion, 1978–1979).[2]
In 1991, Woisnitza received a diploma in painting and graphic design from the Academy.
Career
[edit]In 1992, she received the Marianne Werefkin Prize from the Berlin Women Artist Association. From 1993 to 1995, she painted seven large frescoes for the Virchow-Klinikum campus of the Charité hospital in Berlin. In 1994, Woisnitza received the Käthe Kollwitz Prize from the Berlin Academy of Arts. In 2002, she created a fresco for the church hall of the Evangelical church in Rüdersdorf.[3]
Woisnitza was encouraged by two artist/teachers, Gunther Hornig and Erika Sturmer-Alex to do non-conformist conceptual art. She developed "an artistic activation of the body in the interest of female self-assurance and empowerment"[2] and would call "into question traditional representations of femininity as well as the basic difference between internal and external perception."[2]
Woisnitza's work is in the National Museum of Women in the Arts.[4]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c Performance art in the second public sphere : event-based art in late socialist Europe. Cseh-Varga, Katalin,, Czirak, Adam. Oxon. ISBN 978-1-351-75708-9. OCLC 1022784997.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link) - ^ a b c d The Medea Insurrection: Radical Women Artists Behind the Iron Curtain. Culver City, California: Wende Museum. 2019. p. 206.
- ^ "Karla Woisnitza". Clara Database of Women Artists.
- ^ "Karla Woisnitza". NMWA Library & Research Center. Retrieved 28 March 2023.
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