HEDWIG MEYER THOMA

Painting by Hans Meyer

Dedicated to my grandmother

Hedweg Meyer Thoma

and

my father

Hans Jochem Keerl

Cover Hans Meyer oil on linen 1932copyright @ Beat Keerl 2007

HEDWEG MEYER-THOMA1886 - 1946

Hedwig Meyer-Thoma, had been relieved after a long and difficult illness. Her temperamental nature which, from youth on, loved every form of sport, suffered a severe setback, since it soon became impos-sible for her to walk with out a cane. Yet she devoted herself all the more to her art and took great pleasure in the visits of her children and grand children and in those over her many loving women friends.

Her life was rich and manifold. She was born on Jan 25, 1886 and had an extremely happy youth. She came into contact with many aspects of life in the house of her father’s business, the Thoma brewery, at the then Aeschenplatz.

An inborn pleasure at observation was supported wholeheartedly by her mother who had such a great sense of humor. In socially humor-ous situations mother and daughter were able to find a hearty and happy unity. Both inspired each other, for the happy-go-lucky nature of her mother was always prepared for every sort of entertainment. Her two- year old brother Kurt, too, liked to participate. An inborn love for animals united sister and brother especially. In the large room there became established with time, the most diverse types of cages in which birds, reptiles and fourlegged creatures were nurtured; and the more life there increased, the greater became the urge to enlarge the structures. Only the serious character of the father, burdened with the daily chores of a large, blossoming business, was able to inhibit the urge for expansion somewhat. How ever, it was impossible to prevent the first attempts at riding on the robust horses of the brewery in its courtyard. Once the two children even planned a circus number by trying to teach one of the horses to climb up a staircase.

However, besides all this the pronounced talent for drawing of the young girl constituted the main pursuit and pleasure. Being good at

drawing, by the way of imitating nature, did not suffice; sketches of comic vacation experiences often became imaginatively distorted to the point of the grotesque. Later on, when Hedwig’s Uncle August Thoma, who was fond of traveling, took her along to the most distant countries, did she not only observe much that was worthy of admira-tion, but she portrayed the life of the travelers aboard ship in the most entertaining caricatures. She was more tempted , in art school as well, to outline with a keen eye for the comic, the hustle and bustle of vari-ous folks passing in and out, than to copy the sedentary models, and in addition there appeared already the first compositions so rich in imagi-nation and fantasy, which testified to her serious, inner experience and which became so significant in her life’s work.

Those long journeys brought her much artistic inspiration. At 17 Hed-wig had already visited Egypt for the first time. This was followed by visits to Paris, Algiers, Florence and Venice and in 1908 a visit to the North and in 1010 to Korsika.The most recent pictures are wild jungle landscapes or palm thickets with fighting animals of prey, or again memories of distant lands and cities with fantastic architecture. She longed to transcend the oppressive presence and to uplift herself into the wide open spaces of fantasy. Her final devotion was to the wealth of color of flowers. She never grew tired of confronting the artistic depiction of a flower.

The greatest joy would have been for her to once more roam through distant countries, as she was used to throughout her life. When she was driven a few days ago, to the hospital in an ambulance, she sud-denly looked out of the open window and called out: “Ah, there is the sky (heaven)!” One could feel from her words how much she would have seen more of that blue.

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1927-2912 5/8” x 10 3/4”

ThomaKänguru

192612 5/8” x 10 3/4”

Thoma Kampf

192814 1/2” x 11 1/2”

Thoma Kaiserkrone

192814” x 11 1/2”

Thoma Käfer am Meer

192814 3/4” x 12”

Thoma Traumvision

193012” x 9 1/2”

Thoma Traum mit Floh

19348 3/4” x 7”

Thoma Weilmachfer

193110” x 10 1/2”

Thoma Wellensittich

1934 10” x 10 1/2”

Thoma Fest1935

10 7/8” x 9”

Thoma Untitled

1935 10 7/8” x 9”

Thoma Fest1938

10 7/8” x 9”

Thoma Ein Schiffroll (Yugoslavie)

1939 14” x 11 3/4”

Thoma Untitled

193910” x 10 1/2”

Thoma Verkehrswahnsinn

194015 3/8” x 12 1/2”

Thoma Kohlmeiseli

194516 3/8” x 15 1/4”

Thoma Schreibtischecke mit Meieli

194612 1/4” x 11 1/4”

Thoma Wasser, Erde, Luft

194611 3/4” x 9 1/4”

Thoma Heidi und das Schneehoppli

19477 3/4” x 6”

Thoma Wieso1947

10 1/2” x 8 3/4”

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