Water Colours and Drawings

The artistic criteria that Dr. A. Zweite formulated in his review of Erna Dinklage’s exhibit of oil paintings in 1989 are met in her water colours and drawings.

The artist treats the many motifs of human existence with great sensitivity. Her subjects – nature, suffering, love, despair, loneliness, children, music, literature, dialogue - reappear in ever new variations. The series of drawings At the Window is an example of her narrative talent; each sheet tells a story. Erna Dinklage observed that a person’s feet reveal much of his character. The series Feet portrays not only the physical situation of the foot-bearer, but also his state of mind.

Two series depicting Biblical scenes remain unique in Erna Dinklage’s oeuvre:
Stations of the Cross, (15 sheets, 1953) and Joseph and his Brothers (charcoal, 18 sheets, 1977, based on Thomas Mann’s novel). The unadulterated language of the body, one of the artist’s main concerns, is expressively documented in these drawings.
Her watercolours also reflect her preoccupation with the themes mentioned above:
Sick Bird, Figure in White, Humiliation, Argument, The Philosopher, and many others.

Wilhelm Hausenstein’s expectations, expressed in 1930, have been verified: “…here we find a positive force in young Munich and I am convinced that her future work will keep us under her spell as strongly as does her fascinating presence.”

Erna Dinklage died in 1991 at the age of 96.

In 1992, the Aspekte Galerie/Gasteig in Munich presented a comprehensive exhibition of the oil paintings of her later years.

Erna Dinklage’s affirmation of life, a life of the emotions, mysterious and luminous permeates her work, even when suffering and anxiety are expressed. At the root of this hopefulness is the lifelong experience of the 94-year old artist, who once stated that “there is strength in every human being which can never be overcome by misfortune.”