Sibylle von Olfers
Sibylle von Olfers ( born May 8, 1881 in Castle Metgethen at Königsberg; † January 29, 1916 in Lübeck) was a German art teacher and religious sister and illustrator in 1906 her famous work " Some of the root children " created as a children's book author.
Life
Childhood
Sibylle von Olfers came as Maria Regina Angela Sibylla Hedwig von Olfers on 8 May 1881 in Castle Metgethen, the manor house of the estate of the same name, was born. The Gutsbezirk belonged to the district of Königsberg. She was the third of five children of the Health Council, naturalist and writer Ernst Friedrich Franz Gustav Werner Marie von Olfers and his second wife Olga Maria Bertha Baroness Behr. In the first marriage her father was married to the older sister and her mother had with her other four children.
She grew up sheltered and enjoyed together with their siblings a comprehensive education and instruction by governesses and teachers. The parents had a particularly warm relationship with their numerous children. Sibylle was regarded as a fine, smart girl revealed an early passion for drawing and differed by his fantastic games and ideas from the other children. Your grandmother called them, despite their gentle Madonnengesichtchens a wild Hummel and wrote elsewhere Sibyllchen would be prettier than ever and talented, but she is learning in the early years is not good, she is amused rather in the lessons with their game fantasies.
A particularly close relationship had Sibylle von Olfers to her little, a few years later -born sister, whose life she created happy and satisfied with original ideas and their artistic talents. Your specially designed for her sister picture books ensured with the family for joy.
But sometimes showed up at Sibylle in childhood a silent, childlike religiosity when they held prayers before their self- erected altars, surrounded by numerous candles, Madonna modeled or to order her sister painted images of saints.
Artistic Training
In the summer months, her aunt Maria von Olfers arrived at Castle Metgethen to visit. She lived as a writer and painter in Berlin and brought Sibylle drawing and painting plants and animals at. For hours Sibylle von Olfers was hidden in a corner of the palace gardens busy to bring a part of nature on paper.
In the long run but her father Ernst von Olfers could not hold the manor Metgethen and so had the extended family soon thereafter move to Königsberg in a cramped city apartment. At seventeen, Sibylle von Olfers came to her aunt in Berlin, they continue trained in drawing and painting. She also visited the art lessons with Julie Schultzen - buttons on the art school.
As a young woman she was described as graceful beauty that had many admirers and was welcome to many social events. Tall and slim she grew up. Gold Blond hair contrasted with the deep black eyebrows and long silk eyelashes, overshadowed the great gray, shining eyes. As one of those Botticelli Madonna she was, the look is normally decreased, a serious smile to the graceful mouth. But with all this apparent seriousness her sat a wag in the neck, a prankster who gave their very nature a very special charm. A Marriage request a high, conservative nobles with large ownership rejected her because her remained the dazzling and elitist, useless world of alien aristocrats and she felt more attracted to the church.
Admission into the Order of the Grey Sisters of Saint Elizabeth
To the dismay of her parents, she came on May 21, 1906 in Königsberg in those Order of the Gray Sisters of St. Elizabeth a, where her two year older sister Nina had already committed since 1900. She took off her secular name and was now Sister Maria Aloysia called. After two years, she sent the Order as a school nurse at a Catholic elementary school in Lübeck, where she taught all subjects present there. In addition to her school activities, she also visited nor the art school of the history, landscape and genre painter Willibald Leo von Lütgendorff - Leinburg and practiced mainly in copying the old Italian masters. For the Heart of Jesus Parish Church in Lübeck She painted her first altarpieces, some of which are still well preserved. When she had finished a painting for the Twelfth Station of the Cross, one never quite auskuriertes lung disease broke out again.
Lung disease and death at thirty-five
A prolonged medical stay in the idyllic Gardone, located on the western shore of Lake Garda, brought their illness to a temporary halt. By the outbreak of the First World War she had to return prematurely to Lübeck in spring 1915. Nine months long, she managed to do their usual work until on Christmas Day again forced their lung disease on the sickbed. She died after four weeks at the age of only 35 years. Her death attracted participation far beyond Lübeck, numberless were the letters that reflect the deep impression of their personality and lamented the early home transition of the pious nun and gifted artist.
Your career as a children's book illustrator and author
In her first book, What Marilenchen experienced experienced by a little girl in a poetic way the kingdom of snowflakes children. It was published in 1905 and with it reached Sibylle von Olfers already considerable success. Shortly after, in 1906 her famous work Some of the root children, which soon became a great success and developed into a classic of children's picture books. This was followed by eight more children's picture books, but none came up to the success of their root children.
Importance
What is every day something of the root children to this day stimulating, the mood of the security of people living in the mother earth, evolving playful own way is going and finally returning children. That makes this Art Nouveau classic not only a showpiece for the analyst and his theories of detachment and self-discovery ... but says its still continuing popularity.
Even in their other children picture books followed the similar artist: nature is shown in anthropomorphic form. The stories are mostly in rhyme of the relationship of people, mostly children, to nature. This is symbolically represented by figures such as deer, rabbits, elves or root children and should make for the children understand the processes of nature. With their playful style, which is characterized by imaginative frame elements and artfully ornamentalisierte plants, Sibylle von Olfters claimed a permanent place within the Art Nouveau Arts.
From today's perspective shimmer in the children's picture books by Olfers ' by their partially antiquated acting educational ideas: the sugar thief threatens the rod (triple shown on a screen), who bravely eats his soup, is with a kringle rewarded in ' slug slug little boy ' (1906 ); the animal that behaves according to its nature and can not be misused as a toy, to disable the ' repentance ' and appeals to be ' Scham' - feeling - as in the posthumously published in 1921, roughly drawn ' hum - hum bears.
Almost all of her works appeared in the existing and renowned since 1851 for children and textbook publishing JF Schreiber.
Works
All works are in Esslinger Verlag (formerly Verlag JF Schreiber ), Esslingen, appeared and were repeatedly reissued there till now ( ISBN ).
- What Marilenchen experienced, 1905, ISBN 978-3-480-22073-1
- Some of the root children, 1906, ISBN 978-3-480-22512-5 - ( digitized version of an edition of 1918)
- Mummelchen and plump. A hare story in seven scenes, 1906, ISBN 978-3-480-07270-5
- Slug slug Buebchen, 1906
- Princess in the forest, 1909, ISBN 978-3-480-06995-8
- Windchen, 1910, ISBN 978-3-480-22138-7
- King Lion's wedding feast, 1912, ISBN 3-215-07469-9 - ( digitized first edition 1912)
- Hum hum bears, 1912
- In the butterfly kingdom 1916
Posthumously published:
- Animal nursery, 1952
- The best stories of Sybille von Olfers, 2006, ISBN 978-3-480-22161-5
As an illustrator:
- In the butterfly kingdom with verses by Albert Sixtus. (1935 ) Reprint: Esslingen Esslingen ET Schreiber ( Esslinger Reprint) 50s and 2004 ISBN 3-480-22003-7
In Schreiber Museum in Esslingen am Neckar several dioramas are seen on the subject of root children.