The sculptor Louise Stomps (1900–1988) led a life of uncompromising independence as an artist. Her work revolves around existential experiences such as love, grief, hope and loss. Starting from classical modernism, she developed a formal language that cautiously broke away from the figure, whereby the human being remained a central point of reference even in her increasingly abstract works. With some forty-five sculptures and thirty works on paper, the Kollwitz Museum Köln now invites visitors to rediscover her life and work.
It is line, form and expression—captured in the archetype of humanity—with which I seek to give shape to what I have to say!«
Louise Stomps, 1947
Louise Stomps, Couple I, 1937,
Oak, H 45 cm, Berlinische Galerie
© Nachlass Louise Stomps
FIGURE AND EXPRESSION
Stomps received her training in Berlin during the Weimar Republic. Even in her early sculptures in wood, plaster and stone, she was less interested in lifelike representation than in the question of how inner movement and tension could be translated into a reduced form. At the same time, she produced her first works on paper, experimenting with line and surface as independent means of expression.
RESISTANCE, LOSS AND A NEW BEGINNING
Out of political conviction, Stomps withdrew from public life during the Nazi era. Following the removal of works by Kollwitz and Barlach from exhibitions in 1936, she no longer saw herself or her art as part of the cultural scene and stopped exhibiting. In 1943, her home, studio and most of her work were destroyed in air raids.
After 1945, she found a new language through which to express her experiences of war, loss and grief, creating haunting figures. Stomps gained new recognition in the Berlin art world, with exhibitions and awards following
What matters most is not outward appearance,
but what lies inside, the human soul.«
Louise Stomps, 1987
Louise Stomps in her workshop at the Kumpfmühle
near Rechtmehring, 1987, photo: Amrei-Marie
NEW FREEDOM
In 1960, Stomps acquired an old watermill in Upper Bavaria, where she began creating larger-than-life wooden sculptures. She now let the material itself inspire her, with growth, grain and knotholes becoming the inspiration for the form. She remained independent here as well. Even in her old age, she travelled from Bavaria to Italy on her motorbike. This sense of freedom is refl ected in her later work, with organic forms becoming the focus of her sculptures as well as her ink and ballpoint pen drawings.
Following the first retrospective with the association DAS VERBORGENE MUSEUM at the Berlinische Galerie in 2021, the Kollwitz Museum Köln is now once again showcasing this important twentieth-century sculptor. The exhibition features partly large-format works in stone and wood, as well as drawings and prints, and a film documentary produced especially for the exhibition.
Gallery
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Louise Stomps, Hockender, 1946, Holzschnitt, 246 x 221 mm, Nachlass Louise Stomps © Nachlass Louise Stomps, VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2026)
Louise Stomps, Ohne Titel, 1948, Tusche und Aquarell, 405 x 430 mm, Nachlass Louise Stomps © Nachlass Louise Stomps, VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2026)
Louise Stomps, Ohne Titel, 1951, Tusche, Aquarell, Deckweiß, 370 x 500 mm, Nachlass Louise Stomps © Nachlass Louise Stomps, VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2026)
Louise Stomps, Sitzende, 1928, grüner Sandstein, H: 270 mm, Nachlass Louise Stomps, Nachlass Louise Stomps, Courtesy Das Verborgene Museum, Foto: Enric Duch, VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2026
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Louise Stomps, Das Paar, 1937, Eiche, H: 455 mm, Berlinische Galerie © Nachlass Louise Stomps, Foto: Kai-Annett Becker/ Berlinische Galerie, VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2026
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Louise Stomps, Kauernde, 1946/47, Marmor, H: 250 mm, Nachlass Hanna Bekker vom Rath, Frankfurt © Nachlass Louise Stomps, VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2026
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Louise Stomps, Trauernde, 1951, Erle, H: 420 mm, Privatbesitz © Nachlass Louise Stomps, Courtesy Das Verborgene Museum, Foto: Martin Weiand, VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2026)
Louise Stomps, Sklave, 1965, Ahorn, H: 600 mm, Nachlass Louise Stomps © Nachlass Louise Stomps, Foto: Friedhelm Hoffmann, VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2026
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Louise Stomps, Asket, 1962, Föhre, H: 3050 mm, Nachlass Stomps © Nachlass Louise Stomps, Courtesy Das Verborgene Museum, Foto: Friedhelm Hoffmann, VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2026
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Louise Stomps, Laokoon, 1977, Inn-Eiche, H: 1620 mm, Privatbesitz Dr. Meindl, Wasserburg am Inn © Nachlass Louise Stomps, Courtesy Das Verborgene Museum, Foto: Martin Weiand, VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2026