Contemporary art Hamburg Secession
Alma del Banco was a German artist of the first half of the twentieth century of Jewish origin. She is known as a painter and graphic artist and is considered a representative of Art Nouveau.
Alma del Banco, who began her career as an artist rather late, was already a recognized figure of the Hamburg art scene in the early 1920s and one of the founders of the Hamburg Secession art group. At the beginning of her career she was strongly influenced by Cubism, then her artistic style changed, it became less schematic and her work became more meticulous. The artist achieved considerable success in the portrait genre. However, after the Nazis came to power in Germany, she was banned from exhibiting and her work was declared "degenerate art".
Aleksandra Andreevna Povorina (Russian: Александра Андреевна Поворина), married Ahlers-Hestermann, was a Russian and German modernist painter.
Aleksandra was born in the family of a St. Petersburg civil servant, in 1913 she went to Paris, where she studied at the Russian Academy of M. Vasilieva, joined the circle of artists of the Paris School, became interested in the art of Cézanne and Matisse. In Paris she met the artist from Hamburg Friedrich Ahlers-Hestermann (1883-1973), who became her husband. With the outbreak of World War I, the family moved to Hamburg.
Since 1915 the artist created semi-abstract paintings, participated in group exhibitions at the Commeter Gallery, was a member of the newly created Hamburg Secession with her husband. Under the influence of Paul Cézanne and Henri Matisse, she developed a spiritual-abstract art.
In 1934, the National Socialists who came to power in Germany banned Aleksandra and Friedrich any activity, and abstract paintings Povorina were recognized as degenerate. At that time the artist took up textile design, creating abstract patterns for fabrics, at the same time a series of black and white graphic ink drawings were created. During the war, many of the artist's works were destroyed.
After the end of World War II, Aleksandra took a teaching position at the Weissensee Higher Art School in Berlin, creating abstract collages. After her death, her daughter, textile, mosaic and glass artist Tatjana Ahlers-Hestermann, completed some of her works.