Lily Yu 11/23/20
COMD1112 Digital Media
Design Research Paper
The person that I chose to do my research on is named Irma Stern. She was a painter and sculptor who traveled to Africa. She painted landscapes and people to capture their expression at that moment. Sadly she is no longer with us anymore but, her art will always be there to remind us of someone as inspiring as Irma Stern was. Irma Stern was born on October 2nd, 1894 in Schweizer-Reneke to German Jewish parents. She died on August 23rd, 1966 in Cape Town, South Africa. In her early years, Stern and her family traveled frequently between Berlin, the popular capital of Germany at that time. Stern moved to Berlin to study art during World War 1. She would travel to Africa throughout her life, collecting artifacts and looking for new experiences and subject matter for her paintings. 
Stern began her formal art studies at the Weimar Academy in 1913 and later moved to Berlin to study under Martin Brandenburg who introduced her to the neo-impressionist techniques and theories. The neo-impressionism technique was used by Georges Seurat, Paul Signac, and their followers’ painting using tiny adjacent dabs of primary colors to create the effect of light. Stern decided to terminate her formal studies in 1916 after Brandenbury rejected ‘The Eternal Child’ – the painting she considered her first independent work. The painting was a picture of a little girl with braided hair, and a red dress with some design on it, the girl looks a little bit sad and weary this makes a little bit sense because it was happening during World War 1, and Stern wanted to capture people’s emotions in her painting.
The painting was an image that inspired her to express her emotional response to the suffering and agony of war in her personal style, marking the turning point of her career. In 1916 Stern had her first solo show with the help of German painter Max Pechestein. Irma Stern married Dr. Johannes Prinz, her former tutor, in 1926, and acquired ‘The firs’ ( now the Irma Stern museum ) in 1927. She did other paintings of children and African American people when she was in South Africa.
Stern didn’t only paint portraits she also painted landscapes. Each landscape painting shows a scene that tells a story, and it makes you feel like you’re with her at that time she was painting the picture. She still used neo-impressionism to makes landscape paintings. Which does make a pop to the orange in this beach scene.
Cite:
-Google Images, Google, www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fi.pinimg.com%2Foriginals%2Fae%2F2c%2F8f%2Fae2c8f9d4b55b02efdc2b315abcac111.jpg%2Cirma+stern+art.
-Google Images, Google, www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fi.pinimg.com%2Foriginals%2Fd2%2F2d%2F9c%2Fd22d9ca5908cb742057beda4344bc5ae.jpg%2Cirma+stern+art.
-Google Images, Google, www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fprivateedition.co.za%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2019%2F10%2FIrma-Stern-A-Watussi-Woman-portrait-1200×1200.jpg%2Cirma+stern+art.
-Google Images, Google, www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.countrylife.co.za%2Fapp%2Fuploads%2F2016%2F11%2Feternal-child-NB.jpg%2CThe+Eternal+Child+by+irma+stern.
-Google Search, Google, www.google.com/search?q=irma+stern+art.
-Google Search, Google, www.google.com/search?q=irma+stern.
-“Irma Stern.” Artnet, www.artnet.com/artists/irma-stern/.
-Tate. “Neo-Impressionism – Art Term.” Tate, www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/n/neo-impressionism.
-“Johans Borman Fine Art.” Johans Borman Fine Art / Artist Biographies / Stern, Irma, www.johansborman.co.za/artist-biographies/stern-irma/.
