Artist 36: Ella Bergmann-Michel

Ella Bergmann-Michel was born in Germany in 1896.  She was an abstract painter and a student of constructivist art.  By the time she was 19 she had already began experimenting with a collage technique, using wood, metal and other obscure material.  Her work has a very exact and scientific look, yet still in the abstract constructivist style.  By the 1920s she had started to expand her techniques further, she also began to incorporate poetry into her art.  During this phase of her art she also became one of the first artists to incorporate photography into her collages.  Although the Constructivism style was seen throughout the world, each area had its own spin on the style.  In Germany the Constructivist style in Germany was most impacted by the Bauhaus school, which highly influenced her artistic style as well.  In the late 1920s Bergmann-Michel had moved to Frankfurt with her husband, while in Frankfurt she decorated the minimalist walls of the Bauhaus school.  She continued creating her work until she was forced to stop due to World War II and Hitler’s hate for abstract art.  At this time she worked on her family’s farm and after the war she resumed her work.  In her later years of her career she continued to make collages and compositions without titles.