Deutsche Liebhaber

Early Life

Sofie Korner was a painter born in Vienna on the 16th of September 1879. She attended the Trade School for Decorative and Graphic Art at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna from 1902 to 1904. Here she studied under artists Felicia Myrbach, Erich Mallina, Rudolf Larisch, and Adolf Boehm. After her time at the University of Applied Arts she went on to study with Bernhard Pankok in Stuttgart and possibly the Hungarian art colony, Nagybánya, in Paris.

In 1919 Korner followed mentor Johannes Itten, whom she had met at her studies in the Vienna University of Applied Arts, to Weimar, Germany. There she entered in an apprenticeship under Itten at the Weimar Bauhaus. She was a member of the Association of Intellectuals founded by Robert Müller, and was able to have art featured in the Association of Visual Artists of Austria in 1919 and later in 1930. Upon completing her apprenticeship in 1921 at the Weimar Bauhaus, she participated in the first international Bauhaus exhibition located in Calcutta in 1922, where 250 works from Korner were featured along with others from Bauhaus artists. One watercolor work of Korner's was sold at this exhibition.

Works and Death

After her stay at the Weimar Bauhaus, she traveled Europe and focused her art on landscape and portrait painting. Inspiration for her work came from her travels, biblical themes and natural scenery and her style adhered more to the expressionistic and abstract. Some of her work was featured in the Vienna Künstlerhaus, but the Nazi Party condemned her art during the National Socialist reign beginning in 1940 due to her Jewish heritage. In 1942 Sofie Korner and her father were sent to Izbica and killed by the Nazis. Much of her art was resurfaced after the end of the National Socialist Party; over 50 works of hers were found in Switzerland. Some works of Korner’s were featured in the Bauhaus Museum Forgotten Bauhaus Women exhibition of 2022.