Klaus Ihlenfeld (b.1934). Untitled, ca. 1960. Welded bronze. 8" h.; 5.5 " w; 3.25" d (base). Signed with initial under base.
Provenance: Directly from estate of Harry Bertoia. The piece was a gift from Ihlenfeld and is a very early example created during Bertoia apprenticeship era.
Excellent condition.
Klaus Karl Otto IhlenfeldHe was born in Berlin, Germany in 1934. He studied art at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste and completed graduate work with the metal sculptor Hans Uhlmann. He visited the US in 1957 for the first time living in Durham, NC, where he befriended Dr. W. R. Valentiner, the Rembrandt authority and Director of the Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC. Through this friendship in 1960 he met and worked with the metal sculptor Harry Bertoia in Barto, PA.
He joined the Staempfli Gallery in NYC and entered in many group and one-man shows. He has been an Artist-in-Residence in Ogden, Utah; Huntington Museum of Art in West Virginia, Penn State University at University Park; the Colorado State University in Denver; and Shippensburg University. He has large commissions at Kutztown University, Pottstown Hospital, and a monumental relief sculpture at the Emigrant Savings Bank in NYC. He has traveled extensively in Spain, Greece, and Mexico. He is living and working on a farm in Barto, PA welding bronze and forged iron metal sculptures and painting watercolors.
Group Shows:
North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh, NC - 1957
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City - 1962
Staempfli Gallery in New York City - 1962, 1964 and 1965
Gallery Ludwig Lange in West Berlin, Germany - 1977
Gallery Herbert Remmert and Dr. Barth in Dusseldorf in West Germany - 1981
Jack Savitt Gallery in Macungie, PA - 1981 and 1984
Heinz Ortleb Gallery, West Berlin, Germany - 1992
Central Bucks Chamber of Commerce Show at the James A. Michener Art Museum in Doylestown, PA - 1997
Berks Art Alliance Show at the Reading Art Museum in Reading, PA - 1997
Mayfair Festival of the Arts at the Allentown Art Museum - 1998
Baum School of Art in Allentown, PA - 1997
Schwenkfelder Library and Heritage Center Art Show in Pennsburg, PA - 2001
Reading Public Museum in Reading PA, 2014
Solo Shows:
Kutztown University in Kutztown, PA - 1960 and 1965
Allentown Art Museum in Allentown, PA - 1960 and 1961
Staempfli Gallery in New York City - 1962
Penn State University in University Park, PA - 1964 and 1972
Berks Art Alliance in Wyomissing, PA - 1966
Bertha Eccles Art Center in Ogden, Utah - 1967
Mansfield University in Mansfield, PA - 1967
Huntington Museum of Art in Huntington, WV - 1971
Shippensburg University in Shippensburg, PA - 1972
Albright College in Reading, PA - 1973
Ianuzzi Gallery in Scottsdale, AZ - 1974
Gallery Heimat 85 in West Berlin, Germany - 1977
Jack Savitt Gallery in Macungie, PA - 1981
College Misericordia in Dallas, PA - 1983
Schwenkfelder Library and Heritage Center in Pennsburg, PA, 2013
Periodical Reference:
Kaye, Ellen "The Obsessive Collector," Philadelphia Inquirer Sunday Magazine Sptember 21, 1986 pp. 32-33.
Chronology:
1-30-1934 Born in Berlin, Germany. Father, Kurt Ihlenfeld, Lutheran pastor, novelist, critic and publisher was born in 1901 in Colmar, Alsace Lorain. Mother, Annie Stuhlmann, was born in 1905 in Breslau, Lower Silesia.
1940 - 1950 Public schools in Berlin; Löwen, Lower Silesia; Coswig, Radebeul, Glaubitz, Saxony. Königin Luise-Gymnasium in Dahlem, Berlin. First artworks, drawings and paintings; few sculptures.
1950 - 1956 Studied at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste in West Berlin, Germany. Graduate work with metal sculptor Hans Uhlmann. For 2 years maintained own studio at the Academy. Friendship with writer Günter Grass, and painter F. S. Sonnenstern. Met painters: Max Pechstein, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Carl Hofer, Max Kaus, and sculptors: Bernhard Heiliger, Renee Sintenis, and
Richard Scheibe...