In the art scene of Schwerin their names were as well known as the State Theater, the museum or the castle of that city – Helga Kaffke, painter; Gabriele Berthel, author. That was during the last quarter of the past century. In the cultural news of the current capital of the county their names can’t be found. Both artists haven’t lived in Germany for more than twenty years.
First they looked for the centre of their lives in France – and then found it – since the millennium – on the North-West coast of Ireland, in Mayo. They settled there, got married, worked.
“May the road rise to meet you, may the wind be always at your back.” This old Irish blessing didn’t always keep its promise: the wind was often a gale and shook “the old house that rose out of the rocks”. The two artists counteracted this with their passion: for life, for painting, for literature. They had their talents and a backpack full of knowledge and experience, gathered at the colleges in Leipzig – tied forever to their country of birth, from which they had become estranged.
The painter Helga Kaffke died in the winter of 2017. Since her death her spouse Gabriele Berthel shares her life with thousands of pages.
Watercolours, colour on paper, portraits of landscapes, people and animals, in Kaffke-style. Kaffke-style is a mark of quality. Nobody painted watercolours like her: falling lines, sloping verticals, seemingly so chaotic, one already imagines the fall of Carthage – and yet somewhere a glimpse of sky remains. Magnificent. Gabriele Berthel paints with words; equally magnificent and emotional until it hurts. She paints in prose and poetry, mixes fairytale and reality, and covers earthly realism with melancholy.
Thus a book is created, in a remote place of the world where in comparison to sky and sea a person appears to be a dwarf. A book about love and life and the strength to endure it, for every place in world.
“In this place her life was always blowing in the wind –
jacket like trousers between two brittle poles.
And she keeps still, facing the earth – she knows it well –
it was her life worth.”
Helga Kaffke. Gabriele Berthel. For a long time their names had vanished from the cultural news. This is about to change.
In Schwerin and other places.
Tabla de materias
REFLECTIONS
Farm with view of Achill Island
Doona, Ballycroy
Springtime in Doona
View of Rosturk Castle, Clew Bay
John’s Row, Westport
Westport, Oktagon
Westport, James Street
Still-Life with Cottage
STILL-LIFE WITH COTTAGE
Fishing for salmon in the Valley of Delphi
At second glance
Half way to Heaven
LEGACY
Debate at the boat-house, Sligo
Sruhill Lough, Achill Island
Rosses Point, Sligo
Mullaghmore, Sligo
Glowing Primroses
Lonely Boats
Castelhill Church, Mayo
Starlings above Tullaghan Bay
Fahy Castle, Ballycroy
Fahy Castle with view of Slievemore
Connemarasheep
BOGLANDROAD
Bundoran, Donegal
Mayos Mountainsheeps
Killala
Killala, Harbour
Under the rainbow
Burrishole Abbey, Clew Bay
Clew Bay
Clew Bay
Cathedral Newport
Newport, Mayo
Excellent connections
WALKING TALKING
Birr Garden with Castle
Covered walk, Birr Garden
Southwind, Passage East
Summer in February
Wild geese at Mayo’s Coastline
Dear Life, Bina Mc Loughlin
DEAR LIFE
Words of Comfort, Friedhof Faulmore
WORDS OF COMFORT
Country Life in Mayo
Rush Hour, illuminated
Lough Arrow, Leitrim
Rainy Day
Rainy Day
Hook Lighthouse
Before the Catch
Last Credits, Inverin, Connemara
LAST CREDITS
Last View, Leenane
Killary Harbour
Dreamhouse 1. Lower Skyroad
Dreamhouse 2
Fishermen’s Friends
Tony’s Cottage, Leenane
Little Harbour. Salin, Mullet Halbinsel
Swinging Town Belmullet
Unshorn. In the Moor
Coastline in the fog, Killary Harbour
Signals in the Moor
LETTERMORE ISLAND
Before the sail
Flotilla, Passage East
Cosy Port, Dunmore
Killary Harbour near Asleagh
Lough Mask
The way home. Mullet Halbinsel
Cashel Town
Kilmacthomas
Rock of Cashel
Cashel. Panorama
Palaver. Mullet Peninsula
LOVELY DAY
Leenane, Main road
View from the Upper Skyroad, Connemara
Janny’s Cottage, Connemara
The Twelve Bens, Connemara
PERSPECTIVE
Blacksod Bay. Mullet Peninsula
Albatrosses above Faulmore
In the mud-flats. Murveagh, Donegal
Fishing Port Killibegs, Donegal
Caught
Again and again: Peepholes of the Lord
Sobre el autor
Helga Kaffke
Born in 1934 in Leipzig, Germany, Helga first worked as a photo-lithographer. She was awarded a diploma by the University of Graphic Design & Book Art in Leipzig after five years studies. She was a painter and graphic designer, and has worked freelance since 1959.
Helga has made academic travels in Bulgaria, France, Hungary, Ireland, Poland and Romania.
Her work has been exhibited in many one-woman shows in Germany (including Chemnitz, Flensburg, Leipzig, Rostock Schwerin). She had single exhibitions of her work in France (in Rouen, Sassetot and Yport), in Belgium (Eupen) and in Ireland (Westport, Belmullet).
Group shows in Germany include Berlin, Bremen, Dresden, Erfurt, Kiel, and her work has been in group shows in France, Ireland, Italy, Poland, Russia, Sweden and Switzerland.
Books published: „Who brushes the hair in the Soup?“, „Life, what else“, „VALSE MUSETTE – Rouen en miniature“, all books together with the writer Gabriele Berthel.
Lived long years until her death in 2017 in an old farmhouse in Ballycroy, Co. Mayo, Ireland.
Gabriele Berthel
Born in 1948 in Schmölln, Germany. Five years studies at the Technical University in Chemnitz. Graduated Engineer. Three years open university course at the Literary Institute in Leipzig. Writer, Collagist.
Books published: „Short and mature“ (edition), „Departureof truth“ (Texts and Collages), „The deviltry reaches further than you believe“ (Collages to Proverbs of Klaus Bernhardt), „Who brushes the hair in the soup?“ (together with the illustrator Helga Kaffke), „VALSE MUSETTE – Rouen en miniature“ (stories to water colour miniatures of Helga Kaffke).
Single exhibitions in Germany include Chemnitz, Dresden, Erfurt, Gera, Hamburg … Single Exhibition in Belgium (Eupen).
Group shows include Ireland (Ballina), Gabrovo (Bulgaria) and in Germany Berlin, Bremen, Chemnitz, Dresden, Flensburg, Nürnberg …
Lives since long years in an old farmhouse in Ballycroy, Co. Mayo.
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