Erika Stürmer-Alex was born in 1938 in Wriezen (Brandenburg). From 1958 to 1963 she studied at the Weissensee University of the Arts in East Berlin. In 1982 she moved to Lietzen (Brandenburg). From 1992 to 1995 she gave courses and was later a teacher at the Music and Art School in Frankfurt an der Oder. She won the Prize of the State of Brandenburg in 1992 and in 1993 a stay at the Villa Massimo in Rome. In 2015 she was honoured with the Brandenburg Art Prize for her life’s work. Stürmer-Alex lives and works in Lietzen.
Rolf Szymanski was born in 1928 in Leipzig where, from 1945 to 1950, he studied at the School of Applied Art. In 1950 he moved to West Berlin and continued his study of sculpture until 1955 at the University of the Fine Arts. He received various scholar- ships, including those for the Villa Massimo in Rome, the Villa Romana in Florence and the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris. In 1964 he took part in documenta III, in 1969 and 1990 in the Venice Biennale. From 1974 to 1996 he was director of the department for fine art at the Academy of Arts, West Berlin, and also professor at the University of Arts from 1986 to 1996. Szymanski died in Berlin in 2013.
Ruth Tesmar was born in 1951 in Potsdam (Brandenburg). From 1969 to 1973 she studied art education at the Humboldt University in East Berlin and gained a doctorate. She studied painting and graphic art at the Weissensee University of the Arts in East Berlin from 1983 to 1986 under Dieter Goltzsche. From 1993 to 2016 she was a professor and head of the Seminar for Artistic and Aesthetic Practice at the Humboldt University in Berlin. In the 1990s she designed stage sets. Tesmar lives and works in Schwerin (Mecklenburg-Vorpommern).
Heinrich Tessmer was born in 1943 in Chemnitz-Rottluff (Saxony). From 1959 to 1962 he studied at the Academy of Art in Dresden and from 1964 to 1969 at the Weissensee University of the Arts in East Berlin where he taught from 1976 to 1984. From 1984 to 1990 he became professor and head of its painting department. In 1982 he received the Max Lingner Prize of the Academy of Arts of the GDR and in 1985 the Berlin Prize. Tessmer died in Berlin in 2012.
Cornelia Thielemann was born in 1962 in Stollberg in the Erzgebirge (Saxony). From 1986 to 1992 she studied painting and graphic art at the Weissensee University of the Arts in Berlin under Dieter Goltzsche. On a scholarship of the DAAD spent time in 1992 at the Universidad de Salamanca, in 1994 at the Universidad de Granada and from 1998 to 2003 in Madrid. Upon her return, as well as her work as a painter she has explored the medium of film and the relationship between painting and dance. Thielemann lives and works in Berlin.
Christian Thoelke was born in 1973 in East Berlin. From 1993 to 1999 he studied painting at the Weissensee University of the Arts in Berlin under Wolfgang Peuker. From 2001 to 2003 he was a master student at the Academy of Fine Arts in Leipzig under Ulrich Hachulla. He was awarded a scholarship of the Käthe Dorsch Foundation in 2005. Thoelke lives and works in Berlin.
Hans Ticha was born in 1940 in Tetschen-Bodenbach (today Děčín, Czech Republic). Following the expulsion of the German population, he grew up in Schkeuditz (Saxony). In 1958 he studied art and history at the Educational Institute of Leipzig University. From 1965 to 1970 he studied painting at the Weissensee University of the Arts in East Berlin. He has received many awards, including the Walter Tiemann Prize in 1998. He took part in the Biennale in Venice in 1990. Ticha lives and works in Maintal (Hesse).
Rita Preuss was born in 1924 in West Berlin. From 1946 to 1952 she studied painting at the University of the Fine Arts in West Berlin and was a master student of Max Pechstein. Up to 1990 she participated in numerous art-for-architecture projects. In 2000 she was awarded the Hannah Höch Prize of the State of Berlin for her life’s work. In 2004 a retrospective was held at the Stiftung Stadtmuseum Berlin, in the Nikolaikirche. In 2011 she was elected chairperson of the Society of Berlin Women Artists. Preuss died in Berlin in 2016.
Christina Renker was born in 1941 in Altenburg (Thuringia). From 1964 to 1969 she completed her study of ceramics at the Weissensee University of the Arts in East Berlin. She has taken part in ceramics biennial events in Italy, Poland and France. From 1992 on she has run courses in ceramic design at various adult education centres. Renker lives and works in Berlin.
Erich Fritz Reuter was born in 1911 in Berlin. From 1934 to 1940 he studied at the University of the Fine Arts in Berlin. From 1952 to 1978 he became professor of sculpture at the University of Applied Science, West Berlin. In 1953 he received the first Prize of the Association of German Art Critics. Many commissions for works in public spaces abroad ensued. From 1966 to 1968 he was visiting professor at the University of Applied Science in Istanbul. Reuter died in Altenkrempe (Schleswig-Holstein) in 1997.