PREVIEW

Fifi Kreutzer and Franz M. Jansen became acquainted in 1908. They married in 1917, remained together until Jansen's death in 1958, and worked in studios under the same roof. Jansen chiefly painted and created an extensive graphical oeuvre, while Fifi Kreutzer initially focused her attention on handicrafts with embroidery, illustrations, drafts for works in textiles, wood, and decorations. But their artistic bonds and reciprocal inspiration manifested themselves in many ways; on the one hand in their works (choice of themes and motifs, artistic techniques, and stylistic convergences); and on the other hand in their views, rooted in both the youth movement and the life-reform movement in Germany. 

Franz M. Jansen (1885–1958) and Fifi Kreutzer (1891–1977) are highlighted here for the first time as an artist couple. Common features and interdependencies, but also independent approaches and differences in their works, are unveiled against the background of their personal careers and by means of thematic concentration – all the while with reliance on biographical contexts.