Maria Innocentia Hummel
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Berta Hummel was a famous German artist (May 21, 1909 - November 6, 1946). She was also known as nun Maria Innocentia Hummel. She is most famous for the artwork which became the Hummel figurines.
Born in Massing, Bavaria, she attended the Academy of Applied Arts in Munich in 1927 and entered the Franciscan Convent of Siessen in Bad Saulgau after she graduated in 1931. She spent her spare time painting pictures of children, which were made into postcards. These were quite popular, and soon afterward Franz Goebel, the owner of a porcelain company, saw the artwork and the Convent granted him permission to make figurines based on Hummel's art. The first collection came out in 1935 and were an instant hit. In 1937, she published a painting titled "The Volunteers" which drew the enduring hatred of Adolf Hitler; one Nazi magazine wrote of her work: "there is no place in the ranks of German artists for the likes of her. No, the 'beloved Fatherland' cannot remain calm when Germany's youth are portrayed as brainless sissies." [1]
Hummel died at age 37 from tuberculosis; but Goebel, his team of artists and the other nuns carried on her legacy through the figurines, all of which are based on the Sister's artwork which she kept. Even though many of the newer ones are dressed to look more contemporary, they are still popular and well-known all over the world.
