The papers of fiber artist and educator Trude Guermonprez measure 1.2 linear feet and date from circa 1900 to 1987 with the bulk of the material dating from 1932 to 1976. The collection includes biographical material, diaries, correspondence, printed material, artwork, and photographs.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of fiber artist and educator Trude Guermonprez measure 1.2 linear feet and date from circa 1900 to 1987 with the bulk of the material dating from 1932 to 1976. The collection includes biographical material, diaries, correspondence, printed material, artwork, and photographs.
Biographical material includes an address book, awards and certificates, two diaries, and a wedding announcement. Correspondence is with Guermonprez's family, Paul Guermonprez, John Elsesser, Gerhard Marcks, and others. Printed materials include Clippings and periodicals about Guermonprez. Artwork contains doodles, sketches and drawings, etchings, and two sketchbooks by Guermonprez and others. Photographs are of Guermonprez and her family.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as five series.
Series 1: Biographical Materials, circa 1950-1975 (0.2 linear feet; Box 1, OV 4)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1930s-1987 (0.4 linear feet; Boxes 1-3)
Series 3: Printed Materials, 1946-1976 (2 folders; Box 2)
Series 4: Artwork, circa 1940-1976 (0.5 linear feet; Boxes 2-3, OV 4)
Series 5: Photographs, circa 1900-circa 1970 (2 folders; Boxes 2-3, OV 4)
Biographical / Historical:
Trude Guermonprez (1910-1976) was a fiber artist and educator in San Francisco, California.
Guermonprez was born in Germany to Dr. Heinrich and Jalena Jalowetz and attended the Municipal School of Arts and Crafts in Halle Saale, Germany where she learned weaving from Bauhaus artist Benita Otte. In 1933, her parents and sister Lisa immigrated to the United States. Her parents began teaching at Black Mountain College in North Carolina. Guermonprez stayed with her husband, photographer Paul Guermonprez, in the Netherlands where he became involved in the Dutch resistance during World War II. Paul was killed fighting with the resistance on D-Day in 1944. After his death, Guermonprez decided to move to the United States to be with her mother and sister. Her father had died a year earlier. Guermonprez temporarily led the weaving program at Black Mountain College when Josef and Anni Albers went on sabbatical, and eventually she became a full time faculty member. When the weaving program ended in 1949, she left North Carolina for California to join her former classmate Marguerite Wildenhain at Pond Farm Workshops. There she met her second husband, craftsman John Elsesser. They moved to San Francisco and Guermonprez began teaching at the California College of Art and Design. She was designated chair of the crafts department in 1960.
Outside of teaching, Guermonprez completed designs for textile companies and commissions while still creating her own works of fiber art. She gained little recognition during her career, winning a couple of awards before her death from cancer in 1976. Her only exhibition, The Tapestries of Trude Guermonprez, was held several years after her death in 1982 at the Oakland Museum of California.
Provenance:
The Trude Guermonprez papers were donated in 2004 by Eric Elsesser, Guermonprez's stepson, as part of the Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center.
Occupation:
Fiber artists -- California -- San Francisco Search this
Educators -- California -- San Francisco Search this
