It is very difficult for me, in writing this chapter, to know where to start this story. Sister M.I. Hummel. So many accomplishments, such a short life span. It seems almost impossible that this story is about a single, frail, ever-so-gentle lady.
Which Sister Hummel will I start with?
How will I explain this Berta Hummel, who was affectionately called s'Hummele or Bertl by her family? What do I say about a child, long gone, that was so alive and has so much zest for living?
Should I start with Miss Berta Hummel the artist, outstanding in her craft, with a bright future - a pretty young lady, so vibrant, always attentive to the needs of her fellow man and yet ready for a prank whenever the opportunity presented itself?
Should it be Maria Innocentia Hummel, the nun, the lady who gave up rich worldly promises for her religious belief?
Or, should it be the accomplished artist, the artist so extraordinary that entire museums have been dedicated to her life and creations?
And then, there is the lady, one so full of love, so full of caring that she kept on loving and caring even in times when the world only seemed to know hatred!
I do not favor third-person biographies because it is so difficult to do justice to the subject. But I was asked to do this, so I will attempt to share what I have learned and what I feel about this lady and her art. The lady, I must add, is one whom I have learned to admire, and, yes, to love very much.
The only way I feel I can adequately perform this task is to let Sister Hummel's art assist me. I have found that is speaks well enough for its creator. Be reminded that I am not an accredited art critic nor historian, so if, in this attempt of sharing, I should make a mistake, I ask for forgiveness. It will have been an honest one.
The Early Years
Bertl. Little Princess. s'Hummele. If you are of German heritage, you will recognize these are endearing nicknames given to one much loved. They were the nicknames used for Berta after she was born May 21, 1909, in the small town of Massing in Lower Bavaria, Germany, the third of six children born to Adolf and Viktoria Hummel.
From what I have been told by her brother Adolf, this little girl was an individualist from the earliest days of her life. She was not easily controlled
When I asked Adolf when his sister first started to draw, his answer came quite quickly: "She was born with a pencil in her hand!" When Berta was a mere toddler, he explained, she would find a way to get to her daddy's desktop and, pencil in hand, "decorate" his work for him. She would "decorate" everything in the vicinity while she was at it!
On another visit to Adolf shortly before his death in 1992, I was allowed to look through the family album and spotted a picture of blonde little Berta seated on a chair as if one a throne. Under the photo, her proud father had written the words Little Princess.
In southern Germany and Bavaria, it is very common, in fact customary, to impart pet names to those for whom we deeply care. Ideally, the pet name reflects t he personality of the individual. The nickname Hummele must have been perfect for young Berta. It means little bumblebee, and we can readily imagine that Berta was one busy little girl.
The nickname Bertl is also fitting. It's an endearing diminutive of Berta, a more informal way of addressing her.
By the time s'Hummele started school, her creations already showed much promise for the arts and the theater. Creating fashions for her dolls was yet another favorite pastime, and there was early passion for nature and religion. Mr. Hummel often took his children on field trips into the countryside to teach them about God's creations. Afterwards he would encourage them to recreate these experiences and discoveries on paper.
When World War I broke out in 1914, s'Hummele was stricken. Her father was called to serve in the Germany army, and he was terribly missed by this little six-year-old. His guidance, love, encouragement, understanding and discipline had been taken from her young life.
No child at such a tender age can understand chaos of this nature, and Bertl began to show signs of willfulness, often trying the patience of teachers at the convent school in her hometown. Despite this, one of the teachers saw something very special in the child, deciding to do what she could to foster the talents of this youngster.
Through the efforts of this lady, Berta was enrolled in a religious boarding school, the Institute of English Sisters, in the nearby town of Simbach. This took place on May 2, 1921, when Berta was 12 years of age.
Here I would like to interject and share a story that might add insight to what life was like for this little girl during the war. She was nine at the time, and she in in a photograph since donated by Adolf Hummel to The Hummel Museum. In the photo, she's dressed all in white, flowers in her hair, holding a candle.
It was Bertl's first holy communion picture - an important happening in her family. The photo had been used as a postcard which she had hand addressed to her father on the reverse.
She tells him about this special day in her life that he was not able to attend. And there is a plea which touches me deeply. "Will you please be here for my confirmation in July? I would be so pleased." She was unable to comprehend that he daddy would be unable to attend the next important day in her life either.
The contrast between life then and now is shown in the confirmation gift from her father. Where children today receive expensive mementos, her gift in 1918 was a photo postcard showing her father in uniform and his written explanation: "Sorry, I will not be able to be there for this special day in your life either."
Then and in succeeding years at the convent school in Simbach, Berta wrote frequently to her family. Favorite course was art, in which she received great encouragement. Her letters were frequently embellished with special drawings. A memorable one from the Christmas season depicts a Santa figure carrying a bag of toys and a tree. Adolf Hummel lovingly cataloged this collection of early letters, and many are now on display in the family's Berta Hummel Museum in Massing.
These early memories must have greatly influenced such an impressionable child and stayed with Sister Hummel throughout life. For instance, I cannot help but be drawn to one of her originals which is cataloged as H 193 Little Brother's Lesson, which in turn was interpreted into the figurine Smart Little Sister.
I believe with all my heart that Sister Hummel, remembering the terrible wartime in her early life, was moved when she once again saw young children writing letters to their fathers at remote military fronts. I think she is drawing her own memories in this original. I think she is showing her brother how to write their father.
In her teens, Berta was setting out on all manner of artistic endeavors. her classmates had discovered her talent, and more than one would seek to be a subject in her drawings. She was introduced to watercolors, and developed a love for landscape painting.
Germany is a country of folk tales and fairy tales. With her imagination, Berta found it simple to bring these characters to life on paper or on stage at school. At the same time, she was developing an individual style that was reflected even in her scenes and costume design.
Berta was known for her ready sense of humor, and it is evident throughout her drawings that she had much fun with her own last name, Hummel. Imagine what you might do if your last name was Bumblebee and you were a young artist filled with both talent and a sense of humor.
At age 16, she did a series of drawings with this Hummel theme. A brother is shown as a bumblebee running on his way to school, suggesting that he might have been late on occasion. Katharina, a sister, is a bumblebee dressed in a pink pleated skirt admiring herself in front of a mirror. Sister Viktoria is a bumblebee in a green pleated skirt positioned on a round stool playing the piano.
What of herself? There is bumblebee seated, as if on a throne, atop a paint palette on wheels, behind which is a wagon filled with paint pots. The entire train is being pulled by a team of countless ants, while the bumblebee uses a paint brush like a whip to speed the team along, the paints spilling from the pots along the way. She called this memorable self-study The Bumblebee's Happy Drive Into the New Year.
Seeing it made it easier for me to understand yet another portrait - this one done much later in 1940 of a new addition to the Hummel Family. Its catalog number is H 106 and, again, the English title of My Baby Bumblebee does not do it justice. her title, written in her own hand, was simply s'Hummele, which in the native Bavarian dialect I share with her literally means This Is the Little Bumblebee.
Perhaps when this latter work was done - when she was already at Convent Siessen, the war was on and she had to face so much that was ugly - she would sometimes wish and dream to be a little Hummele again, safe and protected by her parents just one more time!
She so enjoyed poking fun at her name and she so often used the images of bumblebees in her drawings that the bumblebee can logically be thought of as her pictorial signature. With he been, she might be trying to say I was there, too or I'll protect you, little one, or perhaps in some cases the bumblebee was just so much fun for her to draw she could not resist.
(Oh my, I got myself sidetracked again. I warned you.)
Other than good educations, the schools where Catholic sisters reign are well known for one other ingredient: discipline! At these schools one will not only receive religious training, but, let's face it, the sisters can be very tough. One will learn restraint.
From what I have heard, this was also the case with Berta at the convent school in Simbach. The strict environment helped her develop into a well adjusted and much-liked young lady, as well as a promising artist.
The Middle Years
It was a proud day for father Adolf when, in the spring of 1927, he accompanied his daughter to Munich to enroll her in the Academy of Fine Arts, where on April 25 she successfully completed her entrance exams and was accepted into this special school. To be in surroundings that were at least partially familiar, she took up residence off campus in a dormitory run by a religious order.
At the academy, Berta was now receiving extensive training in all the arts. She learned to paint with oils and to sketch live models, even nudes. She learned to design and weave fabrics, and she continued to grow in mind and soul.
Her teachers were very pleased with her as a talented and likable student, and they expressed the hope that she stay at the academy as a teaching assistant after completion of her final exams.
She must, therefore, have been aware that not only the town, but the whole world, was opening up to her and recognizing her abilities. Somehow - and I doubt that anyone today really knows the exact reason - Berta made a decision that surprised everyone, including her own family.
While she was a student at the academy, Berta formed a friendship with two Franciscan nuns who ere also students there. Did they convince this formidable young lady to become one of them? Was it her rural, loving and very religious upbringing that led her to her decision?
Whatever the reason, before graduation from the academy, Berta Hummel visited the Convent Siessen in the state of Wuerttemberg to ask for admission. That was on August 14, 1930.
On March 15, 1931, an excited Berta sent a telegram to her parents, informing them that she had passed her exams at the top of her class!
On April 22, 1931, Berta entered the Convent Siessen as a candidate. She was immediately put to work teaching art in the nearby town of Saulgau and creating liturgical church garments in the art room at the convent. In her spare time, she was drawing children and working on art commissions.
Her works were published as early as 1932. The first Hummel postcard were printed by publishing houses in Rottenburg and Munich.
On August 30, 1934, Sister Maria Innocentia Hummel was ordained as a sister of the third order of Saint Francis in the Convent Siessen.
The first Hummel book (named Hummel-buch) was printed on November 4, 1934, by the printing house of Emil Fink in Stuttgart, Germany. Printing for the first edition was 5,000 copies.
Her Life As A Nun
In retrospect, the years of 1933 and 1934 were important ones for Sister Hummel. Her art was on exhibit in Saulgau and soon thereafter captured the attention of both Franz Goebel, head of the Goebel porcelain factory, and principals from the printing firm ARS Sacra. Both were looking for fresh new ideas and were captivated by what they say - drawings of children with bright faces, serene and religious scenes, imaginative style. They found just what they had been looking for.
Goebel and ARS Sacra successfully sought permission to reproduce Sister Hummel's art, initiating business relationships that continue to exist today. A number of Goebel figurines based on her work were made and introduced as early as 1935.
These must have been happy times for Sister Hummel, but dark clouds were gathering over Germany. Hitler had taken full control of the country and was determined to destroy everything and everyone who did not conform to his wishes.
There was this sister in this convent who just would not see things his way. She had the audacity to draw these peasant children with shoes too large, dressed to small, hair uncombed and all the while happy about it! Not at all the way he wanted the world to conceive of his super race!
In a March 20, 1937, edition of the Nazi publication The SA Man, Sister Hummel and her art is viciously and publicly attacked. Soon thereafter, the sisters at Siessen, to their total dismay, learn that the Nazi government is determined to close the convent.
In 1940, only about 40 sisters are allowed to stay at the convent. After much begging to remain, Sister Hummel is one of them. Convent Siessen itself is turned into a repatriation center for German nationals from other countries.
The sisters are no longer in charge. They are made to stay in the less desired parts of the convent, since the rest is overflowing with the humanity that the sisters have to take care of.
Sister Hummel, accustomed to a spacious studio of her own, is forced to move into new quarters serving as both bedroom and studio. The previous studio was made into an activity room for all of the remaining 40 sisters.
One can imagine how the sisters in these evening gatherings would lament what had befallen their beloved home, the convent. One day, on esister was especially upset over the conditions and expressed herself to Sister Hummel.
Sister Hummel suddenly left the room, only to return shortly to surprise the sister with a drawing of a little yellow duck. the duck is paddling its feet as if for dear life, its little neck and head high in the air. Under it Sister Hummel has written: Hold your head high....and swallow! She posted the drawing on the outside of the door where the sisters were staying.
This waas but one of many anecdotes about Sister Hummel which have been preserved. She was known as always positive, always supportive toward others. I have been told that even in the times when she was so physically frail, her heart and mine were strong and always full of cheer.
Many of her originals tell stories. Through them, she teaches even today what she believed to be right and wrong. These works of art also tell of sadness, hope, and joy. Whatever the subject, one can feel the love of the creator, because somehow she had the ability to weave her heart and soul into her art.
Her Life Ends Prematurely
It's sad that these terrible times took their toll on Sister Hummel. She contracted a lung infection which was probably the result of too little food and otherwise poor living conditions.
Her illness would be diagnosed as chronic tuberculosis. It created a debilitating and extended period of poor health. She tried hard to continue her work during her illness, but often to no avail. The war finally ended, but help came too late for this special human being.
Sister Maria Innocentia Humme, OSF, died on November 6, 1946. She was put to rest in the graveyard of the Convent Siessen by the sisters of the order on November 9, 1946. She was only 37 years old.
One of the sisters who was there tells this story of the day this special lady was laid to rest:
"During her illness, Sister Maria Innocentia Hummel had wished that it should snow on the day she was buried. On November 9, 1946, while her body was carried to its final resting place, snow began to fall in big, happy flakes from a single cloud in an otherwise blue sky until the earth was covered with a whiet veil, representing the veil of Innocence"