Telling stories to the Grimm's: Dorothea Viehmann

   Fig 1 (above) Portrait of Dorothea Viehmann 1819 by Ludwig Emil Grimm

Born Katharina Dorothea Pierson (1755- 1815), Dorothea Viehmann, was the daughter of Johann Friedrich Isaac Pierson a tavern owner and as she grew up she was exposed to and learned lots of stories, folk tales, legends and myths from her fathers guests. But she had also probably gleaned lots of stories at home from her extended family who had had to migrate from France to Holland and then eventually to Germany due to religious persecution, as her fathers ancestors were Huguenots (French protestants).

Dorothea married the tailor Nikolaus Viehmann in 1777, when she was twenty two and had at least seven children before he died in 1787. She was then left to provide for her 5 surviving children, which she did by selling produce from her garden at the market. But for over two years after 1812 she also supplemented her income by sharing her storytelling with the Grimm brothers, whilst they transcribed them for their collection of fairy tales. (note:1)
The Grimm brothers were said to have been amazed not only by the number of stories in Dorothea ("fairy woman Zwehrn's") repertoire, but also the way she was able to faultlessly retell them over and over again.

"One of those good chance it that we have a farmer's wife met from the nearby near Kassel village Niederzwehren ... The woman Viehmännin was still vigorous and not much more than 50 years old ... She kept the old legends firmly in mind ... "  (note 2)  Wilhelm Grimm

   Fig 2 (above)The Grimm brothers at the house of Dorothea Viehmännin 1892 by Louis Katzenstein 

Jacob and Wilhelm did not discover Dorothea until after their first edition was published and she did not keep the best of health, so they only knew her for her last two or three years of life. However Jacob and Wilhelm sourced over forty tales from this talented storyteller.


Note 1:
I was taken by the struggle of this woman and the harsh realities of her life. The death of her husband was documented on many websites. However the birth dates of her children contradict this information as does her husband Nicholas Schneider Viehmann's (1724-1825) dates which reveal that he actually outlives Dorothea by ten years. So the storytelling Dorothea Viehmann has become the stuff of myths and stories herself. Though another website did suggest that they were separated due to his drinking habits and therefore Dorothea had soul responsibility for raising there children.
 
18. September 1777 Anna Margaretha VIEHMANN ♀
17. November 1778 Anna Catharina VIEHMANN ♀
27. September 1787 Martha Elisabeth VIEHMANN ♀
6. December 1790 Marie Christine VIEHMANN ♀
30. May 1795 Johann Christoph VIEHMANN ♂
24. April 1797 Anna Katharina VIEHMANN ♀
14. November 1798 Anna Sabine VIEHMANN ♀

Note 2:
The other contradiction of Dorothea Viehmann's biography is that her husbands trade was a tailor but the Grimm's describe him as a farmer, in fact as times were hard probably both enterprises were taken to make ends meet.

References

Fig 1 http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Die_Maerchenfrau.jpg
Fig 2 http://publicdomainreview.org/2012/12/20/the-forgotten-tales-of-the-brothers-grimm/

1.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothea_Viehmann
2.  http://www.grimms.de/br%C3%BCder_grimm/die_m%C3%A4rchenfrau_dorothea_viehmann?lang=de
3.  https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=0TwJBAAAQBAJ&pg=PR22&lpg=PR22&dq=the+storyteller+of+kassel+who+told+grimms&source=bl&ots=J4DDBN-Mbo&sig=6G4sRoEKH2mXZpu24wxy8S49iiA&hl=en&sa=X&ei=RoCOVKK_FYvfareygcgD&ved=0CC0Q6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=the%20storyteller%20of%20kassel%20who%20told%20grimms&f=false
4.  http://www.dorothea-viehmann-schule.de/das-sind-wir-1/dorothea-viehmann/
5.  http://gedbas.genealogy.net/person/show/1126000469
6.  http://www.frau-und-philatelie.de/biografien-frauen-auf-briefmarken/155-dorothea-viehmann-biografie

Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm

Fig 1 (Above): Wilhelm Grimm(left) and Jacob Grimm (right) 1855 painting by Elisabeth Jerichau-Baumann.

Fig 2 (above) Frontispiece and decorative title page of an 1819 edition of the Brothers Grimm's 'Kinder-und Hausmarchen', illustrated by Ludwig Emil Grimm with engravings by L. Haas. 

Jacob Grimm was born in 1785 and his brother Wilhelm in 1786, The brothers were extremely close and both brothers studied law at the University of Marburg. However they were most inspired by Professor Friedrich Carl von Savigny who introduced them to Romantic literature and they joined "Heidelberger Kreis" a group of German Folk Poets.

Their father Philip, a lawyer, had died in 1796 when Jacob was just 11. When their mother Dorothea in died in 1808 Jacob , the oldest of the nine children (eight brothers and one sister) supported the family by working as a librarian (1808-1813) for Jérôme Bonaparte, King of Westphalia.

The brothers devoted themselves at this time to collecting folk tales and legends and in 1812 they published their compilation 'Kinder und Hausmarchen' which comprised of 86 gathered oral folk tales. This collection swelled to 209 stories in its 7th and final edition of 1857.

Fig 3 (above) Second edition of Grimms' Fairytales – two volumes (1819) in Kassel which had 156 stories 780 more than the original.

Wilhelm worked as the secretary in Kassel Library from 1814-1829 and Jacob as the Librarian 1816-1829.

                              Fig 4 (above) Dorothea (Dortchen) Wild pencil portrait by Ludwig Emil Grimm 1815

Wilhelm married Dortchen Wild in 1825 and they had four children, during this time the brothers remained in the same household and they published in two volumes of German Legends. In 1819 Jacob published "Deutsche Grammatik", the first book of its kind exploring not only German grammar but also the relationships between languages.

             Fig 5 (Above): 1843 Pencil drawing of Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm by Ludwig Emil Grimm

In 1829 both brothers were appointed as professors at the University of Göttingen.
The brothers were politically active seeking a formulation of fundamental rights and a union of German states. Unfortunately they both lost their professorships and were deported in 1835, when they and five of their colleagues opposed the abolition of the Hanover Constitution by the King of Hanover.
The brothers returned to Kassel and then in 1840 obtained professorships in Berlin where they developed "Deutsches Wörterbuch" a complete German dictionary tracing the origin of every word. Jacob and Wilhelm were to live in Berlin for approximately twenty years working on historical and political publications. Wilhelm Grimm died age 73 in 1859 and his brother Jacob followed four years later aged 81 in 1863.

References

Fig 1: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elisabeth_Jerichau-Baumann
Fig 2: http://www.historytoday.com/richard-cavendish/publication-grimm%E2%80%99s-fairy-tales
Fig 3: http://www.germany.travel/se/press-internationell/pr-teman/press-kit-broederna-grimm.html
Fig 4: http://enargea.org/tales/Grimm/dieGebrueder.html
Fig 5: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jacob_und_Wilhelm_Grimm.png

http://www.germanpulse.com/2012/04/10/the-history-of-the-brothers-grimm/
http://www.biography.com/people/wilhelm-grimm-21085173#grimms-fairy-tales
http://www.germany.travel/se/press-internationell/pr-teman/press-kit-broederna-grimm.html
http://www.historytoday.com/richard-cavendish/publication-grimm%E2%80%99s-fairy-tales

The Making of Daniel Egnéus, Little Red Riding Hood

                   Fig 1: The making of Daniel Egnéus, Little Red Riding Hood 

A wonderful insight into Daniel Egnéus' working practice, his research and thoughts in creating his 2011 interpretation of Little Red Riding Hood. 

Daniel uses his own visual language, the content of his daily view, his city, his girlfriend to add a contemporary context. He then researched the time period in which he wanted to place his interpretation, gathering, like a chef the ingredients and pulling together inspiration, knowledge and reference for his work.

   Fig 2, (above) 3,4 (below) Illustrations from Daniel Egnéus, Little Red Riding Hood

References

Fig 1:  Film showing how Daniel Egnéus researched and made his Little Red Riding Hood https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vnhcJHcJWo

Fig 2,3,4 Illustrations from Daniel Egnéus, Little Red Riding Hood http://www.danielegneus.com/

Grimm, T,W, Little Red Riding Hood, New York. Harper Design. 2011