Marcella Hempel

Marcella Augusta Hempel, (born Tilg; 29 December 1915 – 9 December 2010), also known as Marcella Tilg-Senff, was a textile artist, second-generation Bauhaus master weaver, and lecturer in textiles. Hempel designed and wove products such as rugs and scarves which were commissioned or exhibited by Australian companies, private collectors and craft and art galleries. Her work received a gold medal award from the Australian Wool Board. She lectured in Dresden then at the University of Applied Arts in Berlin, taught textile design at East Sydney Technical College, was the inaugural lecturer in textiles at the Riverina-Murray Institute of Higher Education (formerly Riverina College of Advanced Education, now Charles Sturt University-Wagga Wagga campus) and was conferred with a Honoris Causa award of Bachelor of Arts (Visual Arts) after retirement. Her woven travel rugs are held in national art collections.

Life and weaving career

Master weaver and lecturer in Germany Tilg studied art in high school and aimed in her post-school life, "To help mankind". Her teacher took the class to a Bauhaus display home showing art in action which impressed Tilg so she decided to study at the Bauhaus when she finished high school. By then, the Bauhas school had been closed by the Nazi Party so Tilg studied weaving in Berlin from 1932 under Bauhaus trained Margaret Leischner at the Berlin College of Textile and Fashion, graduating in 1936 with a degree in handweaving and textile design. She and Senff had one child. Georg Senff died in Poland in 1944. From 1934 to 1946, Marcella Tilg-Senff designed fabrics for German and Danish industry. About leaving Germany, in 1990 Hempel said in correspondence with John McPhee, then a curator at the National Gallery of Australia, “I did not want my child to grow up under a totalitarian regime which took the life of my husband, who had been a political prisoner under Hitler... My odyssey ended in Australia, where at last I did not feel in constant hopeless opposition to a regime, which denies its citizens integrity." She brought with her samples of her weaves, designs and professional documentation, and even a small hand loom, which helped her obtain work as a weaver and lecturer in Australia. The destination address the Hempels gave was the flat of Walter Andreas and Annemarie Dullo, refugees from Germany before WWII, who became chocolate makers in Australia, interned as enemy aliens during the war, then returned to Sydney and co-founded Musica Viva Australia with Richard Goldner. Between 1954 and 1957 Hempel designed upholstery fabric for a commercial weaving company in Sydney and taught for a while at East Sydney Technical College. Marcella (and sometimes Bruno) spun wool from her own sheep, combined it with other wool yarns, and created an individual weave that received a gold medal award from the Australian Wool Board. One of her first commissions at Picton was for curtains for the local Camden Hospital, woven in cotton. She successfully produced the travel rugs and more commissions and sales of her woven textiles followed.

By the mid 60s, the marriage had broken down and most of the farm was sold, although Marcella and her daughter were able to keep and live in the cottage with a small plot of bushland surrounding them. She also taught weaving in community workshops. In 1989 the college awarded Hempel an honorary Bachelor of Arts (Visual Arts). In 1990 the Wagga Wagga Art Gallery held an exhibition, "Students of Marcella Hempel" which included works by Hempel as well as her students.

In Australia, Hempel passed on her industrial design principles and weaving techniques both as a lecturer and in workshop presentations. She believed that all work should have an aim and a purpose. She taught her students industrial design principles of harmonious design through colour, shape and texture. She wrote that the decisive factors in her career were the Bauhaus philosophy, the insistence on technical perfection and the application of efficient working methods from industry.

Hempel died in Canberra on 9 December 2010. Her death notice, written by her daughters, described her as "An honourable person throughout life. Respected second generation trained Bauhaus Master Weaver and teacher. Survivor of Nazi Germany and bombing of Dresden".

Exhibitions and works Hempel's exhibitions and most well-known works included:

Good Neighbour Council exhibition, Anthony Hordern, Sydney, 1957 (group) "Marcella Hempel”, Design Arts Centre, Brisbane, 1968, 1969, 1976 (solo) "Fibre", Narek Galleries, Canberra, 1975 (group) Australian Wool Corporation, Australian weavers in wool, 1st annual exhibition, in association with Imago Gallery, 1978 (group) Australian Craftworks, "Marcella Hempel: Master weaver: A celebration of 50 years of weaving", Sydney, June–July, 1986 (solo) "Students of Marcella Hempel", Wagga Wagga City Art Gallery, 1990 (group)