Gerda Fromel Sold at Auction Prices

b. 1931 - d. 1975

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  • Gerda Frömel (1931-1975) Head (c. 1972/73) White marble, 36cm (14¼) high On a rectangular steel base, 20.2 x 26.5cm (8 x 10¾) Provenance: With The Dawson Gallery, Dublin, May 1973, where purchased, thence by descent to the present owners; The
    May. 31, 2023

    Gerda Frömel (1931-1975) Head (c. 1972/73) White marble, 36cm (14¼) high On a rectangular steel base, 20.2 x 26.5cm (8 x 10¾) Provenance: With The Dawson Gallery, Dublin, May 1973, where purchased, thence by descent to the present owners; The

    Est: €7,000 - €10,000

    Gerda Frömel (1931-1975) Head (c. 1972/73) White marble, 36cm (14¼) high On a rectangular steel base, 20.2 x 26.5cm (8 x 10¾) Provenance: With The Dawson Gallery, Dublin, May 1973, where purchased, thence by descent to the present owners; The Estates of Dr. John & Mary Esther O’Driscoll, Kildare Born in Czechoslovakia in 1931, Greda Frömel was the eldest of four children born to German parents. When she was 14 the family moved to Vienna. Three years later she was attending the Stuttgart Academy of Art and Design studying sculpture, winning in 1949 the Scholarship for Young Artists. In 1953 she spent a year in Ireland, and while there met Werner Schürmann, a young German sculptor and musician, whom she married in 1955. It was in Ireland that she began to exhibit her work in earnest. By 1954 she had begun to exhibit in the Irish Exhibition of Living Art (IELA) and continued to show there regularly, while in 1962 and ‘63 she exhibited at the Independent Artists, also exhibiting at the Oireachtas, where in 1973 she won the Gold Medal. In 1964 and 1970 she had solo exhibitions with Leo Smith in The Dawson Gallery in Dublin, and had a joint show there with Michael Scott in 1967. Frömel’s work achieved critical acclaim and with it many important commissions, including in 1970 her polished stainless steel work entitled Sails for P.J.Carroll and Son, Dundalk. This was, at the time, the largest private sculptural commission in Ireland. Frömel also worked in stained glass for churches in Ireland and Germany, including a stained glass-window at St Brigid’s Cathedral, Kildare. Prof. Paula Murphy noted that Frömel brought several influences to bear in her work, “from Brancusi, in her smooth ovoid forms worked in stone”, (as in the present work), “and Giacometti, in her seemingly melting, textured bronze sculptures, to the Henry Moore circle, notably Hepworth and Ben Nicholson, in her abstract discs and rectangular forms.” Frömel died in a drowning accident, while on holidays with her children in Co. Mayo, at the age of 44. The following year a major retrospective exhibition of her work, organised jointly by the Arts Council and the Goethe Institute, was held at Dublin’s Hugh Lane Gallery.

    Adam's
  • Gerda Frömel (1931-1975) HEAD, 1969
    Nov. 25, 2019

    Gerda Frömel (1931-1975) HEAD, 1969

    Est: €5,000 - €7,000

    signed and dated at base

    Whyte's
  • GERDA FROMEL (IRISH, 1931-1976)
    Sep. 26, 2017

    GERDA FROMEL (IRISH, 1931-1976)

    Est: €800 - €1,200

    Bust of childInitialed Verso

    Sheppards
  • Gerda Fromel 1931 -1975 TREE Bronze. 25 1/2'' high (65cm)
    Dec. 01, 2015

    Gerda Fromel 1931 -1975 TREE Bronze. 25 1/2'' high (65cm)

    Est: €3,000 - €4,000

    Gerda Fromel 1931 -1975 TREE Bronze. 25 1/2'' high (65cm)

    deVeres
  • Gerda Frömel (1931-1975) Eve Bronze, 49.5cm high
    May. 28, 2014

    Gerda Frömel (1931-1975) Eve Bronze, 49.5cm high

    Est: €5,000 - €7,000

    Gerda Frömel (1931-1975) Eve Bronze, 49.5cm high (19½'') Signed with initials and dated 1974 Provenance: Purchased through Seán Ó Criadáin, 1977, by John P. Reihill, Deepwell, Blackrock, Co. Dublin The attenuated figure of Eve while reminiscent of Giacommetti's bronze figures more strongly recalls a Gothic Mary Magdalene and, perhaps is a reference to late medieval German sculpture widely found on churches in southern German towns. Having studied in Munich, Frömel could not have avoided being exposed to such influences. Gerda Frömel was born in Schonberg in Czechoslovakia in 1931. She studied sculpture first at Stuttgart where she was awarded the academy scholarship in 1949 and then in Darmstadt and Munich. Not wishing to return to her own country, she came to Ireland in 1956 and settled here with her German husband Werner Schurmann who was himself an able sculptor before turning to opera singing as a career. Gerda Frömel brought the inheritance of a dual tradition to bear on all the work that she created in this country and it was here that all of her mature work was inspired. She was forty-five and the mother of four boys when, tragically, she lost her life in a drowning accident. When she first arrived in Ireland, Frömel began to contribute to various group shows, including the Irish Exhibition of Living Art. She worked initially in marble, onyx, slate or alabaster, but later also in bronze, aluminium and gold. She excelled as both a carver and a modeller and was a fastidious craftsman, devoted to finish and technical perfection as the delicacy of her work suggests. One of her main concerns was with the intrinsic nature of the materials with which she worked. Very versatile, Frömel was able to slip from abstract to representational and from delicate, softly modelled or carved heads and figures to austere, almost bare pieces. She was particularly fascinated with circular, oval and disc-shaped forms. Latterly, she had expressed the desire to further explore the challenge of large scale pieces and had begun to devote much time to large public commissions. In 1962 she won the sculpture prize in the Irish Church Art Exhibition and the following year was awarded an Arts Council scholarship for sculpture. She had her first one-man show in Dublin in 1964. In 1970 she won the Waterford Glass Company Award at the Oireachtais. She won many other awards and received commissions from both Ireland and Germany including one for the P.J. Carroll building in Dundalk and the Regional Technical College in Galway.

    Adam's
  • Gerda Frömel 1931-1975 YOUNG FAWN Bronze, 11¼" x
    May. 22, 2012

    Gerda Frömel 1931-1975 YOUNG FAWN Bronze, 11¼" x

    Est: €6,000 - €9,000

    Gerda Frömel 1931-1975 YOUNG FAWN Bronze, 11¼" x 12" (28 x 30.5cm). Provenance: The Gorry Gallery, Dublin. Born in Czechoslovakia, she moved with her family to Vienna in 1945. Between 1945 and 1952 she studied sculpture at both Stuttgart Darmstadt and Munich, winning a scholarship while studying in Stuttgart. In 1953 she visited Ireland for a year living in Dublin, before returning to Munich where she married a German sculptor, Werner Schurmann. In 1956 they settled in at Woodtown, Rathfarnham. A decade later her husband returned to Germany leaving her the sole supporter of their four children. In 1956 she exhibited for the first time with the Irish Exhibition of Living Art. She was a continuous exhibitor until 1975. In 1963 she was the recipient of an Arts Council scholarship. She was represented in the Salzberg Biennale in 1962. In 1964 she had her first one person exhibition in Dublin at the Dawson Gallery. She received numerous prestigious commissions including a major work for the Carroll's factory in Dundalk. An artist of real ability she tragically died from a drowning accident in Belmullet, Co Mayo on August 4th ,1975. See Snoddy, Irish Artist's, 20th Century, Pages 124/125.

    deVeres
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