• Series I of the Hidden Championnes: Portraits painted in the style of the era that the portrayed woman lived in
• Women who lived between the 14th and 20th century
• small to midsize formats (W x H: from 25x30cm up to 140x135cm)
• some of the portraits are framed
• current number of portraits: 5 ready for exhibition
  
  
  

• Series II of the Hidden Championnes
• Painted based on existing photographs of the women
• Women who lived in the 19th and 20th century
• small formats (W x H: 18x24cm up to 60x50cm)
• some are framed
• current number: 14 portraits

• Christine de Pizan, Author/Writer, 14th century
• Marie Colinet, Surgeon, 16th century
• Barbara Strozzi, Composer, 17th century
• Eleanor & Eleanor Coade, Entrepreneurs, Business Women, 18th century
• Flora Tristan, Social Activist, 19th century (in production)
• Emmy Noether, Mathematician, 20th century

• Alice Augusta Ball, Chemist/Pharmacist, invented "Ball method" (wrongly claimed "Dean method"; treatment for leprosy)
• Josephine Cochran, Business Woman, inventor of the first successful dishwasher model (many others had tried but not succeeded)
• Rosalind Franklin, Chemist, Discoverer of the DNA
• Sarah E. Goode, Business Woman, Owner of a furniture business, received a patent for a foldable furniture (to serve in smaller homes)
• Inge Lehmann, Seismologist, discovered that the Earth must have a solid core from metal
• Lise Meitner, Nuclear Physicist, discovered nuclear fission in one of Otto Hahn's experiments that he assumed "gone wrong"
• Daphne Oram, Eletronic Sound Pioneer, invented one of the first synthesizer in the 1960s
• Cecilia Payne, Astronomer and Astrophysicist, foundational researcher to modern astrophysics
• Harriet Taylor Mill, Philosopher, co-author of 19th century work "On Liberty" (AI based research led by Karlsruhe Institute of Technology recently proved what John Stuart Mill always stated: she was co-writing this work)
• Charlotte "Lotte" Reiniger, Film Pioneer, wrote and produced first full-length animated feature (The Adventures of Prince Ahmed, 1926)
• Margarete Steffin, Writer, Co-author of works by Bertolt Brecht
• Nettie Maria Stevens, Biologist, discovered the sex chromosomes and introduced fruit flies to replace mealworms in biological research
• Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Blues & Rock'n'Roll Musician, inspired a whole generation of Rock'N'Rollers including Elvis Presley with her sound, gospel and guitar play
• Henrietta Vansittart, Engineer and Inventor, self-taught (as universities did not accept women in her time), developed a screw propeller that received a patent

Whether historical or semi-abstract portraits: I deliberately want to irritate people with my portraits. I want them to be surprised that they don't know this person and had no idea about her life. I want to reflect the fact that we think we know how women have lived over the centuries - but very often we have no idea or the wrong idea.

With the historical portraits, the focus is on creating a portrait as it would have been produced during the woman's lifetime. Because I would like to give her this honor retrospectively. I am guided above all by the idea that these portraits should be presented in the historical sections of museums - on an equal footing with the many men whose work and realities of life are strongly represented in paintings.
The art historian will recognize at first glance that the portraits I have created are not historical. That is intentional. I use historical modes of representation, but I also play with interpretations from my subjective point of view of a woman who was socialized in a democracy in the 20th century.

In the portraits of women, which I create on the basis of photographs, I work with a combination of realistic oil painting and abstract, randomly generated effects with the help of ink. The portraits have something disturbing about them in places, but in any case always a disturbing factor, as the ink makes some of the facial features unrecognizable. You have to look at these portraits for longer to give the eye time to recognize the individual facial features. I want to say visually that we have to make an effort, that it is up to us to see and recognize these women at all.

The historical portraits are classical portraits in oil, as they have been found in art history since Jan van Eyck. Depending on the period, I work on wooden panels (poplar), which I prepare myself in the traditional way, or on canvases with wooden stretcher frames.

For portraits with partial gilding - as was common in the late Middle Ages - I use the old technique of poliment gilding without modern synthetic aids.
I do the medieval portraits in oil rather than tempera, contrary to the usual practice of the time.

With the colors, I try to limit myself to the pigment palette that was used historically. Due to changes in pigments, this is not possible today on a 1:1 basis. Many historical pigments were highly toxic and have been replaced by non-toxic alternatives.

Portraits of series II (contemporary portraits)

(The portraits of the historical series I are not yet for sale).

Series I portraits (historical portraits)

This series is being continuously expanded and is already suitable for exhibition in houses with historical departments. Previously unsold portraits from Series II are also available on loan.

I am available to take part in panel discussions or give lectures on the “Hidden Championnes” at exhibitions, vernissages, events, congresses and similar.

I am multilingual and can take part in discussions in German, English, French, Italian and Spanish.