The
German paintress Carolina Augusta Hedwig Behnisch is born
in Luszkowo - Hohenangern, in the former German province
Posen in Silesië, now Polen. She spends her youth at the
Castle and the 500 ha of ' Rittergut ', the house of her
parents. Her family owns since 1750, the period of the
Frederic the Great, extensive country seats with beautiful
castles. Because of the two World Wars, the family will
lose everything.
Hedwig Behnisch studies with
professor Max Wislicenus at the Academy of Breslau and
also in Munich, Dresden and Kopenhagen. From 1907 on,
she completes herself with Henry Luyten at the ' Institut
des Beaux-Arts Henry Luyten ' in Brasschaat. She gets to
know this institute by reading an ad in a Munich paper,
' Die Kunst für Alle '. Photography is her favourit
occupation. Immediatly after her arrival in Brasschaat,
in 1907, she starts making an impressive series of pictures.
On January 8, 1917, she marries Henry Luyten in the
Lutherkirche in Breslau.
Hedwig Luyten - Behnisch has
her first exposition before World War I, in Breslau, Berlin,
Magdeburg and in Paris she is 'La Reine des Fleurs'.
Between 1915 and 1920 she paints at Worpswede by Bremen.
Because of Henry Luyten, Hedwig is seen as his best student.
The work she brings is influenced a lot by the art of Henry
Luyten. The figure, the landscape, the portret and even the
flower still lifes are her favourit objects. After her
marriage, Hedwig Luyten - Behnisch reaches a special place
as a paintress of flowers.
Between 1923 and 1950 she
permantely stays in Brasschaat and she has a lot of
expositions in Antwerp. In 1928 she also has a exposition
in Salford by Manchester in England and in 1941 there is an
exposition in Berlin. The dead of Henry Luyten in 1945 brings
Hedwig Behnisch long spoiled evenings. In 1953 she leaves
Brasschaat and goes to Germany. She stays in Kaiserslautern
and in Lübeck and finally moves to Luytens birthplace,
Roermond in 1960.
Until 1917, Hedwig Behnisch signs
her works with ' H. Benisch ', later on with ' Luyten - Benisch '.
She signs with ' Henry Luyten cop. ', when she copies one of
his works.
About eighty of her paintings are
in the Municipal Museum of Roermond in the Netherlands. From
the time before 1917, especially figures, landscapes and
portrets, there are a lot of paintings in private collections
in Germany. The rest of her work remains in private property
in Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands.
