Born in 1898 as the daughter of a missionary, Spallart attended her first drawing lessons in Munich, subsequently studying at the School of Arts and Crafts in Basel. In 1921, she moved to the Arts Metropolis of Berlin, where all artistic Avantgarde groups, from Dada via Expressionism to New Objectivity, were represented, and studied at the Academy of Arts under Arthur Segal and Walter Helbig.
Segal introduced her to an approach to art based on Goethe’s color theory. He conveyed to his students that light is the origin of color, and that depth and shape stem from this. For Spallart, Segal was also the connection to the other artists of the Berlin Avantgarde, the artists’ groups “Der Sturm [The Tempest]” and “Novembergruppe [November Group]”. Contact with Max Pechstein and especially Lyonel Feininger results in additional artistically stimulating aspects, such as color transparency, light effect and glowing spaces.
Her examination and acceptance of Rudolf Steiner’s teachings is also a high point in her artistic work. It is no longer possible to determine precisely when she started to intensely focus on his color theory. She moved to Basel in 1924 and in 1926 married the actor Johannes von Spallart. In 1923, she exhibited her works at the Heller Gallery in Berlin and in 1930 at the Commeter Gallery in Hamburg. From 1935 onwards, she shared a studio with the Expressionist Wilhelm Seelig in Berlin. In 1937, the National Socialist regime banned her from painting and she fled to Switzerland. After the War, she lived in Bad Hall in the Tyrol.
Spallart focused primarily on landscape motifs, alongside expressive image designs in the 1930s and 40s. The majority of her paintings from the period after the War focus on motifs from the Tyrolean mountains. During the 1950s, she moves ever closer to Abstract Art. In line with Steiner’s approach, she attempts to discover the color’s spiritual content in order to transfer it onto the viewer. In her colorful landscape compositions flooded with light, plants seem to grow, and depending on the angle of the light, the changing tones of the mountains and valleys create a dynamically intense spectacle.
Exhibitions:
1923 Galerie Heller, Berlin
1930 Galerie Commeter, Hamburg
1953 Galerie Heller, Berlin
1990 Personale, Kunsthandel Hieke, Wien
Works at:
Belvedere, Wien
Oesterreichische Nationalbank, Wien
