Quick Look
With ninety full-page reproductions, this is the first comprehensive overview of Ninetta Sombart's life and work.
Description
With ninety full-page reproductions, this book is the only available overview of Ninetta Sombart’s life and work as a painter. Her work is known widely through many single reproductions, but is here shown for the first time in a comprehensive collection.
Sombart brings the spiritual element of human beings to the fore, and her style is unmistakably different from other Christian art in history. The largest group of her paintings are based around Gospel images, in which she attempts to show Jesus as the Son of God, rather than as Jesus the man. She has developed a unique colour technique which expresses the esoteric side of Christ.
Reviews
'This is an extraordinary and beautifully produced book with ninety arresting full page illustrations. Ninetta Sombart is a visionary artist...exquisite. If you're interested in visionary art, then this book is an absolute necessity!'
-- Scientific & Medical Network Review, Spring 2005
'A large and lavishly produced book. Sombart is undoubtably an artist of sincerity, and nobility of aim and talent.'
-- John Lane, Temenos Academy Review 2005
'The book is a treasure, not excessively priced, with 90 most beautifully produced colour prints. It is rounded off with a biographical sketch and photographs of the artist, something that I found helpful in trying to make a connection with such different and remarkable work.'
-- Maria Barguirdjian, Steiner Education, Spring 2005
'The first thing you notice is the colour plates -- ninety full-page ones. The finish and colour quality here is excellent. The next thing that struck me was the quality of the pictures themselves. The text is written in a clear, crisp style and is particularly strong on the different components of the art itself. The format ensures that the book is both an enriching straight-through read and a beautiful reference work. It is to be treasured.'
-- Trevor Dance, New View, Winter 2004/5
'A new insight into the life and work of Ninetta Sombart. This comprehensive art book [...] shows the path this artist has undergone to reach her unique style. The paintings are arranged thematically, so one can follow her efforts to paint a portrait of Christ, for example. This book not only serves to make Ninetta Sombart known as a contemporary personality, but allows the reader to experience her artistic impulse.'
-- Georg Dreissig, Die Christengemeinschaft, June 2004
Author
Volker Harlan was born in 1938 in Dresden, Germany, and studied theology, biology and history of art. He is a priest in the Christian Community and lectures in science and aesthetics at a number of colleges. His publications include books on history of art, particularly Paul Klee and Joseph Beuys. He lives in Bochum, Germany.
Ninetta Sombart (1925-2019) grew up in Berlin in the house of the renowned economist and social scientist Werner Sombart. In 1947 she married, moved to America and had four children. To earn a living she began to paint to overwhelming public acclaim. In 1962 she returned to Europe where she managed the advertising department of an industrial concern in Basel. After 1978 she lived in Arlesheim, Switzerland, and devoted all her time to painting.
