Waltraude Stehwien

Barthold marionettes sketched by Fritz Stehwien

Three remaining character heads from an innovative filming of puppet plays, produced while living in exile in Vienna 1942 to 1945, will also be accompanying the marionettes. It is also hoped, that the entire confiscated collection may one day resurface, and be reunited with the few puppets that managed to ‘escape’, when their home country was split in two after the war. Oskar Barthold escaped to West Germany, pretty much a broken man, like many other censored artists, but did not live to see either the fall of the wall, or reunification.

Oskar Barthold 1904-1980

His legacy will live on however, and where better to preserve the puppets and tell their story, than in dedicated museums of puppetry in a unified Germany.

About the Artist

Waltraude Stehwien is a German born artist whose first career path was learning the ancient art of puppetry in her father's marionette theatre. Her studies in stage design and graphic arts at the art academy in Halle, Germany trained her to switch readily between a two and three dimensional workspace.

After retirement from a varied career in puppetry and graphic arts, Waltraude returned to her love of another unique art, that of scissor cutting, or the German Scherenschnitt. (Schere = Scissor, Schnitt = Cut).

She has created a large variety of design, illustrations and even logos using this method, and is regularly called upon to give workshops in this unique art form.

Most recently, she has challenged herself to explore the beauty and vastness of the prairie and other Canadian landscapes. The linear perspectives and the often stark contrasts of winter scenes have inspired Waltraude to bring these sometimes intense feelings to the viewer with her scissors and a single sheet of black specialty paper.