Exhibitions (chronological)
Group Exhibitions
Frankfurt/Oder: Brandenburg State Museum for Modern Art (www.blmk.de) from 09/01/2024 to 11/03/2024
Group exhibition: SHADOW JUMPERS Variations of Woodcut in the 20th and 21st Century
Berlin-Wilmersdorf: Magistrate Gallery: 1950.
Berlin: Exhibition: before 1952:
Young Generation.
Berlin: Exhibition: before 1952:
Image of the Time.
Berlin-Mitte: Pergamon Museum: from May 19 to June 19, 1955:
Spring Exhibition of Berlin Artists 1955.
Works by 28 female artists and 83 male artists.
Helena Scigala was represented with five works: the woodcuts "Mother and Child", "At the Harbor", "My Boy" and "Still Life" as well as the chalk drawing "Self-Portrait". Her depiction of Martin Scigala titled "My Boy" was selected for the cover of the catalog.
From the circle of her previously known companions, the following were also represented in the exhibition with works: Elisabeth Holz-Averdung (one contribution) and Toni Mau (two contributions) as well as Fritz Cremer (four contributions), Fritz Duda (two contributions), René Graetz (one contribution), Waldemar Grzimek (two contributions), Harry Lüttger (one contribution), Arno Mohr (3 contributions) and Herbert Tucholski (five contributions). Her companions Elizabeth Shaw, René Graetz and Arno Mohr were among those serving on the jury, and Herbert Tucholski was active in the hanging commission.
Berlin-Pankow: Erich-Weinert-House of the Cultural Association, from December 10 to 24, 1955:
Christmas Sales Exhibition [Pankow Artists]. Painting. Graphics.
Berlin-Charlottenburg: Exhibition Grounds at the Radio Tower: from May 25, 1956:
Great Berlin Art Exhibition.
Helena Scigala was represented, among others, with the woodcut "Bodden Fisherman".
Berlin-Mitte: Club of Cultural Workers, Small Gallery: 1956:
Helena Scigala and Gerda Triebs. Graphics. Sales Exhibition.
Helena Scigala was represented, among others, with the woodcuts "Fisherman's House", "Fishing Nets" and "Two People".
Stuttgart: House of the Community of German and Austrian Female Artists and Art Friends (GEDOK): opened on September 29, 1956 and Mannheim: Institute for Education and Teaching: from October 20 to November 13, 1956:
Female Artists from the GDR.
The exhibition had been transferred from Stuttgart and now presented itself as an art show of GEDOK Mannheim.
Helena Scigala was represented with "Harbor in Vitte" and "Fisher Girl with Child".
Berlin-Pankow: Erich-Weinert-House of the Cultural Association: from mid-December 1956:
Christmas Sales Exhibition [Pankow Artists]. Painting. Graphics.
Helena Scigala was represented, among others, with the chalk drawing "Friends".
Berlin-Mitte: Central House of German-Soviet Friendship: from January 17 to February 17, 1957:
District Art Exhibition Berlin. Painting. Graphics. Sculpture.
Works by 21 female artists and 64 male artists.
Helena Scigala was represented with the woodcuts "Fishing Nets" and "Old Woman" (originally named by her "Praying Old Woman").
From the circle of her previously known companions, the following were also represented in the exhibition with works: Elisabeth Holz-Averdung (one contribution) and Toni Mau (two contributions) as well as Fritz Cremer (three contributions), Fritz Duda (two contributions), René Graetz (three contributions), Waldemar Grzimek (two contributions), Paul Kuhfuss (two contributions), Harry Lüttger (one contribution), Arno Mohr (six contributions), Paul Schultz-Liebisch (four contributions), Herbert Tucholski (three contributions) and Heinz Worner (one contribution). Her companions Fritz Cremer, Fritz Duda, René Graetz and Arno Mohr were among those serving on the jury; Herbert Tucholski was active in the hanging commission.
Berlin-Pankow: Erich-Weinert-House of the Cultural Association, from March 04 to 30, 1957:
Exhibition for International Women's Day by 17 Pankow Female Artists. Painting. Graphics. Sculpture.
Helena Scigala was represented, among others, with chalk drawings of little girls (including "Friends") as well as the woodcut "Old Woman" (originally named by her "Praying Old Woman"). Her companion Doris Kahane showed (color) woodcuts on the theme of Vietnam.
Berlin: 1957:
District Art Exhibition.
Berlin: 1958:
District Art Exhibition.
Berlin-Mitte: German Academy of Arts, from May 22 to July 20, 1958:
Annual Exhibition 1958. Sculpture and Graphics.
Helena Scigala was represented with two color woodcuts, of which the Academy purchased the work "Dandelions" for its graphic collection.
From the circle of her previously known companions, the following were also represented in the exhibition with works: Lea Grundig, Toni Mau and Elizabeth Shaw as well as Fritz Cremer, Fritz Duda, René Graetz, Waldemar Grzimek, Arno Mohr, Otto Niemeyer-Holstein, Herbert Sandberg, Paul Schultz-Liebisch and Herbert Tucholski.
Great Britain, London: from October 10 to 29, 1958; Finland, Helsinki: from February 06 to 28, 1959 and Sweden, Stockholm: from May 15 to 31, 1959 [Catalogs originally in the respective national languages]:
Traveling exhibition: Contemporary German Graphics and Sculpture from the GDR
(or Sculpture and Graphics, this order differed in the two Scandinavian countries; the evaluation refers to the show in Sweden, in which a slightly smaller number of works were shown compared to Finland). Works by eleven female artists and 49 male artists.
Helena Scigala was represented in each case with three color woodcuts: "Dandelions", "Winter" and "Märkisches Museum in Berlin".
From the circle of her previously known companions, the following were also represented in the exhibition with works: Toni Mau (three contributions) and Elizabeth Shaw (four contributions, with her ink drawing "Bertolt Brecht" from 1957 being selected for the back of the catalog) as well as Fritz Cremer (seven contributions), Fritz Duda (one contribution), René Graetz (two contributions), Waldemar Grzimek (five contributions), Arno Mohr (seven contributions), Otto Niemeyer-Holstein (two contributions), Herbert Sandberg (seven contributions), Paul Schultz-Liebisch (one contribution) and Herbert Tucholski (five contributions).
Dresden, Albertinum: September 28, 1958 to January 25, 1959:
IV. Art Exhibition of the GDR.
An exhibition of the Association of Visual Artists of Germany.
Berlin-Pankow: Erich-Weinert-House of the Cultural Association: from December 01, 1958 to January 15, 1959:
Christmas Exhibition of Pankow Artists 1958. Sales Exhibition.
Berlin-Mitte, Central House of German-Soviet Friendship, from January 17 to February 17, 1959:
District Art Exhibition Berlin. Painting. Graphics. Sculpture.
Helena Scigala was represented with the woodcuts "Fishing Nets" and "Old Woman" (originally named by her "Praying Old Woman").
India, New Delhi: Lalit Kala Akadami: before April 1960:
German Graphic Art of the Present.
An exhibition of the German Academy of Arts Berlin / German Democratic Republic (GDR). [Catalog originally in English], Works by seven female artists and 36 male artists.
Helena Scigala was represented with six works from the years 1955 to 1958: the woodcuts "Girl's Portrait" and "Fisher Girl" as well as the color woodcuts "Dandelions" (also printed in the catalog, without page numbering), "Playing Children", "Crows in Winter" and "Girl at the Beach".
From the circle of her previously known companions, the following were also represented in the exhibition with works: Toni Mau (two contributions, with her screen print "Mother and Child" from 1958 being selected for the cover of the catalog) as well as Fritz Cremer (six contributions), Arno Mohr (19 contributions), Paul Schultz-Liebisch (two contributions) and Herbert Tucholski (eight contributions).
Berlin-Mitte: German Academy of Arts: March 09 to April 08, 1961:
Young Artists. Graphics and Sculpture.
Besides Helena Scigala, the following from the circle of her previously known companions were also represented in the exhibition: Ronald Paris and Gerhard Rommel.
Berlin-Mitte: National Gallery: 1961:
Exhibition of Art Prize Winners.
See also the following quote from a presentation of the artist on the radio (documented as a corrected manuscript):
Radio contribution by Fritz Dieckmann: Visit to the graphic artist Helena Scigala, 1964:Since the 1950s, the artist has lived [...] in Berlin, working freelance in her graphic art; her reputation, to speak with Robert Musil, is "not loud, but strong"; the Academy of Arts has purchased many of her works and sent them around the world (to England, Finland, Sweden, India, Japan), the State Galleries in Berlin and Halle-Moritzburg own prints by her, and on May 1st at the Book Bazaar on Karl-Marx-Allee, the many friends who have acquired her art at numerous exhibitions in the [GDR] capital crowd around her stand.
Altenburg: State Lindenau Museum: opened on September 29, 1963:
Female Artists from the GDR.
Erfurt: Anger Museum: September 29 to October 04, 1964:
Graphics. Exhibition on the occasion of the 11th Party Congress of the Christian Democratic Union.
As the winner, Helena Scigala was represented with her award-winning Albert Schweitzer cycle, from which a motif was selected for both the cover of the catalog and for an advertisement in the party newspaper Neue Zeit. The show also included works by the seven runners-up of the competition as well as by 30 artists from the GDR.
Berlin: 1969:
Graphics in the GDR.
Berlin: 1970:
Risen from Ruins.
Dresden, Albertinum: October 05, 1972 to March 25, 1973:
VII. Art Exhibition of the GDR.
An exhibition by the Ministry of Culture, the VBK, the Academy of Arts, the Ministry of Building, the Federation of Architects, the Building Academy in Berlin and the Free German Trade Union Federation.
From the circle of her previously known companions, the following were also represented in the exhibition: among others, Paul Schultz-Liebisch.
Italy, Venice: Opera Bevilacqua La Masa: June 28 to July 12, 1972:
Etchings and Lithographs from the German Democratic Republic (GDR).
An exhibition by the City of Venice in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture of the GDR, the Association of Etching Artists of Venice and the Thomas Mann Cultural Center. [Catalog originally in Italian], Works by three female artists and 12 male artists.
Note by S. Helling: Among the three female artists, Käthe Kollwitz, who had already died in 1945, was also presented with nine works, which, strictly speaking, constituted an act of appropriation of her artistic legacy for the benefit of GDR art (see also Armenia 1974).
Helena Scigala was represented with eight woodcuts from the years 1963 to 1967, of which "At the Beach" (1964) and "Vietnam" (1966) were also printed in the catalog (p. 97f.).
From the circle of her previously known companions, the following were also represented in the exhibition with works: Lea Grundig (17 contributions) as well as Fritz Cremer (22 contributions), Arno Mohr (38 contributions), Herbert Sandberg (eight contributions) and Herbert Tucholski (ten contributions).
Berlin-Mitte: Center for Art Exhibitions of the GDR: 1973:
Graphics in the GDR.
[Catalog originally in English], Works by three female artists and 25 male artists.
Helena Scigala was represented with three works from the years 1957 to 1967: the color woodcuts "Dandelions" (1957) and "At the Zoo" (1964) as well as the woodcut "Albert Schweitzer" (1967 [sic!]), which was also printed in the catalog (No. 57).
From the circle of her previously known companions, the following were also represented in the exhibition with works: Lea Grundig (three contributions) as well as Fritz Cremer (three contributions), Arno Mohr (two contributions), Ronald Paris (one contribution) and Herbert Tucholski (two contributions).
Armenia, Yerevan: House of Arts of Armenia: from October 1974:
Children in the View of GDR Artists.
An exhibition by the Ministry of Culture of the USSR, the Ministry of Culture of the GDR, the Ministry of Culture of the Armenian Soviet Republic and the Association of Artists of the Armenian Soviet Republic on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the founding of the GDR. [Catalog originally in Russian]
Note by S. Helling: For the cover of the catalog, Käthe Kollwitz's graphic "Bread" from 1924 was selected, i.e., a work of art from the political era of the Weimar Republic, which was long before the GDR was founded in 1949. Strictly speaking, this constituted an act of appropriation of her artistic legacy for the benefit of GDR art (see also Italy, 1972).
Helena Scigala was represented with three works: the woodcut "Playing Child" from 1958, the lithograph "Anne Frank" from 1958, and the drawing "Girl with Doll" from 1973, which was also printed in the catalog (p. 22).
From the circle of her previously known companions, the following were also represented in the exhibition with works: Lea Grundig, Doris Kahane and Toni Mau as well as Fritz Cremer, Fritz Duda, René Graetz, Otto Niemeyer-Holstein, Arno Mohr, Gerhard Rommel and Ronald Paris.
Berlin-Mitte: Club of Cultural Workers, Small Gallery: April 1975:
Harry Lüttger (Pastels) and Helena Scigala (Graphics). Sales Exhibition.
Introduction at the opening: Dr. Willi Geismeier, Director of the National Gallery.
Helena Scigala was represented, among others, with: Woodcuts from her cycle "Albert Schweitzer", color woodcuts of Hiddensee fishermen's houses and the "Lovers on the Beach", with the red chalk drawing "Mother and Child" as well as monotypes of landscapes in the Spreewald.
Schwerin, State Museum: June 06 to August 17, 1975 and subsequently Rostock, Rostock Art Gallery: November to December 1975:
Color Graphics in the GDR.
An exhibition by the State Museum Schwerin. Works by 37 female artists and 128 male artists, primarily from the collections of both art collections.
Before 1975, there were no graphics by Helena Scigala in the possession of the Schwerin Museum. During the exhibition preparations, she was contacted by the curator and deemed worthy to submit one to four of her color graphics for selection. As a result, she was represented with two contributions: the four-color woodcut "Girl at the Beach" from 1958 and the five-color woodcut "At the Beach" from 1960. According to notes in the artistic estate (private archive), the State Museum Schwerin was ultimately among the collections that purchased works by Helena Scigala - a connection with the 1975 event is plausible here.
From the circle of her previously known companions, the following were also represented in the exhibition with works: Toni Mau (seven contributions) as well as Manfred Butzmann (four contributions, three of them from the Schwerin collection), Fritz Cremer (one contribution from the Schwerin collection), René Graetz (five contributions), Harry Lüttger (three contributions), Arno Mohr (two contributions from the Rostock collection), Otto Niemeyer-Holstein (four contributions, one from the Schwerin collection and three from the Rostock collection), Ronald Paris (one contribution), Herbert Sandberg (seven contributions) and Herbert Tucholski (one contribution from the Schwerin collection).
Berlin: 1975:
Graphics in the GDR.
Berlin: 1975:
District Art Exhibition.
Leipzig-Mitte: Protestant bookstore with gallery "Wort und Werk": December 1978 to mid-January 1979:
Richard Sander from Dresden (Painting and Graphics) and Helena Scigala from Berlin (Graphics). Sales Exhibition.
Berlin: 1979:
Youth in Art.
Berlin: 1980:
Retrospective Berlin.
Berlin-Mitte: Exhibition Center at the TV Tower: January 20 to February 27, 1983:
Berlin Studio 1983. Painting. Graphics.
An exhibition by the Magistrate of Berlin, Department of Culture and the Association of Visual Artists of the GDR, District Board Berlin. Works by three female artists and 13 male artists.
Helena Scigala was represented with 17 works in various graphic techniques from the years 1958 to 1980. Her woodcuts "Never Again Must Children Weep for their Mothers" from 1958 and "Albert Schweitzer" from 1963 were printed in the catalog (p. 63 and 61).
From the circle of her previously known companions, the following were also represented in the exhibition with works: Günter Blendinger (25 contributions) and Harry Lüttger (29 contributions).
Berlin-Lichtenberg: Workshop Gallery in the District Cultural House: June 1984:
Relief Printing Technique.
An exhibition by the District Cultural House Berlin-Lichtenberg/Studio of Fine Arts. Works by eight female artists and 30 male artists.
Helena Scigala was represented with the color woodcut "Landscape in Green" from 1955 and with the woodcut "Albert Schweitzer" from 1963, which was also printed in the catalog (p. 6).
From the circle of her previously known companions, the following were also represented in the exhibition with works: Doris Kahane (two contributions) as well as Harry Lüttger (one contribution), Arno Mohr (two contributions), Herbert Sandberg (three contributions), Paul-Schultz-Liebisch (two contributions) and Herbert Tucholski (three contributions, of which the color woodcut "Stralsund" from 1973 was selected for the cover of the catalog).
Berlin-Mitte: Gallery am Weidendamm: March 03 to 27, 1987:
Art in Christian Responsibility. Painting. Graphics. Sculpture.
An exhibition by the Main Board of the CDU on the occasion of the 750th anniversary of the founding of Berlin. Works by 18 female artists and 63 male artists.
Helena Scigala was represented with her monotype "Spreewald", which was also printed in the catalog (p. 62).
From the circle of her previously known companions, the following were also represented in the exhibition: Manfred Butzmann (one contribution).
Berlin-Lichtenberg, Workshop Gallery in the District Cultural House, October 1987:
Etching in Berlin after 1945.
An exhibition by the District Cultural House Berlin-Lichtenberg/Studio of Fine Arts. Works by three female artists and 25 male artists.
Helena Scigala was represented with the cold needle etchings "Children in Ravensbrück" and "Ravensbrück" (both from 1978/79), of which the former was also printed in the catalog (p. 5).
From the circle of her previously known companions, the following were also represented in the exhibition with works: Nuria Quevedo (two contributions, of which the aquatint etching "Woman with Fish" from 1985 was selected for the cover of the catalog) as well as Manfred Butzmann (two contributions), Fritz Cremer (two contributions), René Graetz (two contributions), Arno Mohr (two contributions), Herbert Sandberg (two contributions), Horst Strempel (two contributions) and Herbert Tucholski (three contributions).
In addition to good wishes for the birthday girl, the inscription also contains a note about her participation in the Pankow Art Market.
Berlin-Pankow, September 1996: Art Market as part of the 25th Festival at the Panke.
An event under the direction of the Cultural Office of the urban district of Berlin-Pankow. After decades of participation, the 75-year-old Helena Scigala was represented here with a stand for the last time.
