What Is Hummel Art?

For the purposes of this site, Hummel art is any fine, decorative, or useful art form adapted from an original creative work by Berta Hummel (later Sister Maria Innocentia Hummel). The counterparts of these originals have appeared in numerous forms for over forty years. The three dimensional figurines are the most famous conceptions of her pastels and paintings.

Her original works are all over the world. Some of them are in the house where she was born in 1909, and in which her mother and brother still live. Primarily, these are the ones she drew before entering the convent in 1933. More of her original drawings and paintings are in the Franciscan Convent at the Seissen in West Germany. Dr. Herbert Dubler of Verlag Ars Sacra, Josef Muller of Munich wrote that they owned most of the originals for which they hold the two-dimensional rights. Some originals also exist which Sister Hummel gave as gifts during her relatively short life. Recently an original Sister Hummel made in 1939 at the request of some young girls surfaced in St. Louis.

The three-dimensional conversion of her originals into figurines was so well executed under her supervision while she was alive that they are now classed as works of art themselves by the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Most of the remaining Hummel art is two-dimensional expressions of her originals produced by photomechanical processes to preserve line and color. In this category are prints, pictures, calendars, and cards.Transfers have also been made to apply to articles such as music boxes, plates, bells, eggs, candles, and innumerable other collectibles.

Bas-relief is another form into which Sister Hummel's pictures have been adapted, principally for a series of annual plates. Production of these plates has usually been limited to the year of issue. Prints, pictures, greeting cards are a few of the two dimensional replicas that are very popular even in modern times.

Hummel-like art is the term used in this article for items often referred to as reproductions. This broader term is used because variations are so wide that there is a question of whether or not they were inspired by Sister Hummel's work. Some appear to have been more likely issued with the objective of capitalizing on the worldwide appeal of her work and the approved adaptations. These "unauthorized" reproductions are usually dissimilar enough to avoid infringing on existing copyrights. Some Hummel-like examples are in two-dimensional cards and prints, but most of them are figurines of varying quality and appearance. Currently only figurines licensed by the Franciscan Convent in Seissen to be produced by the W. Goebel Company of West Germany are genuine "M.I. Hummel" figurines. Each one must be so marked in an incised facsimile of Sister Humme;s script signature. Any piece without this signature is either Hummel-like, Hummel Inspired, a reproduction, or other imitation.

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