Paula Agnes Auguste Steiner-Prag (born b. Bergmann)
July 26, 1880 | Seedorf, Segeberg – May 17, 1964 | Stockholm
Graphic artist
In 1903, 23-year-old Paula Bergmann studied at the Debschitz School in Munich, a reform-oriented art school. One of her teachers was Hugo Steiner, a Jewish painter and graphic artist of the same age who was born in Prague – his artist name was Steiner-Prag. The two fell in love and married in 1905 – after both had converted to Christianity that same year. In April 1906, their son Detlev Hugo was born. In 1907, the family moved to Leipzig, where Hugo Steiner-Prag became a teacher at the Royal Academy of Graphic Arts and Book Trade. The family lived at 11 Weinlig Street in Gohlis. On May 10, 1908, their daughter Helga Hanna Paula was born. In 1909, they moved to Bosestraße, and in 1914 to 29 Delitzscher Str. in Eutritzsch. Hugo Steiner-Prag had held a chair or professorship since 1910.
A special world exhibition took place in Leipzig in 1914—one that many women had long awaited: the Frauen-Bugra. At the World Exhibition for the Book Trade and Graphic Arts, held from May 6 to October 18, 1914, there was, for the first time, a dedicated House of Women. Many dedicated women from Leipzig and all over Germany had been involved in the preparations. Katharina Kippenberg, Claire Kirstein, and Elisabeth Wolff-Merck served on the board—and were involved in the design and execution of the Frauen-Bugra. Paula Steiner-Prag exhibited artistically designed book covers at the Women’s Bugra_—and was responsible for the entire interior design of Section V, Library Science | Libraries and Collections. The outbreak of World War I brought the World’s Fair to a much too early end. The _Women’s Bugra remained a one-time event. Unfortunately, there are no further records of Paula Steiner-Prag’s artistic activities.
With the onset of the Nazi era in 1933, Hugo Steiner-Prag was dismissed from his position at the College of Graphic Arts and Book Design; he emigrated to Prague with a much younger woman, and later on … all the way to America. In 1941, he filed for divorce.
Paula Steiner-Prag likely emigrated to Sweden with her son in 1933, while her daughter Helga went to Palestine. Little is known about Paula Steiner-Prag’s subsequent life in Sweden. No materials or photographs of her were archived or preserved. In 1964, Paula Steiner-Prag died in Stockholm and was buried at Skogskyrkogården Cemetery in Enskede, Stockholm.
NOTE: *) Due to the exhibition format, the biographical information above had to be abbreviated. Exhibition visitors have the opportunity to read an expanded version of the biographical information in the exhibition brochures available on site. The entire, very extensive project includes additional biographies, expanded content, and research … is in progress – also online…