Was sculptor Gerda Frömel too subtle for success?
The nuanced, neglected work of the Czech-born artist, who made her home in Ireland, gets an outing in an Imma retrospective
Sculptures by Gerda Frömel, clockwise from bottom left: Animal (1963), courtesy the artist’s estate; Moon and Hill (1971), courtesy Imma collection; Spear (1973), courtesy Imma collection; Eve (1974), courtesy the artist’s estate; and Head (circa 1967), private collection
Gerda Frömel working in her home, New House, in Woodtown Park, Rathfarnham in 1963. Courtesy Trinity College Dublin art collections
There’s often an element of hype involved when an artist is described as “long-neglected” or “rediscovered”, but both terms are entirely justified in relation to Gerda Frömel. The Czech-born sculptor, who studied in Germany and spent virtually her entire artistic career in Ireland, won an enthusiastic critical and public following during her lifetime, but was largely forgotten after her untimely death in 1975. She was only 44 when she drowned in a swimming accident while on holiday in the west of Ireland.