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This collection counts 11 from 12 prints that became known to this day. The snowy tree print has a different seal: I.K. and may well be a work from the period before her marriage with Hugo Amberg. All other prints are sealed IKA. It was found in Hamburg and is showing one of the small ponds of the Alster basin.
This example of a large spring bouquet was send to me by an American collector. Another copy was never seen. The same goes for the winter Alster print which is probably extremely rare.
Amberg-Koch, Ilse (Amberg 2-07-1869 – 1934 prob. Hamburg)
Painter, printmaker and arts & crafts artist. Daughter of Rudolph Koch (1834-1885), painter and graphic artist in Hamburg. Her brother Walter Koch (1875-1915) was a landscape painter and well-known poster designer in Hamburg. Her grandfather was Johann Heinrich Koch “Stickmusterzeichner” in Hamburg married to Ida Evers.
Exhibited 1927 in Alexander Hasse’s Gallery in Leeds (Gr.Br.) with Urushibara, Frank Brangwyn, Engelbert Lap, John Hall-Thorpe, Martin Erich Philipp and Helene Mass.
Her uncle was Paul Koch (1845-1886), sculptor and “Kunstgewerbemuseum” inspector in Nürnberg, married to Louise Stumpf. Their son, Ilse’s nephew, was Rudolf Koch (1876-1934) an important calligraphic and typographic artist in Offenbach am Main and was married to Rosa Koch (1872-1946) daughter. of Adolph Wilhelm Koch, “Kupferdrucker” in Leipzig and Clara Klemm.
Ilse married painter, graphic artist and printmaker Hugo Amberg (11-10 1872 - 1943 Osnabrück). Mainly self-taught and student at the “Kunstgewerbeschule Hamburg”. She worked in Hamburg, possibly in the circle of Käthe Kollwitz (1867-1945) and Lovis Corinth (1858-1925) etc. Her prints were published by “Wohlgemuth & Lissner” (Berlin), mostly flower bouquets in vases. Not mentioned in any artists lexicon or in “Deutsche Biographien”.
Koch, Rudolf Wilhelm (Hamburg 11-01-1834 – 08-01-1885 Ottensen near Altona/Hamburg)
Landscape and architectural painter. Started his studies in Hamburg aged 15 with Günther Gensler (1803-1884) and from 1849 in Berlin in the studios of Leopold Knebel (1810-1854) and August von Kloeber (1793-1864). He returned to Hamburg 1851/52 studying again under Günther Gensler and his brother Martin Gensler (1811-1881). 1852/53 studied in Düsseldorf “Kunstakademie” under landscape painter Johann Wilhelm Schirmer (1807-1863). He returned to Hamburg and followed a career as a landscape painter and was a member of “Hamburger Künstlerverein von 1832”. Father of Swiss poster artist Walter Koch and printmaker Ilse Koch Amberg.
Koch, Walther (Walter) (Ottensen near Altona/Hamburg 14-04-1875 - 30-06-1915 Zürich).
Painter, sculptor, poster designer (“Plakatkünstler”), arts & crafts and graphic artist. Son of artist Rudolf Wilhelm Koch, brother of printmaker Ilse Koch-Amberg. Studied in Hamburg “Kunstgewerbeschule” and 1893-96 under sculptor Johann Boese (1856-1917) but eventually dedicated himself to the arts & crafts (“Kunstwerk”). A pulmonary disease made him immigrate in 1898 to Davos where he became a Swiss arts & crafts advocate. He designed many iconic Swiss tourist posters. His views on the Alpine world of province Graubünden are influenced by Ferdinand Hodler (1853-1918) and Emil Cardinaux (1877-1936). In 1914 he was awarded the “Große Ausstellungspreis” for his design of the pavilion for the “Davos Kurwesen” in the Bern “Landesausstellung”.