Emma Kunz
Born in 1892.
Died in 1963.
Emma Kunz (1892–1963) is distinguished by her large-format geometric drawings on graph paper, executed in pencil, coloured pencil and wax crayon. The points and lines are determined with a pendulum—a method she began to use around 1933, before effectively taking up drawing around 1938.
Born in 1892, she practised healing and worked as a healer or medium from the age of 18, according to the documentary sources. Professionally, she worked as a hosiery worker in Strengelbach between 1912 and 1923, then served as governess and companion to the painter Jakob Friedrich Welti during the summers from 1923 to 1939. She settled in Waldstatt from 1951.
The chronology adopted in the dossier records the use of the pendulum from 1933, followed by the production of drawings from 1938: the process combines the initial determination of points and lines with a pendulum and their final execution on graph paper in pencil or crayon.
In terms of publications, she published a collection of poems entitled Leben in 1930 and brought out Neuartige Zeichnungsmethode (New Drawing Method) in 1953, a work setting out her ideas on painting.
According to the sources, her drawings were never exhibited during her lifetime; the first documented public presentation after her death took place at the Museum of Fine Arts of Aargau in Aarau in 1973. Years later, some of her works were presented at the 55th Venice Biennale in 2013.
The sources describe her as a practitioner of natural medicine, a researcher, draughtswoman and painter—designations that the dossier associates with her healing practice and her creative method, based on using a pendulum to generate geometric compositions.
