Zurek-Rübmann, Charlotte (Magdeburg 19-09-1910 –  17-10-1971 Worpswede)

Painter, illustrator, graphic artist and printmaker. Student of Maryan Zurek in Magdeburg who she later married.  Known graphically by two linoleum-cut prints: “Village view”  & “Tulips: (both dated 1931 and signed Ch. Rübmann….)

She married Marianus(Maryan)Josef Stanislaus Ambrosius Zurek, (Magdeburg 24-11-1889 – 20-09-1943 Worpswede) 

Painter, sculptor and teacher. Studied at Magdeburg “Kunstgewerbeschule” under prof. Hermann Knackfuß (1848-1915), in Switserland, Italy, Austria and in Kassel Academy Hans Olde (1855-1917) and Carl Wünnenberg (1850-1929).  Taught at Magdeburg “Volkshochschule”. Moved 1938 from Magdeburg to Worpswede. He is probably related to a “Steinbruch-betrieb” company Zurek near Magdeburg.  He died of a heart attack after having been interrogated by the Gestapo. 

Their 2 sons:

1) Sergius Zurek was  cabinet maker in Worpswede. His children Tatjana and Fedja. 

2) Nikolaj Zurek (born Magdeburg 1936): photographer. With his family moved to Worpswede in 1938. Studied at Bremen “Staatliche Kunstschule” and moved 1956 to San Francisco USA working as a photographer. 

She married 1946 author Gustav Schenk, who was installed by the allied forces as mayor of Worpswede after WW-II in 1945. The marriage ended in divorce in 1954.

In 1954 she married merchant Wilhelm Eilers who for many years had supported her and her first husband. They moved to Bremen and travelled extensively in Europe. 

She is mentioned in several books about Worpswede artists and is buried with her first husband, her son Sergius and grandson Fedja in Worpswede cemetery.  As an artist she preferred a life in obscurity but some 300 works by her are known and kept in private collections.   

Dresslers KHB 1930: Magdeburg Blücherstraße 3. Member VSMBA.