Scholarship Ruth Baumgarte

The Ruth Baumgarte Art Foundation awards a doctoral research scholarship at irregular intervals to outstanding scholars in the field of art history. The scholarship is dedicated to the multifaceted oeuvre of the artist Ruth Baumgarte and seeks to promote research that situates her work within the broader context of German, European, and global art, literary, and media history from 1940 onwards.

 

Ruth Baumgarte (1923–2013) was one of the most remarkable artistic personalities of the twentieth century. During an era marked by profound political, social, and cultural upheaval, she created an extensive figurative body of work spanning more than seven decades, from her earliest drawings of the 1940s to the monumental paintings, watercolours, and drawings of her Africa Cycle, produced between 1984 and 2004. Since 2022, the three-volume Catalogue Raisonné Ruth Baumgarte has been available, documenting more than 3,300 works. In addition to the catalogue raisonné of her autonomous artistic oeuvre, a comprehensive catalogue of her work as an illustrator has also been published. Most recently, her works were exhibited at the Albertina in Vienna.

The Ruth Baumgarte Art Foundation holds the world's most comprehensive collection of works by Ruth Baumgarte and is responsible for preserving her written and photographic estate. The Foundation also maintains an extensive research library comprising press coverage, documentation on the exhibition history of her work, exhibition catalogues, and numerous publications relating to Ruth Baumgarte and her artistic milieu.

The doctoral scholarship is intended for highly qualified early-career researchers in the field of art history.

Eligible dissertation projects may address a broad range of art-historical topics, including global portraiture of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, watercolour painting, the relationship between illustration and autonomous artistic practice, interdisciplinary research at the intersection of literature and the visual arts, or the positioning of Ruth Baumgarte's oeuvre within the global context of feminist and figurative art since 1945.

The scholarship is awarded for a period of up to two years and provides a monthly stipend of €1,500. In justified cases, it is possible to apply for an extension of up to twelve additional months before the end of the second funding year. Residence in Bielefeld is not required. However, scholarship holders are expected to conduct research on the original works and archival materials preserved by the Foundation. Applicants must be affiliated with a chair of art history at a renowned university or with a recognised art-historical research institute.

Applications for the doctoral scholarship must include the following documents:

  • Letter of motivation (maximum 2 pages)
  • Curriculum vitae in tabular form
  • Copies of university degree certificate(s)
  • List of publications, including writing samples (PDF links)
  • Research proposal outlining the planned two-year project on Ruth Baumgarte (3–5 pages; approximately 7,000–10,000 characters including spaces)
  • Timetable and work plan, including anticipated research visits to archives, libraries, and museums (maximum 2 pages)
  • Detailed budget (estimated where necessary) for expected travel and research expenses
  • Project summary (maximum 1,000 characters)

Applications will be evaluated by an expert selection committee.

Please submit your application as a single PDF file (maximum 5 MB) by email to: stiftung@ruth-baumgarte.com

All applicants will receive an acknowledgement of receipt once their application has been processed.

For further information about the work of Ruth Baumgarte, please contact the Ruth Baumgarte Art Foundation directly or consult the extensive resources available on this website.

Contact

Dr. Wiebke Steinmetz
Director
Telephone: +49 (0)521 560 31 28

Ruth Baumgarte Art Foundation
Niederwall 10
33602 Bielefeld
Germany