Willy TER HELL
Wilhelm Reemt ter Hell, known as Willy ter Hell, was born on December 2, 1883 in Norden and died on July 1, 1947 in Hofgeismar. He was a German landscape painter, draughtsman and graphic artist. Ter Hell grew up as the seventh of nine children of the auctioneer Jan ter Hell and his wife Aleida Harmina, née Meyer. The family originally came from Dreibergen in Ammerland and had immigrated to East Frisia. Both parents were devout Lutherans, and his mother taught her children the art of drawing at an early age.
Willy ter Hell attended the Ulrichsgymnasium in Norden and graduated with the Abitur. Although he originally wanted to study art, financial difficulties prevented him from doing so. Instead, he began an apprenticeship as a theater painter in Berlin in 1901. After three years, he was able to transfer to the Berlin Academy of Arts as a student of Professor Harder, where he worked intensively on panoramas and dioramas. Due to his father’s illness, however, ter Hell had to finance his stay in Berlin in other ways and worked as a paid assistant to Harder. He also attended evening classes at the Berlin Museum of Decorative Arts.
In 1906, on the advice of friends, ter Hell submitted three of his works for the Great Berlin Art Exhibition, which were accepted. This strengthened his resolve to work as a painter. In the same year, he moved to Dresden to study under Eugen Bracht. Despite initial skepticism on Bracht’s part, ter Hell was given the freedom to develop his own style. He received several awards, including the Grand Silver Medal and the Grand Gold Medal at student exhibitions.
After a successful period in Dresden, ter Hell moved back to Berlin, where he met and married Margarete Starck in 1912. In 1920, their only daughter Ina was born, who later also became a painter. Ter Hell’s work won several awards and he was represented at important exhibitions, including the International Art Exhibition in Munich and the 1915 World’s Fair in San Francisco.
Willy ter Hell was a member of the Märkischer Künstlerbund and took part in the painting of the Brandenburghalle in Schöneberg town hall. He served as a front-line soldier during the First World War, but was able to remain active as an artist. After the war, he undertook numerous study trips and specialized in the depiction of low mountain ranges.
On 1 April 1933, ter Hell joined the NSDAP and was a recognized artist in National Socialist Germany in the following years. He was an honorary member of the Reich Chamber of Culture and exhibited at several major German art exhibitions. Many of his works were acquired by prominent National Socialists. In 1943, his Berlin studio was destroyed and most of his works were lost. He then moved to Turek and finally to Hofgeismar, where he died of pneumonia in 1947.
Ter Hell always remained close to his East Frisian homeland. He regularly read the Norder Ostfriesischer Kurier and was a member of the Ostfriesenverein in Berlin. It was not until 2008 that an exhibition of his works was realized in the Norden Museum of Local History, which showed around sixty of his works.