1989 "Little Companions"
"Apple Tree Little Boy And Girl"
Price: $210.00
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The History Of Goebel, Hummel Figurines
- The Goebel Co., founded in 1871, introduced the first Goebel porcelain figurines in 1890. And the Leipzig Fair, a major international trade show in 1935, saw the Goebel introduction of M.I. Hummel figurines.
Franz Detleff Goebel and his son, William, founded the Goebel Co. in 1871. Originally, the company made marbles, slates and slate pencils until the Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha authorized the use of a kiln 8 years later. In 1890, the first Goebel porcelain figurines were introduced.
By 1933, there was an extensive line of figurines. As an enterprising businessman, however, Franz Goebel, the fourth-generation family member to head the company, was always on the lookout for promising new artists. It was this quest that took him to Munich to visit various gift shops, looking for inspiration. In one that specialized in religious art, a display of art cards caught his eye. They were simple and touching in their innocence. It struck him that these sketches would be the perfect basis for a new line of figurines.
The artist was Sister Maria Innocentia Hummel, a member of the Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis, at the Convent of Siessen. In 1934, Franz Goebel wrote a letter to her proposing that Goebel artists translate her two-dimensional drawings into three-dimensional figurines.
At first she hesitated, but Franz Goebel persisted. He arranged a meeting at the Convent with Sister Maria Innocentia Hummel and the Mother Superior. He assured them that the figurines would be true to her artwork and that they would be handcrafted to meet the highest quality standards. He gave her and the Convent of Siessen final artistic control. In fact, he stated that once she approved figurines, her signature would be incised on the based of each piece. Under these conditions, Sister M. I. Hummel and the Mother Superior agreed to Goebel's manufacture of M. I. Hummel figurines.
The introduction of M.I. Hummel figurines in 1935 at the Leipzig Fair, a major international trade show, was a tremendous success.
During World War II, severe hardships were inflicted upon the convent. It was then that Sister Maria Innocentia became ill with respiratory problems. Although she continued to draw as much as she could, her condition worsened and in 1946 she died at the age of 37.
The overwhelming interest of American GIs in M.I. Hummel figurines, once again being produced following wartime curtailment, served to bolster Goebel's postwar recovery and to foster appreciation for these now-famous originals.
The two master sculptors responsible for the first M.I. Hummel figurines, Arthur Moeller and Reinhold Unger, soon added to their ranks other young sculptors, namely Gerhard Skrobek and Helmut Fischer.
In 1971, to mark its 100th birthday, Goebel entered the collectors' plate market with the introduction of the first edition of the M.I. Hummel annual plate.
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