Biography

20.10.1911

Gerd Grimm was born in Karlsruhe Germany. His father was an engineer, his mother was a housewife and he remained an only child.
In the upper secondary school, participation in voluntary drawing lessons.

1929-1931

Visit to the Badische Landeskunstschule, Karlsruhe. Pupil of the professors Wilhelm Schnarrenberger (graphic designer and illustrator) and Karl Hubbuch (painter).

1931-1932

School of Applied Arts Nuremberg

since 1932

Master student at the United State Schools of Fine and Applied Arts in Berlin with the leading commercial artist O. H. W. Hadank.

around 1935

Successful entry into an existence as an illustrator. First commissioned work for various journal and book publishers.

1936/1938

Longer travels to Paris and London with his future wife Hildegarde van Gülick. The journeys helped the son of a Jewish mother to escape the increasingly difficult conditions in Germany.

1940

Conscription for military service.

1941

Grimm is released from the Wehrmacht as a "Half-Jew". He succeeds in retaining the Wehrmacht passport and thus he can move relatively untroubled.

1941-1945

Weekly trips between Berlin and Freiburg, the residence of his parents.

1946

He marries his partner Hildegarde van Gülick, a fashion designer. Relocation from Berlin to Freiburg. Orders for advertising and illustration. Numerous cover pictures and illustrations for the magazine Die Frau.

1950/51

Longer stay in New York. Illustrations for New York journals. After about half a year return to Freiburg.

1952

Birth of the son who is born handicapped. Hilde van Gülick gives up drawing for the most part and takes care of his son.

1950s

Fashion illustration. Book covers for Fischer Verlag and Bürger's paperbacks.

1959-1982

Concept and illustration of the advertising campaign for the cigarette brand Reval of the Badische Tabakmanufaktur in Lahr.

around 1960

Grimm begins with annual, wide and extensive journeys on which he draws regularly.

1961

The first Faller calendar is published: The folding box manufacturer Faller from Waldkirch commissions Grimm to produce a tear-off calendar with six sheets each until his death. The motifs are usually young women who become very popular as "Grimm's Girls" (Grimms Mädchen).

1960s/1970s

Book covers mainly for the Deutscher Bücherbund and Fischer Verlag.

1972

The last large serie of fashion drawings on ski wear is created.

after 1970

Grimm is concentrating more and more on presenting young models in fashionable but everyday clothes. The drawings based on the living model are used for both his reval campaign and the Faller calendars.

28.05.1998

Gerd Grimm dies in Freiburg.

2001

The last Faller Calendar with "Grimms Mädchen" (Grimm's Girls) appears.t


© 2008 up to now by Grimm Foundation