Tabea Blumenschein

Biography

Tabea Blumenschein (11 August 1952 – 29 February 2020) was a German painter, actress, film director, screenwriter, costume/set designer and musician. Largely known for her acting, and starring roles in films by Ulrike Ottinger, Blumenschein was a multidisciplinary artist, who later in life focused her art on physical media and drawing.

Blumenschein was born in Rietheim, Germany. She studied art at Kunstschule Konstanz (1968–1972) and moved to Berlin in 1973. She then starred in 5 films by Ulrike Ottinger, and rose to fame in the West Berlin art scene in the 1970's, before retreating from public view in the 1980's.

Blumenschein spent most of her life making art; realising stage and film designs, creating fashion drawings, illustrations and taking photographs. In 1979, She designed the collection "Big Birds" for Berlin Knitweardesigner Claudia Skoda which was presented at Berlin Kongresshalle. She was awarded the Deutscher Filmpreis in Gold 1981 for her set design for the film Looping.

In the 1980's Blumenschein collaborated with the performance art and music group Die Tödliche Doris and recorded with Gudrun Gut, Bettina Koester, Frieder Butzmann, and with Die Dominas. She additionally did costume design for the groups performance costumes.