Bettina Heinen-Ayech, Erwin Bowien, and Amud Uwe Millies: Solingen meets Churfranken

In the early 1920s, Erna Heinen-Steinhoff (1898–1969), an educated and emancipated woman, and her husband, the poet and journalist Hanns Heinen (1895–1961), established a cultural and literary salon in Solingen, modelled on those of the 19th century. They gave their homes the memorable names “Red House” and “Black House”. The “Black House” attracted famous figures such as the Nobel Prize winners for literature, Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941) from India and Sigrid Undset (1882–1949) from Norway. Towards the end of the decade, the Heinens met the painter Erwin Bowien (1899–1972). He introduced a community of painters to the salon.  Alongside the artists Bettina Heinen-Ayech (1937–2020) and Amud Uwe Millies (1932–2008), Bowien formed the “painting triumvirate” of Solingen, reviving the traditional ideal of landscape painting. Contrary to the contemporary art trend towards abstraction, they painted representational works and considered themselves to be in the tradition of classical plein air painting and the great artist colonies of the turn of the century. Their idiosyncratic artistic work soon attracted attention and acclaim—they created unique portraits, landscapes and cityscapes. They always painted on location to fully capture what they saw, immediately capturing the light and atmosphere. Heinen-Ayech, Bowien, and Millies were the three most important artists of the historic Solingen Artists’ Colony, also known as the “Black House”. As important plein air painters in the second half of the 20th century, they travelled the world with their expressive works.