Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Happy Hiking



Today is National Start! Walking Day, the birds are singing, and it feels like spring.

The little hiker on this postcard was drawn by Berta Hummel. Hummel's drawing have been reproduced on postcards for many years.

From Wikipedia:
Berta Hummel was a famous German artist (May 21, 1909 - November 6, 1946). She was also known as nun Maria Innocentia Hummel. She is most famous for the artwork which became the Hummel figurines.

Born in Massing, Bavaria, she attended the Academy of Applied Arts in Munich in 1927 and entered the Franciscan Convent of Siessen in Bad Saulgau after she graduated in 1931. She spent her spare time painting pictures of children, which were made into popular postcards.

Soon afterward, Franz Goebel, the owner of a porcelain company, saw the artwork. The convent granted him permission to make figurines based on Hummel's art. The first collection came out in 1935 and was an instant hit.
The picture on this postcard reminds of the song I sang when I was a Girl Scout:
I'm Happy When I'm Hiking

Tramp, tramp, tramp, tramp, tramp, tramp, tramp,tramp.

I'm happy when I'm hiking, pack upon my back.
I'm happy when I'm hiking, off the beaten track.
Out in the open country, that's the place for me
With a true Scouting friend to the journeys end,
Ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty miles a day.

Tramp, tramp, tramp ...

I probably should go for a walk. The weather is too nice to stay inside all day.



2 comments:

  1. I have fond memories of the Hummel drawings and figurines from when I lived in Germany as a kid. I had no idea she died so young though.

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  2. The Hummel information is great, but what puts this post at the top of the charts is that hiking song. Bravo!

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