Jim Nolan's Blog

Tali Paul, Painter

My grandfather Bengt's twin sisters, Tali and Hedda, were both artists (as was his brother, Holger). They were raised in Berlin, and were the daughters of Adolf Paul, a Swedish playwright, and Natalie Brehmer Paul.

This week I received a note from someone who actually met Tali, Pia Clark. Pia's aunt and uncle were neighbors of Tali's in Lidingö, a suburb of Stockholm. They lived on Frimurarevägen. 

Pia sent me a portrait of her grandmother, Carolina Elizabeth Liljedahl, that Tali drew. Usually, her paintings are thick with oil, but this one had a lighter feeling and was similar to a portrait Tali did of my mother, Christa Paul. I think they are both excellent. Here they are:

Carolina Elizabeth Liljedahl

Christa Paul Nolan

I never met Tali, but I did meet Hedda, who painted my portrait in 1975 in Rappestad, a little village outside Linköping. 

I ask Pia if she knew anything about Tali, and she reported back:

"The place they lived is called Bosön. They lived on the hill right by the water. The house had been converted into three apartments. My Uncle and Aunt lived in one, my Aunt’s brother lived in one and Tali lived in the third one.

 

"I was born in Sweden and I remember going there for parties. The grounds were so nice and then there was the water. This is where my Grandmother met her and Tali wanted to draw her. 

 

"I talked to my cousin (in Sweden) who also remembered Tali. She had a moped that she always rode around on and wore a leather cap with ear flaps. When I said she was bohemian, it was to say she was a little strange (eccentric)."

 

My cousin Veronica has written that Tali did not want to part with her best paintings, and was thus often at a loss for money. Hedda learned to teach art, and made a good living. I believe she lived in Säffle, after leaving Berlin in the 1930s. Natalie, her mother, joined her there after the war. Adolf died in 1943. 

 

I will try and find a photo of Tali. And I'll post some more of her incredible artwork. Also Hedda's. 

 

Photo of Playwright Adolf Paul

Adolf and Natalie Paul's grandkids from their son Bengt (a.k.a. my grandather Benekiki) and daughter-in-law Hildegard Koenig. From left, Birgit Stolt, Heye Paul, Adolf, and Christa Nolan (a.k.a. my mom). Later in life Adolf's eyes became sensitive to the sun; that's why they're closed. I'm guessing this shot is from around 1939. He died in 1943.

MS Kungsholm Postcard

 

A postcard from my mother, Christa Paul, to her grandmother Natalie Paul. Mom and Dad had just returned to America via the MS Kungsholm after their wedding in Stockholm. Natalie had moved from Berlin to Säffle, Sweden. I wonder if she had the bust with her. Her husband Adolf had been dead since 1943 and the money was gone, too. The card reads, "Dear Grandmother and Aunt Hedda, heartfelt greetings after a rather stormy crossing. All is well. Love, Christa." If you look closely after Mom's signature, you'll see a plus sign. She had meant Dad to sign the card as well, but he forgot. 

Cabinet Cards: Heinrich & Wilhelmine Behn Brehmer

The grandparents of Natalie Brehmer Paul. Heinrich (1800-1872) was a Senator and Bürgermeister in Lübeck, Germany. My great-great-great grandparents. That's pretty great.

Natalie Paul, "Tali"

My maternal great-grandmother, Natalie Paul, or "Tali" for short. The back of the photograph says "Okt. 19," which either means October 1919 or October 19th, her birthday in 1878. The marble bust was made by sculptor John Münsterhjelm in 1906 in Berlin, where Natalie and her playwright husband Adolf Paul lived. He was Swedish; she was German, born to a wealthy Lubeck family, the Brehmers. Adolf hung out with Jean Sibelius, August Strindberg and Edvard Munch, and spent all her money. Maybe that's why the bust looks wistful.

German Photo, 1905

My grandfather Bengt Paul, with his sisters Hedda and Tali, "the twins." They would both grow up to be painters. Bengt was a journalist. I believe the woman behind them was their mother, Natalie.

Three Sisters, 1915

 

In the middle, Editha Koenig, married Von Moers; left, Käthe Koenig, married Riefenstahl; and right, the youngest, my grandmother Hildegard Koenig Paul, born November 20, 1899. Hildegard became a journalist and I have her old Erika typewriter. Below is an audio essay I wrote about it.

Click here to hear Three Typewriters

John Münsterhjelm's John Hancock

Located on the side of Natalie Paul's bust. Would've been faster to simply use a Sharpie.

 

 

Busted Part III

Finnish sculptor John Münsterhjelm (1879-1925) in his studio. He lived in Germany from 1902-1911, according to Wikipedia. If you look behind him, you'll see the bust of Adolf Paul featured in the previous post.

Busted, Part II

My maternal great-grandfather, Adolf Paul. Adolf wrote plays and stories, none of which are well known today. His Wikipedia page is a stub, and it gets his birthplace wrong. He was not born in Bromma, Sweden, but Bromö, an island in Lake Vänern. The family moved from there to a 70,000-acre estate called Jokkis in what was then Sweden and is now Finland. It had a 20-kilometer railway. They just lived there; they didn't own it. Family legend says it was lost by the guy who did own it to pay a gambling debt. Adolf's birth name (January 6, 1863) was Georg Wiedersheim-Paul, but he changed it to Adolf Paul to annoy his mother and father. He died September 30, 1943 in Berlin. My mother says "I was in Sweden and remember my father writing to me with the news on very thick, black-rimmed stationary."

Adolf's bust, also sculpted by John Münsterhjelm in 1906, sits in storage in the National Museum of Finland.