Maria Innocentia Hummel and Her Postcards


Berta Hummel (1909-1946) was already a very prospective and locally relatively established artist when she entered the convent. At first, she was teaching art run by the Congregation of the Franciscan Sisters of Siessen when a few of the sisters noticed her talent and sent some of her drawings to the publishing house in Stuttgart. The publisher was specialized in religious art and wanted to use Hummel's illustrations for postcards.

Berta Hummel was not very enthusiastic about any kind of commercial use of her work but eventually agreed not only to allow the publishing of her creations but to make more pictures including ones with more specific thematic drawings appropriate for special occasions like Easter or Christmas.

Her publisher decided to use Hummel's drawings in a book titled Das Hummel-Buch (Hummel's Book) which came to the attention of Franz Goebel, the owner of a porcelain company. Figurines made after Hummel's postcards were a huge success when displayed at the Trade Fair in Leipzig. They became a huge hit in the USA and when World War 2 caused the end of supply from Germany the distributor Dr. Herbert Dubler (Ars Sacra) organized production of figurines in the USA.

Although they were made of chalkware instead of porcelain which made them inferior in quality, they are also popular among collectors just like the original Hummel figurines. Anyway, we'll focus on postcards only.


Flowers were among Berta Hummel's most favorite subjects and this didn't change after her change of name.

It's hard to say when Hummel made a picture with very limited use of colors like the one with only green colors above due to lack of materials, demands from the publisher, or on her own whim.

Sister Maria Innocentia Hummel created hundreds of picture postcards with flowers but she used them mostly as a part of the scenery, often in pretty active roles.

The card with a daisy above is not the only one with this kind of flower. She used the same element several times, as we can see in Hummel's collection of Valentine's cards. Nice examples of cards related to specific dates, events, and so on, are congratulations cards, birthday cards, and best wishes cards.

Some cards were useful for different occasions. The Good Luck card with a heart above, for instance, looks pretty cool for Valentine's as well.

We should also mention a small niche with postcards inspired by Grimm's Fairy Fales.

But most of all, Sister Hummel's cards were dominated by children in all kinds of situations which you will enjoy later when I add them.