Biography
Germaine Mauriaucourt Degenhardt was born in Vancouver, BC, Canada, in 1932, the daughter of a French father and an English mother. She traveled extensively with her parents throughout her childhood. Degenhardt attended Edmond's Street School and Burnaby South High before enrolling at the Vancouver School of Art. After spending two years at that school, she traveled to Paris where she worked as a textile designer. During this period she attended classes in engraving at the Ecole des Beaux Arts and in drawing at the Atelier de la Grande Chaumiere.
After returning to Vancouver, Degenhardt became a printmaker. She learned silkscreen printing at tonge and ellam. In 1955 Degenhardt spent a summer at Skidegate, Queen Charlotte Islands, where she was inspired by the culture of the Northwest coast Indians. In her personal statement in an exhibit catalog published in 1995, Degenhardt noted that while in Sidegate she was "adopted in the the Moody family (Haida carvers) and into the Raven and Wolf clans." She also received a Haida name, Kildago Jats, meaning "woman of the mountains." It is reported that Degenhardt passed away ca. 2001.
Degenhardt was particularly well known for her silkscreen prints featuring imagery of the Northwest coast Haida Indians. Her works were widely exhibited in Canada and the United States.
The print by Degenhardt in the Fine Arts Collection was donated to Luther College by former President and Mrs. Elwin Farwell in 1983 and is part of the Elwin and Helen Farwell Collection.
Source of Biography
Brackendale Art Gallery exhibition catalog, Brackendale, B.C., 1984;
Images and Objects XIII. Kamloops, B.C.: Assembly of BC Arts Councils, May 24-28, 1995