Vivi Bach
1939 Copenhagen - 2013 Ibiza
Vivienne “Vivi” Bach, real name Vivi Bak, was a Danish singer, actress, television presenter and writer who was also successful in German-speaking countries.
Vivi Bach's father was a baker. Even as a child, she was enthusiastic about singing and dancing; she performed in a jazz club as a high school student. After leaving school, she began training as a make-up artist, but dropped out and took singing and acting lessons. A first tour as a singer in a band followed.
In Copenhagen, she was engaged for smaller theater roles, which were well received by the press. Her first marriage was to the Viennese Heinz Sebeck. Bach got her first film role in 1956, which was soon followed by others. The young Danish actress also attracted attention in Germany; together with Hans-Joachim Kulenkampff, she appeared in her first German film in 1959. This was followed by mainly shallow music films in which she appeared alongside Peter Alexander, Rex Gildo, Bill Ramsey, Fred Bertelmann and Gus Backus, among others. She also appeared in several international films such as the Italian western The Last Two from Rio Bravo (Le pistole non discutono, 1964).
Bach's German singing career began in 1960 with a duet with Rex Gildo on Electrola; in the same year, however, she switched to Philips, who produced eleven records with her until 1964. Her most successful album was another duet, this time with Gerhard Wendland: the German version of the US hit "Hey Paula by Paul & Paula" was entitled "Hey Vivi - Hey Gerhard" and entered the German charts.
In 1963, Vivi Bach met the actor Dietmar Schönherr (1926-2014). The two married in 1965. She subsequently made two films with him: A Holiday Bed with 100 HP and Blonde Cargo for Zanzibar. She also appeared alongside Schönherr in the episode "Kampf um die Sonne" of the science fiction television series "Raumpatrouille" and in the episode "Die verschwundene Lady" of the television series "Polizeifunk ruft".
Together with him, Bach began a new career as a television presenter. With the television series Gala-Abend der Schallplatte and 24 episodes of the game show "Wünsch Dir was", an ORF-ZDF-SRG co-production from Vienna (1969-1972), the “Danish Bardot” became a television favorite throughout the German-speaking world. She also enjoyed success in 1969 alongside Luis Trenker and Toni Sailer in the entertainment series "Luftsprünge".
In 1976, she released her last record, a duet with Dietmar Schönherr: "Das Leben meint es gut mit Dänen und mit denen Dänen nahe stehen".
She then retired into private life.
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But - she then worked as a painter, designer (..as a designer, she won the German Designer Award in 1978), illustrator and author of children's books and supported Schönherr in his social commitments.
From 1990, she initially lived with him in the small Swiss town of Kaiserstuhl (Canton Aargau). In 2005, the couple moved to Santa Eulària on Ibiza. Vivi Bach died there at the age of 73. In accordance with Dietmar Schönherr's last wishes, who died in 2014, his ashes were scattered in the Mediterranean together with those of his two wives.
Vivi Bach and Dietmar Schönherr's cinematic and partly private estate was donated by the couple's heir to the WaRis - Tiroler Filmarchiv. The heir also decided to auction off the Bach-Schönherr couple's private collection of paintings for the benefit of the cultural project founded by Dietmar Schönherr, the “Casa de los Tres Mundos” in Nicaragua. The collection was viewed and cataloged in collaboration with the artist Wolfgang Hunecke, a companion of Schönherr's in Nicaragua. Among them were works of art by Vivi Bach, Arik Brauer, Gottfried Helnwein, Rudolf Hausner, Tomi Ungerer and Friedensreich Hundertwasser.
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Mixed-media, by hand over print on wood (serial unique artwork)
Signed & numbered
Verso - signed, numbered & inscribed
Comes with the illustrated book: "Ein Kind aus Kopenhagen / Vivi Bach"
Artist's Atelier Frame
Size 33 x 33 cm
Provenance | Artist's Atelier, Gallery Germany, Private Collection Germany, Private Collection Denmark
Differential taxation according to § 25a UStG. No taxes included. | Differenzbesteuerung nach § 25a UStG. Kunstgegenstände und Sammlungsstücke, Sonderregelung.
