Background
Wolfthorn was born in Toruń (Thorn) in the Prussian Province of Prussia.
Wolfthorn was born in Toruń (Thorn) in the Prussian Province of Prussia.
In 1890, she studied in Curt Herrmann"s Drawing and Painting School for ladies. After she finished her studies in Paris, Wolfthorn returned to Berlin.
Born as Julie Wolf(f) to a middle-class Jewish family, she later styled herself as Julie Wolfthorn after her city of birth Toruń. Since German art academies would not permit women, she traveled to Paris to study at the Académie Colarossi and Académie Julian, where she gained much of the skills needed to become successful. In 1905, Julie Wolfthorn and over 200 female artists signed a petition to be allowed to join the Prussian Academy of Arts, which was ultimately rejected by the academy director Anton von Werner.
With Käthe Kollwitz, she founded the exhibition cooperation "Verbindung Bildender Künstlerinnen".
The two women are elected to directors of the "Secession" in 1912, but she and Fanny Remak are removed in 1933. Julie Wolfthorn stayed in Berlin, working with the "Kulturbund Deutscher Juden" (Cultural Association of German Jews) under pressure from the Nazis, which declared it illegal in 1941, arresting the members and seizing the possessions.
Wolfthorn is said to have continued drawing, as far as possible under the circumstances, until her death on December 26, 1944. Breuer, Gerda.