Who was Ri Meuser of Eschmar?
I am Tommy, the son of Ri Meuser von Eschmar. For many, my mother was an extraordinary artist – for me, she was also a woman full of passion, courage, and imagination who dedicated her life to art.
Born in Darmstadt, she first studied stage design and later art in Aachen. Her path took her even further – to the USA and Switzerland, where she studied philosophy. However, for many years her true home became Troisdorf, where she moved in 1964 with my father, my brother, and me.
The first few years were not easy. I still vividly remember discussions at the kitchen table: "Do we buy potatoes, socks – or would we rather have canvases and paints?" Often, the money was not enough for everything. But my mother would not be stopped. She even went to the landfill site of the Troisdorf company Dynamit Nobel AG to look for materials she could use. This led to the story of her unique technique, mono sgraffito – a method in which she applied, removed, and reshaped pigments, gold dust, and paints layer by layer until images of incredible luminosity and transparency emerged.
I have always been particularly fascinated by her signature. It was more than a name – it was a symbol she developed through her travels:
- the harp of Apollo,
- the inner eye that senses when something is wrong,
- and the eternal light with the three candles.
Her paintings were never just beautiful. They were full of symbols, mythical creatures, and messages. The fish appeared time and again, as a symbol of purity and immortality. The gold stood for splendor and life. And everywhere, one could feel her belief that nature, humanity, and imagination are inextricably linked.
As early as the late 60s, she organized the city’s first art exhibition – in a primary school. From this small spark grew a flame that soon lured art enthusiasts from Cologne and Bonn to Troisdorf. Her works were exhibited over 350 times, including at the Bonn Art Museum, Harrods Gallery London, the Galleria del Arte Florence, and the Gallery Müller-Zilch in San Francisco.
But she was not only an artist, but also a teacher and mentor. With the Troisdorf Art School, which she founded in our building, she gave children, teenagers, and adults the courage to become creative themselves. For her, art was not an elitist affair – but a gateway to freedom. The world was her studio.
She traveled to Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, India, China, Afghanistan, Mongolia, and beyond. She went deep-sea fishing in Greenland, where her first Space Art paintings were also created – inspired by the infinite expanse of the sky and the clear Nordic lights. She took part in the excavation of Etruscan tombs and even lived for a time with shamans on the US West Coast to study their understanding of nature. Everything she experienced flowed back into her paintings – as colors, shapes, symbols, and stories.
For all of this, she has received numerous awards, including the Rubens Medal, the Dr. Siebenpfeiffer Medal, the Golden Oscar in France, the Ordre International des Chevaliers de L’Etoile de la Paix, and many other honors.