Gertrud Kauders, Jewish Artist from Prague (1883-1942):
Surprises, Enigmas, Opportunities
Presentation by Simon During, Brisbane (Australia)
December 4, 2024 @ 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
| FreeWhile workmen were demolishing a house on Prague’s outskirts in July 2018 they were astonished to be deluged by works of art falling from a ceiling. Nobody knew the works had been hidden there. The art turned out to be that of Gertrud Kauders who had hidden them in the house of a friend before being deported to Theresienstadt and then to Majdanek where she was murdered on arrival in May 1942. Kauders was a serious and inventive artist, quite well known in Prague’s art world of the time. She worked in oils, pencil, crayon, watercolour and gouache. Now her work is held by museums around the world.
Image above: Gertrud Kauders © Kauders Family Estate
Gertrud came from an affluent secular German-speaking Prague Jewish family. Aged 21 she was given sufficient capital to live on for the rest of her life. She went to art school in Paris and Munich, and produced both works on paper and on canvas, at first mainly for her own and her family’s sake it seems. These works reflect a way of life. But in the mid-1920s money became tight as a result of Germany’s hyperinflation. At that time she became more involved in the art world, participating in several prestigious exhibitions, including those of the Prague Secession. In one such exhibition (the 1926 Concordia show), a respected critic of the time singled out her works on paper as the best pieces on display.
Simon During’s presentation tells the story of Kauders’ art, its recovery and distribution both to museums and the family. It goes on to think about what Kauders’ art means to us today.
Simon During, born in Wellington NZ in 1950, is Gertrud Kauders’s great nephew who played a key role in retrieving her work. He is a professor of English Literature who has worked in universities around the world, including the University of Melbourne, UC Berkeley, Johns Hopkins and the Freie Universität, Berlin. He currently spends his time between Brisbane Australia and Berlin. His most recent book (co-written with Amanda Anderson), Humanities Theory will appear soon with Oxford University Press.
Gertrud Kauders, Self-portrait in red beret. Watercolor and ink on paper, 60 x 39 cm. Miriam Kauders estate © Kauders Family Estate
Gertrud Kauders, Portrait of a woman in summer dress. Graphite, watercolour and ink on paper, 32,5 x 47,0 cm. Jewish Museum New York © Kauders Family Estate
Gertrud Kauders, Nude on red chair. Graphite, watercolour and ink on paper, 51 x 36 cm. Collection Simon During © Kauders Family Estate
Today, works by Gertrud Kauders are in the collections of The Jewish Museum of Prague, the Jewish Museum in New York, the Museum of New Zealand and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC.
Only the last two institutions have made their collections digitally available (USHMM has not yet added photos of the artwork):
This event is part of the online series “Flight or Fight. stories of artists under repression.”
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