Jewish Emigré Artists, from Albers to Hesse
Presentations by Ori Z. Soltes
Online Roundtable by the 92nd Street Y in three parts
March 13, 2026 @ 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm
| $138.00This class with acclaimed professor Ori Z. Soltes will consider the lives of eight major Jewish artists of the 20th century, and will discuss their experiences migrating under duress just before, during, or after the Holocaust. From Fritz Ascher to Anni Albers to Eva Hesse, we’ll learn about how these great artists fled, adapted, and survived through the 20th century and went on to create powerful works of art that we still recognize today.
Session 1: March 13
Immigration and Art from One Generation to Another
We’ll begin with brief discussions of Ben Shahn and Raphael Soyer, then focus primarily on Fritz Ascher and Rudi Lesser, before concluding with Michael Iofin and David Stern. By examining immigration patterns from the beginning and end of the twentieth century, we will explore the unique circumstances of Jewish artist migration during the Holocaust era, considering how different contexts in Russia, Germany, and America shaped these artists’ experiences.
Session 2: March 20
Finding Artistic Success after Migration
This session explores four artists—Anni Albers, Arthur Szyk, Samson Schames, and Friedel Dzubas—who were forced to migrate from Germany to America following the Nazi rise to power in 1933. Each artist experienced migration, exile, and artistic transformation differently, and each found success through a unique creative trajectory.
Session 3: March 27
Eva Hesse and Lily Renee: Indomitable Talent
Lily Renee and Eva Hesse both fled Nazi persecution through the Kindertransport program—Renee from Vienna and Hesse from Hamburg. Lily arrived in New York City as a teenager and became a pioneering figure in the male-dominated comic book industry. Eva, shepherded by her five-year-old sister Helen on the last Kindertransport train to Holland at just two years old, eventually reunited with her parents and came to New York City. As a teenager, Eva was recognized by Seventeen Magazine as an accomplished artist.
Ori Z. Soltes teaches art history, theology, philosophy and political history at Georgetown University. He is the former Director of the B’nai B’rith Klutznick National Jewish Museum, and has curated more than 90 exhibitions on history, ethnography and modern and contemporary art there and in other venues across the country and overseas. He is also the author or editor of 31 books and several hundred articles, exhibition catalogues, and essays on a variety of topics. Recent art-related books include Fixing the World: Jewish American Painters in the Twentieth Century; The Ashen Rainbow: Essays on the Arts and the Holocaust; Our Sacred Signs: How Jewish, Christian and Muslim Art Draw from the Same Source; Tradition and Transformation: Three Millennia of Jewish Art and Architecture, and most recently, and Between Pasts and Future: A Conceptual History of Israeli Art.
