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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260506T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260506T130000
DTSTAMP:20260429T074531
CREATED:20260422T112533Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260427T095649Z
UID:9405-1778068800-1778072400@fritzaschersociety.org
SUMMARY:Early Drawings and Cartoons by Jewish Immigrant Artists\, ca. 1900-1920Presentation by Matthew Baigell\, Rutgers University Professor Emeritus
DESCRIPTION:In this talk\, Rutgers University professor emeritus Matthew Baigell discusses early Jewish immigrant artists and cartoonists. As millions of Jews immigrated to the United States from Eastern Europe starting in the 1870s\, they brought with them not only their religious heritage but also a definitive idea of the place and value of art and aesthetics in society. Around 1900 they established a Jewish art stream separate from mainstream American art that continues to the present day. To a greater or lesser degree over the decades\, artists have continually emphasized community values\, politics\, and religious heritage. \n\nImage above: Shelter Us Under the Shadow of Thy Wings\, Hebrew Publishing 1909 \n\nREGISTER HERE\n\n\nFrederick Opper & Joseph Keppler (O&K)\, The Modern Moses\, Puck Magazine\, Vol. 10\, No. 247\, New York: November 30th 1881. \n\n\n\n\n\nSamuel Zagat\, Pogrom\, Poland\, 1920. \n\n\n\n\nSamuel Zagat\, Inflation Squeezing Every Penny out of the Worker\, May 1919. \n\n\n\n\nMatthew Baigell is professor emeritus in art history at Rutgers University. He has written\, co-authored\, and co-edited twenty-four books on mainstream American and Jewish American art. His most recent book is “Heritage: Jewish Artists in America Since 1900” (2025)\, the first book in which a continuous\, separate art stream has been identified. \nThis event is part of the online series Flight or Fight. stories of artists under repression. \n\n\n\n\nThe book Heritage: Jewish Artists in America Since 1900 (Judaic Traditions in Literature\, Music\, and Art)\, was published by Syracuse University Press in 2025. \n\n\nYOU CAN PURCHASE THE BOOK HERE\nPlease donate generously to make programs like this possible. Thank you. \n\nThe Fritz Ascher Society is a not-for-profit 501(c)3 organization. Your donation is fully tax deductible. \nDONATE HERE
URL:https://fritzaschersociety.org/exhibition-event/jewish-artists/
LOCATION:ONLINE\, VA\, United States
CATEGORIES:Events,Lectures
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://fritzaschersociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/IMG_4787.jpg
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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260520T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260520T130000
DTSTAMP:20260429T074531
CREATED:20260428T004710Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260428T005128Z
UID:9417-1779278400-1779282000@fritzaschersociety.org
SUMMARY:Stolen Jewish Legacies:The Fate of Eugen Spiro and His Looted CollectionPresentation by Anne Uhrlandt\, Munich (Germany)
DESCRIPTION:In this online lecture Anne Uhrlandt will present the forgotten story of once prominent German Jewish artist and collector Eugen Spiro (April 18\, 1874\, Wrocław – September 26\, 1972\, New York City). During her two-year research project\, Uhrlandt reconstructed the artist’s biography and the fate of his looted collection by bringing together evidence and sources from numerous international archives. Two case studies about specific stolen objects highlight the dramatic events following both s the Nazi government ‘s expulsion of Spiro from his profession\, robbing him of his sources of income\, and the theft of his art collection\, which included both his own works of art and works of art by other artists. The case studies demonstrate the potential of provenance research to uncover and reconstruct the rich Jewish contribution to European cultural history before World War II. \n\nImage above: Painting utensils of Eugen Spiro\, still in use by his granddaughter Elizabeth Spiro. \n\nREGISTER HERE\n\nPaul Fischer\, Eugen Spiro\, Breslau\, ca. 1903. Elizabeth Spiro private collection \n\n\n\n\nIndex card of the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg on the confiscated artwork by Eugen Spiro\, Selbstporträt (Self Portrait)\, 1907\, Spiro 43. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)\, Record Group 260: Records of U.S. Occupation Headquarters\, World War II\, Series: Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg (ERR) Card Files\, NARA ID: 72545076\, Spiro 43\, Eugen Spiro\, Selbstporträt\, 1907\, https://catalog.archives.gov/id/72545076 (accessed December 30\, 2025) \n\n\n\n\n\nEugen Spiro’s biography covers nearly the entire European continent: He was born to a Jewish family in Breslau (today Wrocław\, Poland)\, studied art at the academies of Breslau and Munich\, and experienced his first successes while living in Paris before World War I. He resided in Berlin for two decades\, where he cultivated respect and influence as an artist\, becoming president of the Berlin Secession and a member of the Acquisition Commission of the National Gallery. Nazi persecution forced him to flee to Paris with his family\, where Spiro continued to work as a painter and teacher—until\, yet again\, Nazi persecution in France forced him to flee on a dramatic journey via Spain and Portugal\, where he hoped to embark on a ship to the United States. Only intervention of prominent Jews in exile\, including Thomas Mann\, enabled Spiro and his family to board a ship to the U.S. His Parisian exile home was looted by the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg\, the main Nazi looting agency. Spiro’s entire oeuvre\, as well as his private art collection of works by other artists\, was stolen. \n\nAfter the war\, Eugen Spiro recovered parts of his looted collection with the help of French authorities. One of these recovered artworks is Self-Portrait of Eugen Spiro wearing a Bowler Hat\, which is today part of the collection of the Jewish Museum Berlin. Other artworks in Spiro’s collection were lost forever: due to their Jewish origin and modern style\, the Nazis deemed them “worthless” and burned them in Paris. \n\n\n\n\nThe building at Reichsstraße 106 in Berlin Charlottenburg where Eugen Spiro lived with his second wife and son on the fourth floor\, maintaining a studio with roof terrace on the fifth floor. Photo: Anne Uhrlandt \n\n\n\n\nThe memorial plaque for Eugen Spiro at Reichsstraße 106 in Berlin Charlottenburg where Eugen Spiro lived with his second wife and son on the fourth floor\, maintaining a studio with roof terrace on the fifth floor. Photo: Anne Uhrlandt \n\n\n\n\nFollowing the Holocaust\, Eugen Spiro was unable to regain the prominence he obtained prior to the Nazi rise to power\, despite occasional exhibitions in the U.S. and a solo retrospective in Berlin. Although Eugen Spiro’s artworks are found today in museum’ collections around the globe\, his onetime artistic prominence and the Nazi-era persecution that ended much of his career are relatively unknown. With her research\, Uhrlandt’s has achieved her goal to reconstruct for us the outstanding career and life story of the unjustly forgotten artist Eugen Spiro. \nAnne Uhrlandt is a doctoral candidate with more than 20 years of experience working as a provenance researcher specialized in Nazi-looted cultural property. Prior to her job at JDCRP as Senior Research and Documentation Officer\, she was project coordinator at the Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte in Munich\, working as well for the Art Loss Register. She worked previously for the Jewish Museum of Munich. \nThis event is part of the online series Flight or Fight. stories of artists under repression. \n\n\n\nPlease donate generously to make programs like this possible. Thank you. \n\nThe Fritz Ascher Society is a not-for-profit 501(c)3 organization. Your donation is fully tax deductible. \nDONATE HERE
URL:https://fritzaschersociety.org/exhibition-event/eugen-spiro/
LOCATION:ONLINE\, VA\, United States
CATEGORIES:Events,Lectures
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://fritzaschersociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3_Eugen-Spiro-painting-utensils-Elizabeth-Spiro.jpeg
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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260624T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260624T130000
DTSTAMP:20260429T074531
CREATED:20260416T115330Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260416T120937Z
UID:9396-1782302400-1782306000@fritzaschersociety.org
SUMMARY:THE RESTLESS HUNGARIAN Film Screening and Conversation with Director Tom Weidlinger
DESCRIPTION:The Restless Hungarian (2021) is a personal narrative set against the backdrop of the Hungarian Jewish diaspora\, the rise of Modernism\, and the Cold War. The film centers on Paul Weidlinger\, one of the most important structural engineers of the twentieth century who created the strength behind iconic skyscrapers\, churches\, museums\, embassies\, and monumental sculptures by Picasso\, Noguchi\, and Dubuffet. Early in his career\, he broke from mainstream modernism with his concept of the “Joy of Space”. \n\n\nBehind his professional success\, however\, was a deeply troubled private life marked by loss\, denial\, and family tragedy. As the filmmaker—his son—begins to explore Paul’s past\, the story shifts into a deeply personal journey across continents\, uncovering hidden Jewish roots and the family’s suffering during the Holocaust. Through this process\, he confronts painful memories\, including mental illness and suicide within his family\, and ultimately arrives at a more compassionate understanding of his father. \n\n\n\n\n\n\nBetween June 17 and 25 you can view The Restless Hungarian on your home device. A link will be provided to all who register. \n\nREGISTER HERE\nYOU CAN WATCH THE TRAILER HERE: \n\n\nOn April 24\, join film director Tom Weidlinger in conversation with Rachel Stern about The Restless Hungarian\, a documentary film about his father Paul Weidlinger\, one of the most important structural engineers of the twentieth century.\n\n\n\nTom Weidlinger is a writer and filmmaker with over 35 years of experience directing and producing documentaries—from the emotional development of boys to humanitarian aid in Congo—often centered on social justice. He produced six full-length documentaries for public television with support from the Lillian Lincoln Foundation\, including Jim Thorpe\, The World’s Greatest Athlete\, which aired more than 4\,000 times and explores Thorpe’s assertion of his American Indian identity in the face of cultural erasure. \n\n\nIn the 1990s\, Weidlinger received a major grant from the Independent Television Service (ITVS) to create Making Peace\, a four-hour series on grassroots efforts to address the roots of violence\, along with a pioneering online activism campaign. Earlier\, inspired by Václav Havel\, he documented post-communist Czechoslovakia in After the Velvet Revolution\, filmed over four years in Prague. After founding Moira Productions in 1987\, he transitioned to independent filmmaking and produced archival documentaries for PBS’s The American Experience\, including The Great San Francisco Earthquake\, which premiered in the series’ first season. \n\nThis event is part of the online series “Flight or Fight. stories of artists under repression.” \n\n\nThe documentary film is based on the book The Restless Hungarian:Modernism\, Madness and the American Dream\, which was published in April 2019 by Spark Press. The book won a Gold Medal for Biography from the Independent Book Publishers Association. \n\nYOU CAN ORDER THE BOOK HERE\nPlease donate generously to make programs like this possible. Thank you. \n\nThe Fritz Ascher Society is a not-for-profit 501(c)3 organization. Your donation is fully tax deductible. \nDONATE HERE
URL:https://fritzaschersociety.org/exhibition-event/the-restless-hungarian/
LOCATION:ONLINE\, VA\, United States
CATEGORIES:Events,Lectures
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://fritzaschersociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/restless-landingH511-592x500-1.png
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