BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//Fritz Ascher Society - ECPv6.15.17.1//NONSGML v1.0//EN CALSCALE:GREGORIAN METHOD:PUBLISH X-ORIGINAL-URL:https://fritzaschersociety.org X-WR-CALDESC:Events for Fritz Ascher Society REFRESH-INTERVAL;VALUE=DURATION:PT1H X-Robots-Tag:noindex X-PUBLISHED-TTL:PT1H BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/New_York BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 TZNAME:EDT DTSTART:20210314T070000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:EST DTSTART:20211107T060000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 TZNAME:EDT DTSTART:20220313T070000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:EST DTSTART:20221106T060000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 TZNAME:EDT DTSTART:20230312T070000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:EST DTSTART:20231105T060000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 TZNAME:EDT DTSTART:20240310T070000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:EST DTSTART:20241103T060000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 TZNAME:EDT DTSTART:20250309T070000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:EST DTSTART:20251102T060000 END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20240327T120000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20240327T130000 DTSTAMP:20260405T155234 CREATED:20240306T163909Z LAST-MODIFIED:20240327T174226Z UID:8069-1711540800-1711544400@fritzaschersociety.org SUMMARY:The Miraculous San Francisco Discovery of Ary Arkady Lochakov's Lost Art A Talk by Journalist Julie Zigoris\, San Francisco DESCRIPTION:One sunny May day in 2022—halfway around the world from Paris where the Jewish artist Ary Arkady Lochakov (1892-1941) died of malnutrition in 1941—a miraculous discovery was made. Maintenance staff came upon 48 abandoned artworks in a waterside park\, all of them carefully arranged as if they were meant to be discovered. 38 of the 48 artworks all had the same signature: Ary Arkady Lochakov. Port employees researched Lochakov to discover he was a member of the famed École de Paris and was featured in Hersh Fenster’s essential book Our Martyred Artists. \nSan Francisco Standard journalist Julie Zigoris was the first (and only) to report the story to the public\, following the trail of breadcrumbs to make some incredible discoveries. \n\nImage above: Ary Arkady Lochakov \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nJulie Zigoris is an Arts & Culture Reporter for the San Francisco Standard. Before becoming a journalist\, she taught English and Soviet history at the University of Pittsburgh\, Stanford University\, the Jewish Community High School of the Bay and Mount Tamalpais College in San Quentin Prison. She’s the author of Belomor: Criminality and Creativity in Stalin’s Gulag. Pennsylvanian by birth and Hungarian by blood\, she is now devoted to all things San Francisco. \n\n\n\nAry Arkady Lochakov\, Portrait of Jewish resistance fighter David Knout\, courtesy Musée d’Art et d’Histoire du Judaïsme\, Paris \nAry Arkady Lochakov\, undated photograph \nArtworks by Ary Arkady Lochakov discovered by the Port of San Francisco at Crace Cove Park\,” Courtesy Arianna Cunha \n\n\n\n\n\nThis event is part of the online series “Flight or Fight. stories of artists under repression.” \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.\n \n\n\n\n\n\nDONATE HERE URL:https://fritzaschersociety.org/exhibition-event/ary-arkady-lochakov/ LOCATION:ONLINE\, VA\, United States CATEGORIES:Events,Lectures,Past Events ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://fritzaschersociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Lochakov-art-village-.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20240318T180000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20240318T193000 DTSTAMP:20260405T155234 CREATED:20240204T122244Z LAST-MODIFIED:20240326T210703Z UID:7956-1710784800-1710790200@fritzaschersociety.org SUMMARY:BOOK LAUNCH: Welcoming the Stranger. Abrahamic Hospitality and Its Contemporary ImplicationsFordham University\, New York DESCRIPTION:Join us for an evening of stimulating conversation\, and refreshments\, as we celebrate the publication of Welcoming the Stranger. Abrahamic Traditions and Its Contemporary Implications. Advance copies of the book are available for purchase. \nThis book is a collection of thought-provoking essays exploring the theme of hospitality as a means of building bridges between different cultures and communities. This book is a must-read for anyone interested in interfaith dialogue\, social justice\, and creating a more inclusive society. \nIts contents could hardly be more relevant today. Beginning with the story of Abraham’s hospitality to the three strangers described in Genesis18\, the narrative explores both the theological evolution in and beyond the Abrahamic traditions of the principle of “welcoming the stranger\,” and its on-the-ground application from India to Germany in the past to America in the present. \nConsidered from a range of theological\, cultural\, legal\, and political angles\, the handsomely illustrated volume will be discussed by its editors Ori Z Soltes\, Georgetown University\, Washington DC\, and Rachel Stern\, The Fritz Ascher Society for Persecuted\, Ostracized and Banned Art\, New York. \n\nThis book launch is organized by the Fritz Ascher Society for Persecuted\, Ostracized and Banned Art and the Institute on Religion\, Law and Lawyer’s Work at Fordham University School of Law. We thank Fordham University’s Center for Jewish Studies and Theology Department\, and Peace Islands Institute New York for publicizing the event.  \nThe event is generously sponsored by 1014.  \nImage above: David Stern\, Snow Crash (Lost Agency)\, 2018-19. Acrylics and pigments on paper\, 27 x 35 inches. © David Stern / Artists Rights Society (ARS)\, New York \n\nThis timely book offers theoretical and practical reflections on ‘welcoming the stranger.’ From the theological analysis of Abraham to the legal and political discussion of immigration and refugees\, the volume explores how hospitality—welcoming the ‘other’ into our tents—leads to peace and improving the world.—Mehnaz Afridi\, Director\, Holocaust\, Genocide & Interfaith Education Center and Professor\, Religious Studies\, Manhattan College \nORDER THE BOOK HERE (discount code: WELCOME25-FI)WELCOMING THE STRANGER\nABRAHAMIC HOSPITALITY AND ITS CONTEMPORARY IMPLICATIONS \nEdited by Ori Z Soltes and Rachel Stern\nForeword by Endy Moraes\nPublication Date: April 2\, 2024\nISBN: 9781531507329\n224 pages\, 30 color illustrations\nPaperback\, $35.00 (SDT)\, £29.99\nSimultaneous electronic edition available\nPublished by The Fritz Ascher Society for Persecuted\, Ostracized and Banned Art\nand the Fordham University Institute on Religion\, Law and Lawyer’s Work\nDistributed by Fordham University Press \nBook Contributors: \nLindsay Balfour\, PhD\, Assistant Professor\, Coventry University\, London (UK)\nThomas Massaro\, S.J.\, Professor of Moral Theology at Fordham University in New York\nEndy Moraes\, LLM\, Director of the Institute on Religion\, Law\, and Lawyer’s Work at Fordham Law School\nRev Craig B. Mousin\, DePaul University; Refugee and Forced Migration Studies\, Grace School of Applied Diplomacy\nCarol Prendergast\, Senior Advisor to Alfanar Venture Philanthropy\nZeki Saritoprak\, PhD\, Bediuzzaman Said Nursi Chair in Islamic Studies and a Professor in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at John Carroll University in Cleveland\, Ohio\nOri Z Soltes\, PhD\, Teaching Professor at Georgetown University in Washington\, DC\nRachel Stern\, Director of the Fritz Ascher Society for Persecuted\, Ostracized and Banned Art in New York\nMohsin Mohi Ud Din\, artist\, activist\, and founder of the global nonprofit #MeWe International Inc. (#MeWeIntl) \nDONATE HEREThe Fritz Ascher Society is a not-for-profit 501(c)3 organization. Your donation is fully tax deductible.\nYOUR SUPPORT MAKES OUR WORK POSSIBLE. THANK YOU. URL:https://fritzaschersociety.org/exhibition-event/welcoming-the-stranger/ LOCATION:Fordham University School of Law\, 150 West 62nd Street\, New York\, NY\, 10023\, United States CATEGORIES:Events,Lectures,Past Events ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://fritzaschersociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/COVER_David-Stern_Snow-Crash-lost-agency_2018-19_Acrylics-and-pigments-on-paper_27x35in_0064.jpeg ORGANIZER;CN="Fordham University School of Law":MAILTO:lawreligion@law.fordham.edu END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20240306T120000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20240306T130000 DTSTAMP:20260405T155234 CREATED:20240227T010731Z LAST-MODIFIED:20240307T121749Z UID:8028-1709726400-1709730000@fritzaschersociety.org SUMMARY:Traces of a Jewish Artist: The Lost Life and Work of Rahel Szalit (1888–1942)A Book Talk by Kerry Wallach\, Gettysburg College DESCRIPTION:In this presentation\, Gettysburg College professor and author Kerry Wallach explores the life and work of Rahel Szalit (1888–1942; also: Szalit-Marcus). Szalit was a sought-after illustrator and painter who was active in 1920s Berlin and 1930s Paris. \n\nImage above: Rahel Szalit-Marcus\, The Drive to the Rabbi\, in Milgroym\, 1922. Lithograph. \n\n\n\n\nRahel Szalit was among the best-known Jewish women artists in Weimar Berlin. She painted and drew landscapes\, Berlin city scenes\, animals\, and portraits of women\, children\, and public figures. She produced numerous lithographs and worked in pen and ink\, pencil\, pastel\, chalk\, oil paint\, and watercolors. Women figured prominently in many scenes\, from small-town Jewish life to snapshots of the metropolis. Szalit’s fascinating life demonstrates how women artists gained access to Jewish and avant-garde movements (Expressionism\, New Objectivity) by experimenting with different media and genres. This presentation situates Szalit with respect to her contemporaries and offers a close look at her art. \nRahel Szalit\, Das bin ich selbst (This is me myself)\, date unknown. \nRahel Szalit\, Kostümball (Costume Ball)\, in Ulk\, supplement to Berliner Tageblatt\, 1930 \nBorn Rahel Markus into a traditional Jewish world in Lithuania (then part of the Russian Empire)\, she came of age in Lodz\, Poland. She moved to Munich in 1910 to study art. From 1916 until soon after the Nazis took power\, Szalit lived in Berlin\, where she became acquainted with Jakob Steinhardt and Ludwig Meidner. She made a name for herself with soulful\, sometimes humorous illustrations of Jewish and world literature and published her work in the mainstream German and Jewish press. Around 1927\, she became active in the Association of Women Artists in Berlin and exhibited alongside such artists as Käthe Kollwitz\, Julie Wolfthorn\, and Lotte Laserstein. Forced to start again in Paris as a refugee from Nazi Germany\, she was fortunate to find a modest amount of success\, though this\, too\, was soon cut short. After she was murdered in the Holocaust\, Szalit was all but lost to history\, and most of her paintings have been destroyed or gone missing. \nRahel Szalit-Marcus\, A Street Sneezes\, in Menshelakh un stsenes (People and Scenes) portfolio\, lithographic illustration from Sholem Aleichem’s Motl\, the Cantor’s Son\, 1922. \nRahel Szalit-Marcus\, Wife Anticipating Her Murder\, lithographic illustration from Leo Tolstoy’s The Kreutzer Sonata\, 1922 \n\n\n\nKerry Wallach is Associate Professor and Chair of German Studies and an affiliate of the Jewish Studies Program at Gettysburg College. She is the author of Traces of a Jewish Artist: The Lost Life and Work of Rahel Szalit (Penn State University Press\, 2024) and Passing Illusions: Jewish Visibility in Weimar Germany (2017)\, and co-editor (with Aya Elyada) of German-Jewish Studies: Next Generations. She is also a co-editor of “German Jewish Cultures\,” a book series published by Indiana University Press. \n\n\n\nPRE-ORDER THE BOOK HERE\n\n\n\n\nThis event is part of the online series “Flight or Fight. stories of artists under repression.” \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.\n \n\n\n\n\n\nDONATE HERE URL:https://fritzaschersociety.org/exhibition-event/rahel-szalit/ LOCATION:ONLINE\, VA\, United States CATEGORIES:Events,Lectures,Past Events ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://fritzaschersociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/4-The-Drive-to-the-Rabbi-Lithograph-Milgroym-1922-scaled.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20240228T120000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20240228T130000 DTSTAMP:20260405T155234 CREATED:20240202T112322Z LAST-MODIFIED:20240228T193435Z UID:7946-1709121600-1709125200@fritzaschersociety.org SUMMARY:„I'm always on the go…” – The painter Franz Domscheit / Pranas Domšaitis (1880-1965)Lecture by Jan Rüttinger\, Lüneburg (Germany) DESCRIPTION:Searching\, wandering\, not arriving – this is how the person and art of Franz Domscheit/Pranas Domšaitis can be characterized. Born into a German-Lithuanian family as the son of a farmer and innkeeper\, it was primarily his Lithuanian origins that interested him. The early landscape and cultural impressions of his homeland\, Prussian-Lithuania\, at the interface of German and Lithuanian culture\, shaped his work throughout his life. Landscape is one of the painter’s main themes\, who is primarily perceived as an expressionist. \n\nImage above: Franz Domscheit\, Two Peasant Women\, 1930s. Oil on canvas. Copyright National Lithuanian Art Museum. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTrained at the Königsberg Art Academy by Ludwig Dettmann\, among others\, Domscheit then moved out into the world. Berlin\, Paris\, London\, Oslo and St. Petersburg are among his destinations. He always wanted to continue his education and met artists like Lovis Corinth and Edvard Munch who influenced him. The numerous travels\, including beyond the borders of Europe\, were reflected in many of his works of art. \n\n\n\n\nFranz Domscheit\, Potato Peeler\, 1926. Oil on cardboard. Copyright National Lithuanian Art Museum \nFranz Domscheit\, Self Portrait\, 1920s-1950s. Oil on cardboard. Copyright National Lithuanian Art Museum \n\n\n\n\nAfter Domscheit was branded a representative of “degenerate art” during the Nazi era\, he retreated to the Alps and into internal exile. In 1949 he finally emigrated to South Africa. Recognized as a Lithuanian citizen\, he now called himself Pranas Domšaitis (the Lithuanian form of his name). The new surroundings inspired him to create new types of images and compositions\, but his image motifs and themes\, which were influenced by Lithuanian culture\, remained recognizable. \n\n\n\n\nFranz Domscheit\, Annunciation\, 1954-58. Oil on cardboard. Copyright National Lithuanian Art Museum \nFranz Domscheit\, Portrait African Woman\, 1953-54. Oil on cardboard. Copyright National Lithuanian Art Museum \n\n\n\n\nLecture by Jan Rüttinger\, who studied in Erlangen\, Rome and Bamberg. Degree in medieval art history\, medieval history and archeology of the Middle Ages and modern times in Bamberg. Graduate school “Monastery and World” at the University of Paderborn\, collaboration on the large medieval exhibition “Canossa 1077. Erschütterung der Welt” (Shaking the World). Museum traineeship at the German Historical Museum\, Berlin. Afterwards\, he was project coordinator of a German-Polish EU project in Kamenz/Upper Lusatia\, and\, at the same time\, research assistant and responsible for the St. Annen Museum of Sacred Art. He then became collection manager at the Museum of Bread and Art in Ulm and then at the Diocesan Museum in Augsburg. Since the end of 2022\, he is the deputy museum director and curator of art at the East Prussian State Museum in Lüneburg\, Germany. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThis event is part of the virtual series “Flight or Fight. stories of artists under repression\,” which is organized by The Fritz Ascher Society for Persecuted\, Ostracized and Banned Art\, New York. Future events and the recordings of past events can be found HERE. \nThe Fritz Ascher Society is a not-for-profit 501(c)3 organization. Your donation is fully tax deductible.\nYOUR SUPPORT MAKES OUR WORK POSSIBLE. THANK YOU. \n\n\n\n\n\nDONATE HERE URL:https://fritzaschersociety.org/exhibition-event/franz-domscheit/ LOCATION:ONLINE\, VA\, United States CATEGORIES:Events,Lectures,Past Events ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://fritzaschersociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/13_Zwei-Bauerinnen_Domscheit_1930er_Ol-auf-Leinwand_c-Nationales-Litauisches-Kunstmuseum-scaled.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20240214T120000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20240214T130000 DTSTAMP:20260405T155235 CREATED:20240201T164926Z LAST-MODIFIED:20240214T201909Z UID:7932-1707912000-1707915600@fritzaschersociety.org SUMMARY:The Art of Marc Klionsky: Shaping a Three-World Condition from Minsk to New York Lecture by Ori Z Soltes and conversation with daughter Nadia Klionsky DESCRIPTION:In this program Georgetown University professor and author\, Ori Z Soltes\, explores Marc Klionsky’s life and work\, in part through conversation with his daughter\, the scholar and artist\, Nadia Klionsky. \n\nImage above: Marc Klionsky\, Dizzie Gillespie: The Man and his Trumpet\, 1988. Oil on canvas\, 52 x 66 inches. National Portrait Gallery\, Washington\, DC. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThis exciting program features the paintings of Marc Klionsky (1927–2017). Born in the Soviet Union\, Klionsky managed to navigate what has been called a “two-world condition”—creating the particularized Soviet Socialist Realist work that was acceptable to the Stalinist and post-Stalinist State while allowing his soul to reveal itself in work that only a very few trusted viewers might see. As a Jewish artist\, in fact\, he lived through a “three-world condition\,” needing always to negotiate where that part of his identity might or might not express itself in his art. \n\n\n\n\n\nMarc Klionsky\, Russian Mother\, 1964. Oil on canvas\, 35 x 28 inches. \nMarc Klionsky\, Golda Meir\, 1976. Oil on canvas\, 40 x 30 inches. \n\n\n\n\nThe artist managed to immigrate—not without difficulty—to New York City in 1974\, where his work exploded in an endless array of stylistic directions\, developing a substantial career that continued until his death in 2017. Klionsky shaped a mode of self-expression uniquely contoured by his classical Soviet training his perspective of daily life in New York and America. Over the decades he became particularly known for his insightful portraits of world figures who articulated the 20th century\, from Golda Meir to Dizzy Gillespie. John Russell\, art critic for The New York Times\, described him as “a good man and a brave man and one of the most eloquent painters around.” He also simply called Klionsky “one of the best portrait painters around.” \n\n\n\n\nMarc Klionsky\, A Letter\, 1985. Oil on canvas\, 38 x 46 inches. Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Sam Wyly\, Dallas\, TX \nMarc Klionsky\, An Artist and a Model\, 2001. Oil on canvas\, 40 x 50 inches. Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Gary Milman\, New City\, NY. \nOri Z. Soltes teaches at Georgetown University across a range of disciplines\, from art history and theology to philosophy and political history. He is the former Director and Curator of the B’nai B’rith Klutznick National Jewish Museum\, and has curated more than 90 exhibitions there and in other venues across the country and overseas. He is also the author of over 280 books\, articles\, exhibition catalogues\, and essays on diverse topics. Among his books are 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 Between Pasts and Future: A Conceptual History of Israeli Art. \n Marc Klionsky\, Waiting for the Train\, 1986. Oil on canvas\, 66 x 79 inches. Yad Vashem Art Museum\, Jerusalem\, Israel. \n\n\n\n\n\nThis event is part of the online series “Flight or Fight. stories of artists under repression\,” which is organized by The Fritz Ascher Society for Persecuted\, Ostracized and Banned Art\, New York. Future events and the recordings of past events can be found HERE. \nThe Fritz Ascher Society is a not-for-profit 501(c)3 organization. Your donation is fully tax deductible.\nYOUR SUPPORT MAKES OUR WORK POSSIBLE. THANK YOU. \n\n\n\n\n\nDONATE HERE URL:https://fritzaschersociety.org/exhibition-event/marc-klionsky/ LOCATION:ONLINE\, VA\, United States CATEGORIES:Events,Lectures,Past Events ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://fritzaschersociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/KlionskyDizzieGillespie-copy.jpeg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20240131T120000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20240131T130000 DTSTAMP:20260405T155235 CREATED:20240116T162134Z LAST-MODIFIED:20240131T233636Z UID:7890-1706702400-1706706000@fritzaschersociety.org SUMMARY:In Hitler’s Munich: Jews\, the Revolution\, and the Rise of Nazism A Book Talk by Michael Brenner\, Munich and Washington D.C. DESCRIPTION:In the aftermath of Germany’s defeat in World War I and the failed November Revolution of 1918–19\, which was led by many prominent Jewish politicians\, the conservative government of Bavaria identified Jews with left-wing radicalism. Munich became a hotbed of right-wing extremism\, with synagogues under attack and Jews physically assaulted in the streets. It was here that Adolf Hitler established the Nazi movement and developed his antisemitic ideas. This lecture provides a gripping account of how Bavaria’s capital city became the testing ground for Nazism and the Final Solution. \n\n\n\n\n\nMichael Brenner holds the chair of Jewish History and Culture at Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich. He is also Distinguished Professor of History and Seymour and Lillian Abensohn Chair in Israel Studies at American University andserves as International President of the Leo Baeck Institute for the Study of German-Jewish History. In 2021 he was the first recipient of the Baron Award for Scholarly Excellence in Research of the Jewish Experience. He is author of ten books\, translated into over a dozen languages. His latest books are In Hitler’s Munich: Jews\, the Revolution\, and the Rise of Nazism\, (Princeton University Press 2022) and In Search of Israel: The History of an Idea (Princeton University Press\, 2018). \nBavarian Revolution\, Theresienwiese\, 1918. Public domain \nBavaria’s Prime Minister Kurt Eisner with his wife and minister Hans Unterleitner in January 1919\, right before he was murdered \n\n\nMichael Brenner’s book\, “In Hitler’s Munich: Jews\, the Revolution\, and the Rise of Nazism” was published by Princeton University Press in 2022. \n\n\nORDER THE BOOK HERE\n\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.\n \n\n\n\n\n\nDONATE HERE URL:https://fritzaschersociety.org/exhibition-event/hitlers-munich/ LOCATION:ONLINE\, VA\, United States CATEGORIES:Events,Lectures,Past Events ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://fritzaschersociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/81RCdABvkL._SL1500_-copy-2.jpeg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20240124T120000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20240124T130000 DTSTAMP:20260405T155235 CREATED:20231227T011002Z LAST-MODIFIED:20240124T203623Z UID:7873-1706097600-1706101200@fritzaschersociety.org SUMMARY:The New Man as Man Machine A Book Talk by Eckhart Gillen\, Berlin DESCRIPTION:Fifteen years after the great financial crisis of 2008\, which shook the capitalist economic system in America and Europe to its foundations\, the book “The New Man as Man Machine” presents\, for the first time\, the interrelationship of art and political economy in the Weimar Republic\, the Soviet Union\, and the United States of America during the interwar period. By taking a look back at the 1920s and 1930s\, it attempts to better understand our own era and its well-founded fears with regard to globalization and a new global economic crisis. \n\nImage above: Kliment Redko\, Aufstand\, 1924-25 \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThis project focuses on how artists reacted to the central questions of the political economy in these three paradigmatic cultures and national economies of the interwar years. How did they deal in the United States\, for example\, with the question: Can free markets advance people’s “pursuit of happiness” better than the state in the form of a controlled capitalism or state capitalism? Is the process of consistently economizing and rationalizing all areas of life—as well as the technical-industrial progress\, the deregulation\, and the global effects of an international market that makes all traditional bonds\, regions\, and localities disappear—compatible with a dignified life? Or are there alternatives? Can a rational\, socialist planned economy overcome the negative consequences of capitalism? Does the world of machines demand a new type of human being or is a humanizing of work on machines conceivable? Alternative models for a state-guided economy were developed in the Soviet Union. In the German Empire and the United States\, National Socialism and the New Deal both began simultaneously in March 1933. Roosevelt\, however\, only planned a temporary suspension of the global market policy\, while Hitler aimed for a permanent policy of autarky. \n\n\n\n\n\nMax Beckmann\, The Granate\, 1915 \nGeorge Grosz\, Grey Day\, 1921 \nWhile writing this book\, the coordinates of world politics changed also dramatically. In February 2022 Russia invaded the Ukraine. We are currently experiencing a return of authoritarian regimes\, right-wing populism\, an impending trade war with customs duties\, and growing xenophobia or even open racism. This is true for all three countries compared here. Parallel to the experience that Carl Einstein noted in 1930\, definitions are once again shifting “imperceptibly” and “invisibly.” The long-forgotten novel It Can’t Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis (1935)—which describes\, instead of Roosevelt’s reelection in 1936\, the victory of a right-wing radical by the name of Berzelius (Buzz) Windrip\, who establishes a fascist dictatorship— gained new topicality in America after Trump’s election victory and has been reprinted in Germany as well. \nPiotr Wiljams\, Portrait Meyerhold\, 1925 \nGustav Klucis\, Spartakiade Moskau\, 1928 \nFrom the perspective of today\, it can therefore be shown that a society in a particular situation gets exactly the art it requires so as to reflect on its situation. For the period of time selected\, this is the technology-affirming\, streamlined art of Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity) in Germany\, while it corresponds with Precisionism in the United States\, and with the dynamic urbanism of the Society of Easel Artists (OST) in the Soviet Union. Artists reacted to the great crisis of 1929 with Regionalism\, Native Art\, and Socialist Realism. All three art movements attempted to once again blur the hard contrasts of modern life and to address traditional values\, such as a commitment to rural life\, family\, and community. \nO. Louis Guglielmi\, Mental Geography\, 1938 \nPhilip Evergood\, Dance Marathon\, 1934 \n\n\n\n\n\nEckhart J. Gillen\, born 1947 in Karlsruhe (Germany)\, Art Historian\, freelance Curator\, received the Doctorate from the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Heidelberg. He has organized numerous exhibitions and published widely on Russian\, American\, and German art of the twentieth century. Among his exhibition catalogs and books are German Art from Beckmann to Richter: Images of a Divided Country; Yale University Press 1997; Art of Two Germanys/Cold War Cultures 1945-1989\, LACMA\, Los Angeles\, Berlin\, Nuremberg (with Stephanie Barron) 2009; Art in Europe 1945-1968. Facing the Future\, BOZAR\, Brussels\, ZKM\, Karlsruhe\, Pushkin Museum\, Moscow (with Peter Weibel) 2016/17; Flashes of the Future. The Art of the 68er’s\, Ludwig Forum\, Aachen (with Andreas Beitin\, elected by AICA Germany for exhibition of the year 2018); Constructing the World. Art and Economy 1919-1939 in USA\, Germany and Soviet Union\, Kunsthalle Mannheim (with Ulrike Lorenz) 2018. Publications on German\, Russian\, and American art in the 20th century\, including Feindliche Brüder? Der Kalte Krieg und die deutsche Kunst 1945-1990 (Hostile Brothers? The Cold War and German Art 1945-1990)\, Berlin 2009\, and Der neue Mensch als Menschmaschine (The New Man as Man Machine)\, Bonn/Berlin 2023. Numerous distinctions\, including AICA-USA 2009 for Best Thematic Museum Show\, the Friedlieb Ferdinand Runge Award 2011 and Federal Cross of Merit 2022. Visiting lecturer for Art History at the Film University Konrad Wolf in Potsdam-Babelsberg.\n\n\n\n\n\nORDER THE BOOK HERE\n\n\n\n\nThis event is part of the monthly series “Flight or Fight. stories of artists under repression.” \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.\n \n\n\n\n\n\nDONATE HERE URL:https://fritzaschersociety.org/exhibition-event/the-new-man-as-man-machine/ LOCATION:ONLINE\, VA\, United States CATEGORIES:Events,Lectures,Past Events ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://fritzaschersociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/6.-Kliment-Redko_Aufstand_1924-25.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20231213T120000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20231213T130000 DTSTAMP:20260405T155235 CREATED:20230824T011901Z LAST-MODIFIED:20231215T162836Z UID:7573-1702468800-1702472400@fritzaschersociety.org SUMMARY:Samson Schames: Fragments of Exile Lecture by Annika Friedman\, Frankfurt DESCRIPTION:This event is sponsored by Ilona Oltuski in memory of Ruth Drory. \n\nImage above: Samson Schames\, Kindling of the Lights\, c. 1956. Glass tiles on glass\, 56 x 71 cm. Jewish Museum Frankfurt \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSamson Schames (1898-1967) came from a long-established Jewish family in Frankfurt am Main. With the support of his uncle\, renowned gallery owner Ludwig Schames\, he made his way into the 1920s art scene and began his training as a painter\, graphic artist\, and stage designer. Schames’ designs\, drawings\, and oil paintings from the period up to 1933 testify to his deep connection to Frankfurt and her landscapes. \n\n\n\n\n\nSamson Schames\, Opernplatz Frankfurt\, 1930. Jewish Museum Frankfurt \nSamson Schames\, The Tear\, c.1941. 57.2 x 45.5 cm. Leo Baeck Institute New York \n\n\n\n\nAfter the National Socialists rose to power\, Schames immigrated to London in 1939\, where he began creating innovative mosaics from shards of glass\, porcelain\, and crockery—the material evidence of the bombings. \nThis presentation elaborates on the three important phases of the artist’s life and relates his time in Frankfurt and artistic beginnings to the work he made in British exile and finally to his new home\, New York. It also pays tribute to the first temporary exhibition the Jewish Museum Frankfurt showed in 1989. \n\n\n\n\nSamson Schames\, Blowing the Shofar\, c. 1956. Glass tiles on glass\, 56 x 71 cm. Jewish Museum Frankfurt \nSamson Schames\, Kindling of the Lights\, c. 1956. Glass tiles on glass\, 56 x 71 cm. Jewish Museum Frankfurt \nAnnika Friedman has been part of the Jewish Museum Frankfurt team since 2021\, initially as curatorial assistance and since 2022 as the curatorial project manager for the permanent exhibition in the Rothschild Palais. In addition to “Samson Schames: Fragments of Exile” she most recently co-curated the 2022/23 exhibition “Back into the Light. Four Women Artists – Their Works. Their Paths” which detailed the lives and careers of four artists whose paths intersected and subsequently diverged in Frankfurt after the rise of the National Socialists.\nShe received her Master in Holocaust Studies at the University of Haifa in Israel and her Bachelor at University of British Columbia in Canada. During her studies she was the assistant curator of the art exhibition “Arrivals\, Departures – The Oscar Ghez Collection\,” and a project coordinator in the archives of the Hecht Museum (Haifa). \nThe cabinet exhibition “Samson Schames: Fragments of Exile” at the Jewish Museum Frankfurt was curated by Annika Friedman and developed in cooperation with the Leo Baeck Institute in New York. It was closed early to make room for Sharone Lifschitz’ 2009 film “The Line and the Circle.” Using the process of developing photos in a darkroom\, the film tells the story of Kibbutz Nir Oz\, which was attacked and destroyed by Hamas on October 7\, 2023. More information HERE. \n\n\n\n\n\nThis event is part of the monthly series “Flight or Fight. stories of artists under repression\,” which is organized by The Fritz Ascher Society for Persecuted\, Ostracized and Banned Art\, New York. Future events and the recordings of past events can be found HERE. \nThe Fritz Ascher Society is a not-for-profit 501(c)3 organization. Your donation is fully tax deductible.\nYOUR SUPPORT MAKES OUR WORK POSSIBLE. THANK YOU. \n\n\n\n\n\nDONATE HERE URL:https://fritzaschersociety.org/exhibition-event/samson-schames/ LOCATION:ONLINE\, VA\, United States CATEGORIES:Events,Lectures,Past Events ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://fritzaschersociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/7.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20231206T120000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20231206T130000 DTSTAMP:20260405T155235 CREATED:20231027T204147Z LAST-MODIFIED:20231206T190009Z UID:7803-1701864000-1701867600@fritzaschersociety.org SUMMARY:Klaus Friedeberger (1922-2019). Journey Around the World Lecture by Monica Sidhu\, London Q&A with wife Julie Friedeberger and British Museum curator Stephen Coppel\, London DESCRIPTION:Presentation by Monica Sidhu\, followed by a conversation with the late Klaus’ wife Julie Friedeberger and British Museum curator Stephen Coppel\, London. \n\nImage above: Klaus Friedeberger\, Children Playing\, 1959-1962\, oil on canvas. Copyright Klaus Friedeberger estate \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nBorn in Berlin in 1922 the artist Klaus Friedeberger escaped Nazi Germany in 1937. After studying at the Quaker School in Holland he arrived in London as a refugee in 1939. Classified as ‘enemy alien’ he was interned and subsequently deported to Australia on the transport ship Dunera. He spent two years in internment camps at Hay in New South Wales. Released in 1942 he joined the Australian Army labour corps and after demobilisation he studied art at East Sydney Technical College. After ten years in Australia Friedeberger returned to Europe and settled in London where he lived and worked until his death in 2019. \n\n\n\n\n\nKlaus Friedeberger\, Camp View with Huts\, 1941\, watercolour. Copyright Klaus Friedeberger estate \nKlaus Friedeberger\, Black Rock\, Melbourne\, 1942\, watercolour and gouache on paper. Copyright Klaus Friedeberger estate \n\n\n\n\nThe journey Klaus Friedeberger took from Berlin to Australia via Holland and London shaped his early life. The ten years he spent in Australia in Internment\, in the Army and at Art College shaped his artistic career. \nThis lecture will touch upon the life of emigré artist Klaus Friedeberger\, his early life in Berlin and his school time in Holland. It will examine how he went from a young refugee to a deportee. Using images produced over the course of almost 80 years this talk will focus on Friedeberger’s experiences on the transport ship Dunera and his early artistic training in the Australian internment camps in Hay\, Orange and Tatura. After regaining his freedom Friedeberger continued to develop as an artist and upon his return to Europe successfully established a career both as a painter and as a sought-after graphic designer. Friedeberger’s art progressed from his early initial colourful children’s paintings of the 1950s and 60s to the achromatic abstractions that dominated his later work. Alongside he created monotypes\, charcoal drawings and stripped paper collages. His ideas and working methods can be traced in the innumerable sketchbooks he left behind. \nFriedeberger’s works were exhibited in solo and group exhibitions from his early days as a student to the last show in 2015. \n\n\n\n\nKlaus Friedeberger\, Child Playing (Prisoner)\, 1962\, oil on canvas. Copyright Klaus Friedeberger estate \nKlaus Friedeberger\, Black Space 14\, 2011-12\, oil on canvas. Copyright Klaus Friedeberger estate \nMonica Sidhu trained as an art historian in the History of Art Department at University College London graduating in 1998. She has undertaken various projects at the British Museum working with Stephen Coppel\, Assistant Keeper and other curators in the Department of Prints and Drawings. She has catalogued the extensive archive of paintings\, drawings\, monotypes and papers left by Klaus Friedeberger in his studio after his death and is currently researching and writing a monograph on his career. \nJulie Friedeberger was born in New York City in 1935. She met Klaus Friedeberger on 17 September 1960\, in Florence\, Italy. They married in 1962 and lived together in London until his death in 2019. \nStephen Coppel is curator of modern prints and drawings at the British Museum. \n\n\n\n\n\nThis event is part of the monthly series “Flight or Fight. stories of artists under repression\,” which is organized by The Fritz Ascher Society for Persecuted\, Ostracized and Banned Art\, New York. Future events and the recordings of past events can be found HERE. \nThe Fritz Ascher Society is a not-for-profit 501(c)3 organization. Your donation is fully tax deductible.\nYOUR SUPPORT MAKES OUR WORK POSSIBLE. THANK YOU. \n\n\n\n\n\nDONATE HERE URL:https://fritzaschersociety.org/exhibition-event/klaus-friedeberger/ LOCATION:ONLINE\, VA\, United States CATEGORIES:Events,Lectures,Past Events ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://fritzaschersociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/09.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20231115T120000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20231115T130000 DTSTAMP:20260405T155235 CREATED:20231023T123608Z LAST-MODIFIED:20231115T183729Z UID:7783-1700049600-1700053200@fritzaschersociety.org SUMMARY:Peter László Péri (1899-1967). A Hungarian-born Artist in Berlin and London Lecture by Arie Hartog\, Bremen (Germany) DESCRIPTION:In this talk\, Arie Hartog\, director of the Gerhard-Marcks-Haus in Bremen\, Germany\, draws attention to a sculptor who contradicts the common narrative of modern art in the 20th century. Péri began as a constructivist and ended as a figurative artist. Yet he was not an academic traditional sculptor. \nIntroductory remarks by Lilla Farkas\, Cultural attaché at the Liszt Institute of the Consulate General of Hungary in New York. \nImage above: Peter László Péri\, Sadness\, 1938–1945\, pigmented and painted concrete\, 52 × 40 × 60 cm. Photo: Jake Wallters © Peter László Péri Estate\, London \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPeter László Péri was born Ladislas Weisz in Budapest in 1889. Peri became the Hungarianized family name in 1918. In 1919\, he participated in the Hungarian soviet republic. In 1920\, he came to Berlin. At the beginning of 1933\, he\, a Jew and Communist\, had to and could leave Germany and moved to London with his second\, English wife. These brief key data show a typical biography for Jewish artists in Europe\, and also explain why they are hardly noticed. Despite all the methodological innovations and assurances\, art history is still written primarily according to national patterns. And artists who were forced to move through Europe fall through the cracks. Hungarian and German art history is mostly interested in Péri before 1933\, English in the artist after 1933. \n\n\n\n\n\nPeter László Péri\, Design for a Lenin monument\, 1924. Photo: Jake Wallters © Peter László Péri Estate\, London \nPeter László Péri\, Swings\, 1936\, pigmented concrete\, 52 × 61 × 3 cm. Photo: Jake Wallters © Peter László Péri Estate\, London \n\n\n\n\nArie Hartog is the director of the Gerhard-Marcks-Haus in Bremen\, Germany. He studied art history at the University of Nijmegen. His research focus is the history of sculpture in the 20th century. He is Chairman of the Association of Sculpture Museums and Sculpture Collections and researches on the history of sculpture in the 20th century and the posthumous further development of sculptural oeuvres of the so-called “classic modernism”. Publications are\, among others\, Hans Arp Sculptures. A critical inventory\, Ostfildern/Ruit 2012; Marc Gundel\, Arie Hartog\, Frank Schmidt (ed.): Female sculptors in Germany\, Cologne 2019; Prague Sculptures\, Cologne 2022. \nThe exhibition “Peter László Péri – Péri’s People” at Kunsthaus Dahlem in Berlin and Gerhard-Marcks-Haus in Bremen draws attention to a sculptor who contradicts the common narrative of modern art in the 20th century. He began as a constructivist and ended as a figurative artist. Yet he was not an academic traditional sculptor but combined the achievements of the avant-garde with a socialist-influenced idea of realism. \n\n\n\n\nPeter László Péri in his studio with the sculpture »Reflections«\, ca. 1960. © Peter László Péri Estate\, London \nPeter László Péri\, Help Your Neighbor\, ca. 1960\, Polyester\, 87 × Ø 77 cm. Photo: Jake Wallters © Peter László Péri Estate\, London \nThe exhibition “Peter László Péri – Péri’s People” is on view at Kunsthaus Dahlem\, Berlin until January 28\, 2024\, and at Gerhard-Marcks-Haus\, Bremen from March 10 until June 2nd\, 2024. \nKunsthaus Dahlem\, BerlinGerhard-Marcks-Haus\, Bremen\n\n\n\n\nThis event is part of the monthly series “Flight or Fight. stories of artists under repression\,” which is organized by The Fritz Ascher Society for Persecuted\, Ostracized and Banned Art\, New York. Future events and the recordings of past events can be found HERE. \nThe Fritz Ascher Society is a not-for-profit 501(c)3 organization. Your donation is fully tax deductible.\nYOUR SUPPORT MAKES OUR WORK POSSIBLE. THANK YOU. \n\n\n\n\n\nDONATE HERE URL:https://fritzaschersociety.org/exhibition-event/peter-lazlo-peri/ LOCATION:ONLINE\, VA\, United States CATEGORIES:Events,Lectures,Past Events ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://fritzaschersociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/20220701_Laszlo_Peri9167_Fv01-lpr.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20231108T180000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20231108T190000 DTSTAMP:20260405T155235 CREATED:20231010T002904Z LAST-MODIFIED:20231109T014618Z UID:7775-1699466400-1699470000@fritzaschersociety.org SUMMARY:Horst Eisfelder (1925-2023): Diasporic Life in Shanghai’s State of Exception Lecture by Dr Noit Banai\, Hong Kong and Dr Anna Hirsh\, Melbourne DESCRIPTION:Lecture by Dr Noit Banai and Dr Anna Hirsh\, followed by Q&A with Rodney Eisfelder\, son of Horst Eisfelder. \nImage above: Horst Eisfelder. Street scene in the Shanghai Ghetto\, Shanghai\, China\, circa 1945. Black and white photograph. Copyright: Horst Eisfelder estate \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAfter fleeing Berlin a few weeks before Kristallnacht and arriving in Shanghai with his family in late November 1938\, Horst Eisfelder (1925-2023) became one of the most prolific photographers of the ‘Shanghai Ghetto’ before emigrating to Australia in May 1947. Embedded within the history and theory of photography\, this presentation considers his images of the city of Shanghai as well as the Designated Area for Stateless Refugees as vital representations through which to understand the constitution of diasporic life for the diverse Jewish communities who survived the war in this polyglot port of last resort. To do so\, Noit Banai examines Eisfelder’s practice as a continuation of modernist conventions and argues that their use made it possible to transform unfamiliar conditions of stateless into an experience that could be integrated within legible (Western) norms. At the same time\, she asks whether the modernist photographic idiom that Eisfelder adopted was itself transformed via its intersection with a singular state of exception. \n\n\n\n\n\nHorst Eisfelder. Portrait of Hedwig Eisfelder at Café Louis\, 1944\, Shanghai\, China. Black and white photograph. Copyright: Horst Eisfelder estate \nPortrait of Horst Eisfelder in 1945. Black and white photograph \n\n\n\n\n\nDr Noit Banai is an art historian and critic who specializes in modern and contemporary art in a global context\, with a focus on conditions of migrations\, exile\, diaspora\, border-regimes and statelessness. Before joining Hong Kong Baptist University as Associate Professor\, Art and Theory\, she was Professor of Contemporary Art in the Department of Art History at the University of Vienna and Lecturer of Modern and Contemporary Art at Tufts University/School of the Museum of Fine Arts\, Boston. \nShe is the author of Yves Klein (Reaktion Books\, 2014)\, Being a Border (Paper Visual Arts\, 2021) and articles appearing in journals such as Third Text\, Stedelijk Studies\, Public Culture\, Performing Arts Journal\, and Texte zur Kunst.  She served as assistant editor for the journal RES: Anthropology and Aesthetics and is a regular contributor to Artforum International.  Her current project “Stateless: Jewish Artist Refugees: Shanghai\, Hong Kong\, and Singapore\, 1933-1950\,” develops a trans-national analysis of the artistic production of stateless European Jewish artists who were living under the logic of modernity/ coloniality and the Japanese Occupation in three East Asian cities. \n\n\n\n\n\nHorst Eisfelder. Bake staff at Café Louis with Erwin Eisfelder in center\, circa 1941\, Shanghai\, China. Black and white photograph. Copyright: Horst Eisfelder estate \nHorst Eisfelder. Street Scene opposite Café Louis. n.d. Shanghai\, China. black and white photograph. Copyright: Horst Eisfelder estate \nDr Anna Hirsh is the Manager of Collections & Research at the Melbourne Holocaust Museum\, where she has worked for nearly a decade. She holds a PhD in Jewish History and Culture\, a Masters of Art Curatorship\, and a Bachelor of Education (Visual Arts). She is responsible for the collection\, documentation\, and preservation of the collection at the MHM\, which holds artefacts and testimonies mostly from the Melbourne survivor and descendant community. She provides research and content support across the museum\, and externally. Anna has worked on various museum and art projects over the years. She holds the honorary positions of Co-President of the Australian Association for Jewish Studies\, and Honorary Fellow at Deakin University. \nBibliography:\nHistory of Photography\, Winter 1999\, Photography and the Holocaust.\nPages 356-359 My Photographic Career in Shanghai\, Horst ‘Peter’ Eisfelder\nhttps://doi.org/10.1080/03087298.1999.10443344 \nJewish Holocaust Centre\, Melbourne Australia (now the Melbourne Holocaust Museum)\nIn conversation with … Horst Eisfelder\, Photos and memories of Shanghai 12-Oct-2015\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jGGGN5ioTY \nStammbaum\, The Journal of German-Jewish Genealogical Research\, (Leo Baeck Institute)\nIssue 20 Winter 2002 Pages 3-6. Horst Eisfelder and his Shanghai Photographs: An Interview\nhttps://archive.org/details/stammbaum_202103/Issue%2020%20%28Winter%202002%29/ \nChinese Exile: My years in Shanghai and Nanking by Horst “Peter” Eisfelder 2004\nhttps://www.avotaynu.com/books/ChineseExile.htm or https://www.avotaynubooks.com/product-page/chinese-exile \nShoah Foundation Visual History Archive – Horst Eisfelder\, 1996\nhttps://vha.usc.edu/testimony/18227 \n\n\n\n\n\nThis event is part of the monthly series “Flight or Fight. stories of artists under repression\,” which is organized by The Fritz Ascher Society for Persecuted\, Ostracized and Banned Art\, New York. Future events and the recordings of past events can be found HERE. \nThe Fritz Ascher Society is a not-for-profit 501(c)3 organization. Your donation is fully tax deductible.\nYOUR SUPPORT MAKES OUR WORK POSSIBLE. THANK YOU. \n\n\n\n\n\nDONATE HERE URL:https://fritzaschersociety.org/exhibition-event/horst-eisfelder/ LOCATION:ONLINE\, VA\, United States CATEGORIES:Events,Lectures,Past Events ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://fritzaschersociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/EisfelderGhetto_Fig9.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20231025T120000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20231025T130000 DTSTAMP:20260405T155235 CREATED:20230929T172317Z LAST-MODIFIED:20231025T175611Z UID:7640-1698235200-1698238800@fritzaschersociety.org SUMMARY:Eva Zeisel\, Designer Extraordinaire Lecture by daughter Jean Richards\, New York DESCRIPTION:Eva Zeisel (born Éva Amália Striker\, Budapest 1906 –2011 New City\, New York) was one of the most important designers of the 20th century. She believed that beautiful things make people happy. Although she was known for her ceramic tableware\, she also designed in glass\, wood\, plastic and metal. Her designs are in major museums around the world\, including the Metropolitan Museum\, the British Museum and MoMA\, where she had the first one woman show in 1946. \nLecture by Eva’s daughter Jean Richards. \nImage above: Eva Zeisel\, Red Wing Pottery pieces from “Town and Country” collection. Glazed earthenware\, ca. 1945. CC BY 4.0 \n\n\n\n\n\nPhotograph of a young Eva Zeisel. © Eva Zeisel Estate \n Eva Zeisel with Dimple Spindel rug. © Eva Zeisel Estate \n\n\n\n\n\nEva was born in 1906 in Budapest to a well-known intellectual family\, the Polanyi’s. \n\n\nShe lived a rather unconventional life\, spurred on by curiosity\, designing for various factories around the world.  Her curiosity and her work led her from Weimar Berlin to Russia\, where she eventually became artistic director of the China and Glass Trust.  Much to her surprise\, while in Russia\, she was arrested. Since she was not politically active\, she assumed it was an error and she’d be back in a few days. She was accused of conspiring to assassinate Stalin. Although she was entirely innocent\, she stayed in prison for 16 months\, many in solitary confinement. Recent research shows that Stalin was directly involved in her case\, and perhaps responsible for the decision to expel her rather than shoot her. \n\n\nEva Zeisel died in 2011 at the age of 105. Her designs are still on the market. \n\n\n\n\n\nEva Zeisel\, Museum Dinner Service\, c. 1942-45. Glazed porcelain. Manufactured by Castleton China Co.\, New Castle\, PA. Designed for the Museum of Modern Art. © Eva Zeisel Estate \nEva Zeisel\, Tsolnay Vases\, Budapest. Not dated. Glazed earthenware. Erie Art Museum\, Erie\, PA © Eva Zeisel Estate \n\nJean Richards\, a graduate of Yale Drama School\, is an actor who appeared in minor and major theatre productions. She specialized in voice-overs and has written best-selling children’s books.  Still on the market is “A Fruit is a Suitcase for Seeds”\, Lerner Publishing. \n\nEva Zeisel. A Soviet Prison Memoir was compiled by Jean Richards and Brent Brolin\, Edward P. Gazur (Foreword) \nMemoir of Eva Zeisel’s 16 months in a Soviet prison (1937-38) during the Stalinist purges. It includes poems written in prison\, many of her NKDV case documents (original Russian copies and translations)\, photos from the time\, maps of her travels in Russia\, audio clips from later reminiscences\, and video clips from her return in 2000. \nThe book can be purchased HERE. \nToday\, Eva’s grandson\, Adam Zeisel\, produces some of Eva’s most classic designs. They can be purchased at his online store. \n\n\n\n\n\nThis event is part of the monthly series “Flight or Fight. stories of artists under repression\,” which is organized by The Fritz Ascher Society for Persecuted\, Ostracized and Banned Art\, New York. Future events and the recordings of past events can be found HERE. \nThe Fritz Ascher Society is a not-for-profit 501(c)3 organization. Your donation is fully tax deductible.\nYOUR SUPPORT MAKES OUR WORK POSSIBLE. THANK YOU. \n\n\n\n\n\nDONATE HERE URL:https://fritzaschersociety.org/exhibition-event/eva-zeisel/ LOCATION:ONLINE\, VA\, United States CATEGORIES:Events,Lectures,Past Events ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://fritzaschersociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Eva_Zeisel_Red_Wing_Pottery_02.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20230927T120000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20230927T130000 DTSTAMP:20260405T155235 CREATED:20230901T230313Z LAST-MODIFIED:20230927T182453Z UID:7605-1695816000-1695819600@fritzaschersociety.org SUMMARY:Art for the Millions: American Culture and Politics in the 1930s Lecture by Allison Rudnick\, New York DESCRIPTION:The 1930s was a decade of political and social upheaval in the United States\, and the art and visual culture of the time reflected the unsettled environment. Americans searched for their cultural identity during the Great Depression\, a period marked by divisive politics\, threats to democracy\, and intensified social activism\, including a powerful labor movement. The exhibition with the same title\, on view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art New York until December 10\, 2023\, features more than 100 works from the collection and several lenders\, and explores how artists expressed political messages and ideologies through a range of media\, from paintings\, sculptures\, prints\, and photographs to film\, dance\, decorative arts\, fashion\, and ephemera. \nHighlights include paintings by Georgia O’Keeffe\, Charles Sheeler\, and Stuart Davis; prints by Elizabeth Olds\, Dox Thrash\, and Riva Helfond; photographs by Walker Evans and Dorothea Lange; footage of Martha Graham’s dance Frontier; and more\, providing an unprecedented overview of the era’s sociopolitical landscape. \nLecture by Allison Rudnick\, New York. \n\n\n\n\n\nAllison Rudnick is Associate Curator in the Department of Drawings and Prints at the Metropolitan Museum of Art\, where she oversees the visual culture and ephemera collections. Her exhibitions include Art for the Millions: American Culture and Politics in the 1930s\, at The Met. Prior to joining The Met in 2012\, she worked at the printshop and publisher Harlan & Weaver\, and she has published and presented extensively on printmaking practices and visual culture. \nIda York Abelman (American\, New York 1910–2002)\, Man and Machine\, ca. 1939. Published by WPA \nEgmont Hegel Arens (American\, Cleveland\, Ohio 1887–1966 New York)\, Theodore C. Brookhart (American Celina\, Ohio 1898–1942 Sydney\, Ohio)\, David Anderson Meeker (American\, Greenville\, Ohio 1901–1985 Troy\, Ohio)\, “Streamliner” Meat Slicer\, 1940. Hobart Manufacturing Company\, Troy\, Ohio\nMore information about the exhibition\, on view until December 10\, 2023 at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York\, HERE. \nYou can order the exhibition catalogue HERE. \n\n\n\n\n\nThis event is part of the monthly series “Flight or Fight. stories of artists under repression\,” which is organized by The Fritz Ascher Society for Persecuted\, Ostracized and Banned Art\, New York. Future events and the recordings of past events can be found HERE. \nThe Fritz Ascher Society is a not-for-profit 501(c)3 organization. Your donation is fully tax deductible.\nYOUR SUPPORT MAKES OUR WORK POSSIBLE. THANK YOU. \n\n\n\n\n\nDONATE HERE URL:https://fritzaschersociety.org/exhibition-event/art-for-the-millions/ LOCATION:ONLINE\, VA\, United States CATEGORIES:Events,Lectures,Past Events ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://fritzaschersociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/b756d137e40978ae425278e63d2bcd06f6aca82b-5120x5120.jpg-copy-2.jpeg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20230913T120000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20230913T130000 DTSTAMP:20260405T155235 CREATED:20230831T151838Z LAST-MODIFIED:20230913T173035Z UID:7587-1694606400-1694610000@fritzaschersociety.org SUMMARY:From Émigré to Englishman: Fred Uhlman\, ‘Painter of Dreams’Lecture by Dr. Nicola Baird\, London DESCRIPTION:Manfred [Fred] Uhlman was born on 19th January 1901 in Stuttgart\, Germany\, the eldest child of Ludwig Uhlman (1869–c.1943)\, a textile merchant\, and his wife\, Johanna Grombacher (1879–c.1943)\, both of whom were later to perish at Theresienstadt concentration camp. He studied law at the Universities of Freiburg\, Munich\, and Tübingen\, graduating with a doctorate in 1923. In 1927 he joined the Social Democrat Party\, becoming its official legal representative in 1932. \n\nImage above: Fred Uhlman\, Still Life with African Figures\, oil on canvas\, Hatton Gallery\, © the artist’s estate / Bridgeman Images. Photo credit: Hatton Gallery \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nIn March 1933\, after a warning that his arrest was imminent because of his political affiliations\, he fled to Paris. There\, unable to work as a lawyer he began to paint\, encouraged by his cousin\, Paul Elsas\, who was himself a painter\, and German émigré art historian\, Paul Westheim\, who championed individualism and chronicled the lives of ‘Artists\, spiritual warriors\, society’s outsiders\, who have lived the adventurous life of the creative spirit’. \nIn Paris\, Uhlman was celebrated as a ‘naïve’ artist for his ‘pictorial fantasies’ and ‘poetic’\, ‘childlike vision.’ Inherent in Uhlman’s paintings is a peculiar sense of unreality which\, by evading exact periodisation\, allow them to function as mythic histories of no time. \n\n\n\n\n\n\nFred Uhlman\, Les avions\, c. 1938-39. Oil on canvas\, Royal Academy of Music © the artist’s estate / Bridgeman Images. Photo credit: Royal Academy of Music \nFred Uhlman\, Street Corner in St Servan\, 1949\, oil on canvas\, York Art Gallery\, © the artist’s estate / Bridgeman Images. Photo credit: York Museums Trust \n\n\n\n\nOn 3rd September 1936 Uhlman immigrated to Britain\, he had no money and was little able to speak English. Two years later he and his wife Diana\, née Croft\, settled at 47 Downshire Hill in Hampstead – a haven for refugee artists including John Heartfield\, pioneer of photomontage. There\, they co-founded the Artists’ Refugee Committee – assisting the flight of many artists from Czechoslovakia in the wake of the Munich Agreement – and the Free German League of Culture\, an anti-Nazi refugee organization whose members included Oskar Kokoschka and Stefan Zweig. Uhlman’s work was included in the Exhibition of Twentieth Century German Art at the New Burlington Galleries in 1938 – the first and last major exhibition in which art produced in Nazi occupied countries was displayed (until the end of the war) – under the heading ‘artists now working in this country’. \nIn June 1940\, nine months after the outbreak of the Second World War\, Uhlman\, along with thousands of other ‘enemy aliens’ was interned by the British government at Hutchinson Camp on the Isle of Man. He was released six months later and reunited with his wife and daughter\, born during his internment.  A selection of the drawings he produced in internment were published by Jonathan Cape\, under the title Captivity\, in 1946. \nAfter 1945 he became internationally known\, exhibiting\, for example\, at the Graphisches Kabinett\, Bremen (1954). A large-scale exhibition of his work was last held at the Leighton House Museum in London in 1968 and he has since been largely forgotten. Uhlman is the author of The Making of an Englishman\, 1960 and the enduringly popular novella\, Reunion\, 1971 (adapted for film by Harold Pinter in 1989 and for stage by Ronan Wilmot in 2010). \n\n\n\n\nFred Uhlman\, Parliament Square\, Coronation\, 1953\, oil on board\, Government Art Collection\, © the artist’s estate / Bridgeman Images. Photo credit: Government Art Collection \nFred Uhlman\, Brab\, c. 1971\, oil on canvas\, London Borough of Camden\, Town Hall Extension © the artist’s estate / Bridgeman Images. Photo credit- London Borough of Camden \n\nDr Nicola Baird is an independent researcher\, writer and curator affiliated with the Centre for the Study of the Networked Image\, London South Bank University. In 2018 she curated the retrospective ‘The Making of an Englishman’: Fred Uhlman\, a Retrospective at Burgh House\, London and the Hatton Gallery\, Newcastle and edited the accompanying publication. She also curated the exhibitions Czech Routes to Britain: Selected Czechoslovak Artists in Britain from the Ben Uri and Private Collections (Ben Uri Gallery\, 2019)\, an exhibition of the early work of Gustav Metzger\, a German Jewish artist and activist born to Polish parents (Ben Uri Gallery\, 2021)\, and Knots: Jonny Briggs x Burgh House: Contemporary Interventions into an Historic House (Burgh House\, 2021-22). She is a contributor to the International Yearbook of Futurism Studies\, the Journal of Avant-Garde Studies and the Journal of Modern Periodical Studies and has spoken at conferences in the UK\, Belgium\, Czech Republic\, Portugal and New Zealand. \n\nFred Uhlman with the pipe he was well known for smoking\, c. 1970s © Estate of Fred Uhlman \n\n\n\n\n\nThis event is part of the monthly series “Flight or Fight. stories of artists under repression\,” which is organized by The Fritz Ascher Society for Persecuted\, Ostracized and Banned Art\, New York. Future events and the recordings of past events can be found HERE. \nWE ARE HALFWAY THERE! Please help us achieve our goal of raising – before the end of the Jewish year – $8\,000.00 to support our virtual lecture program. Your donation helps us organize programs that discover and commemorate artists persecuted by the German Nazi regime. In learning about their lives and art and discussing the historical and cultural context they lived in\, we aim to understand history better to help create a better future for us all. \nThe Fritz Ascher Society is a not-for-profit 501(c)3 organization. Your donation is fully tax deductible.\nYOUR SUPPORT MAKES OUR WORK POSSIBLE. THANK YOU. \n\n\n\n\n\nDONATE HERE URL:https://fritzaschersociety.org/exhibition-event/fred-uhlman/ LOCATION:ONLINE\, VA\, United States CATEGORIES:Events,Lectures,Past Events ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://fritzaschersociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/UhlmanF1.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20230823T120000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20230823T130000 DTSTAMP:20260405T155235 CREATED:20230726T091539Z LAST-MODIFIED:20230823T181345Z UID:7530-1692792000-1692795600@fritzaschersociety.org SUMMARY:THE ISLAND OF EXTRAORDINARY CAPTIVES Book Talk by author Simon Parkin\, London DESCRIPTION:In May 1940\, faced with a country gripped by paranoia\, Britain’s Prime Minister Winston Churchill ordered the internment of all German and Austrian citizens living in the country. Most were refugees who had come to the country to escape Nazi oppression. They were now imprisoned by the country in which they had staked their trust. More than 1\,200 men were taken to Hutchinson camp\, on the Isle of Man\, which a group of world-renowned artists\, musicians and academics turned into history’s most extraordinary prison camp. This is a story of a battle between fear and compassion at a time of national crisis that reveals how Britain’s treatment of refugees during the Second World War led to one of the nation’s most shameful missteps\, and how hope and creativity can flourish in even the most challenging circumstances. \nLecture by Simon Parkin\, introduced and moderated by Rachel Stern. \n\nImage above: Internees behind the wire at Hutchinson Square\, 1940 \n\n\n\n\nThe police came for Peter Fleischmann in the early hours. It reminded the teenager of the Gestapo’s moonlit roundups he had narrowly avoided at home in Berlin. Now\, having endured a perilous journey to reach England – hiding from the rampaging Nazi thugs at his orphanage\, boarding a Kindertransport to safety – here the aspiring artist was\, on a ship bound for the Isle of Man\, suspected of being a Nazi spy. What had gone wrong? \nPeter Fleischmann with art folder\, 2 December 1938 \nCollecting food bins \n\n\n\n\nIn May 1940\, faced with a country gripped by paranoia\, Prime Minister Winston Churchill ordered the internment of all German and Austrian citizens living in Britain. Most\, like Peter\, were refugees who had come to the country to escape Nazi oppression. They were now imprisoned by the very country in which they had staked their trust. \nPainstakingly researched from dozens of unpublished first-hand accounts and previously classified documents\, The Island of Extraordinary Captives tells\, for the first time\, the story of history’s most astonishing internment camp and of how a group of world-renown artists\, musicians and academics came to be seen as ‘enemy aliens’. \n\n\n\n\nKurt Schwitters\, Aerated V\, 1941 \nPeter Fleischmann\, Self-Portrait\, 1940 \nSimon Parkin is a contributing writer for the New Yorker\, and regularly writes for The Guardian and The Observer newspapers. He is a finalist in the Foreign Press Association Media Awards and recipient of two awards from the Society of Professional Journalists. His book\, ‘The Island of Extraordinary Captives’\, about the Hutchinson internment camp on the Isle of Man\, is a New York Times recommended read\, and is the winner of the 2023 Wingate Literary Prize. \nSimon Parkin\, The Island of Extraordinary Captives\, Scribner (November 1\, 2022)\, ISBN13: 9781982178529 \nBOOK ORDER IN THE USBOOK ORDER IN GERMANY\n\n\n\n\nThis event is part of the monthly series “Flight or Fight. stories of artists under repression\,” which is organized by The Fritz Ascher Society for Persecuted\, Ostracized and Banned Art\, New York. Future events and the recordings of past events can be found HERE. \nThe Fritz Ascher Society is a not-for-profit 501(c)3 organization. Your donation is fully tax deductible.\nYOUR SUPPORT MAKES OUR WORK POSSIBLE. THANK YOU. \n\n\n\n\n\nDONATE HERE URL:https://fritzaschersociety.org/exhibition-event/simon-parkin/ LOCATION:ONLINE\, VA\, United States CATEGORIES:Events,Lectures,Past Events ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://fritzaschersociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Internees-behind-the-wire-at-Hutchinson-Square-1940-copy.jpeg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20230809T120000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20230809T130000 DTSTAMP:20260405T155235 CREATED:20230717T141611Z LAST-MODIFIED:20230809T183511Z UID:7506-1691582400-1691586000@fritzaschersociety.org SUMMARY:A Painter in Search of an Audience: Marie-Louise von Motesiczky in Exile Talk by Ines Schlenker\, London DESCRIPTION:Marie-Louise von Motesiczky was born into a wealthy\, aristocratic Jewish family in Vienna in 1906. She trained under the German painter Max Beckmann\, a family friend\, and embarked on a promising career. When the National Socialists marched into Austria in 1938 Motesiczky fled the country for the Netherlands\, eventually settling in England. Her attempts to build a new life in a foreign country were supported by a network of fellow émigrés\, among them the painter Oskar Kokoschka and the writer Elias Canetti\, with whom she had a long relationship. \n\nLecture by Ines Schlenker\, introduced and moderated by Rachel Stern. \n\nImage above: Self-Portrait with Red Hat\, 1938 (Private Collection) ©️Marie-Louise von Motesiczky Charitable Trust 2023 \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nIn a career that spanned over seven decades she created a large oeuvre of over three hundred paintings\, mainly portraits\, self-portraits and still-lifes. Reluctant to exhibit and not forced to sell her work for a living\, her art developed away from the public eye\, independent of current trends. Although\, over the decades\, she had a number of solo exhibitions both in her adopted country and abroad\, her artistic career failed to take off for a long time. \n\n\n\n\nMarie-Louise von Motesiczky\, The Travellers\, 1940 (Stanley Museum of Art\, University of Iowa) ©️Marie-Louise von Motesiczky Charitable Trust 2023 \nMarie-Louise von Motesiczky\, Finchley Road at Night\, 1952 (Stedelijk Museum of Modern Art\, Amsterdam) ©️Marie-Louise von Motesiczky Charitable Trust 2023 \n\n\n\n\nWhile her solo exhibition at the Wiener Secession in 1966 brought her artistic recognition in her native country\, her breakthrough in England only came in 1985 with a solo exhibition at the Goethe-Institut in London. Since then her reputation as a major émigré artist has steadily grown\, supported\, after her death in 1996\, by the activities of the Marie-Louise von Motesiczky Charitable Trust. \n\n\n\n\nMarie-Louise von Motesiczky\, Elias Canetti\, 1960 (Wien Museum\, Vienna) ©️Marie-Louise von Motesiczky Charitable Trust 2023 \nMarie-Louise von Motesiczky\, Iris Murdoch\, 1964 (St Anne’s College\, Oxford) ©️Marie-Louise von Motesiczky Charitable Trust 2023 \n\n\n\n\nInes Schlenker is an independent art historian with a special interest in National Socialist\, ‘degenerate’ and émigré art. Hitler’s Salon\, her study of the officially approved art in the Third Reich as shown at the Great German Art Exhibition\, was published in 2007. She wrote the catalogue raisonné of the paintings of the Vienna-born émigré Marie-Louise von Motesiczky (2009)\, co-edited the artist’s correspondence with the writer Elias Canetti (2011) and curated the exhibition at Tate Britain\, London\, that celebrated the opening of the Marie-Louise von Motesiczky Archive Gallery in 2019. Recent publications include Capturing Time\, a study of the life and work of the émigré artist Milein Cosman (2019)\, and Chagall (2022). She is a member of the committee of the Research Centre for German and Austrian Exile Studies. \nYou can find out more about the artist in the following publications by Ines Schlenker: \nMarie-Louise von Motesiczky 1906–1996\, exhibition catalogue\, Tate Liverpool/Museum Giersch\, Frankfurt am Main/Wien Museum\, Vienna/Southampton City Art Gallery\, 2006 \nMarie-Louise von Motesiczky 1906–1996. A Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings\, Manchester and New York 2009 \nLiebhaber ohne Adresse. Elias Canetti und Marie-Louise von Motesiczky. Briefwechsel 1942–1992\, co-edited with Kristian Wachinger\, Munich 2011 (French translation available\, no English translation) \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMarie-Louise von Motesiczky\, From Night into Day\, 1975 (Tate\, London) ©️Marie-Louise von Motesiczky Charitable Trust 2023 \n\n\n\n\nMarie-Louise von Motesiczky Charitable Trust\n\n\n\n\nThis event is part of the monthly series “Flight or Fight. stories of artists under repression\,” which is organized by The Fritz Ascher Society for Persecuted\, Ostracized and Banned Art\, New York. Future events and the recordings of past events can be found HERE. \nThe Fritz Ascher Society is a not-for-profit 501(c)3 organization. Your donation is fully tax deductible.\nYOUR SUPPORT MAKES OUR WORK POSSIBLE. THANK YOU. \n\n\n\n\n\nDONATE HERE URL:https://fritzaschersociety.org/exhibition-event/marie-louise-von-motesiczky/ LOCATION:ONLINE\, VA\, United States CATEGORIES:Events,Lectures,Past Events ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://fritzaschersociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Self-Portrait-with-Red-Hat.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20230719T120000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20230719T130000 DTSTAMP:20260405T155235 CREATED:20230709T134301Z LAST-MODIFIED:20230719T175104Z UID:7457-1689768000-1689771600@fritzaschersociety.org SUMMARY:Between America and France: Varian Fry and the Rescue of ArtistsTalk by Ori Z Soltes\, PhD DESCRIPTION:With a belated reminder of the proximity of the American and French Independent Day celebrations\, this talk focuses on the artists’ Schindler\, the American journalist\, Varian Fry (1907-1967). Using methods both legal and not\, Fry managed to rescue some 2\,000 individuals from France between 1940 and 1941. \nFrance had become largely swallowed up by Nazi Germany\, the “free” parts in Southern France (Vichy France) were not necessarily unreluctant to assist with the deportation of Jews into Nazi-held territories\, and the US immigration policies were far from open-handed to those seeking refuge. Who was he and who were some of those he helped—or in some cases\, could not help—to escape destruction? \nLecture by Ori Z. Soltes\, introduced and moderated by Rachel Stern. \n\nImage above: Max Ernst\, Jacqueline Breton\, Andre Masson\, Andre Breton\, Varian Fry. Varian Fry papers\, RBML\, Columbia University Libraries\, New York \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n“In some ways I owe him my life\,” the sculptor Jacques Lipchitz\, who had remained devoted to Fry\, wrote to Annette Fry in his condolence letter.  “I did not want to go away from France.  It was his severe and clairvoyant letters which helped me finally to do so.  And of what help he was once I decided to go to America!  I mourn with you this marvelous man\, lost a little in our difficult world\, and I will cherish his memory to the end of my life.” \n\n\n\n\nVarian Fry walking along the street in Marseille\, 1940-1941. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum\, courtesy of Annette Fry \nAmedeo Modigliani\, Jacques and Berthe Lipchitz\, 1916. Art Institute Chicago. Public domain\, via Wikimedia Commons \n\n\n\n\nOri Z Soltes\, PhD\, teaches at Georgetown University across a range of disciplines\, from art history and theology to philosophy and political history. He is the former Director of the B’nai B’rith Klutznick National Jewish Museum\, and has curated more than 90 exhibitions across the country and overseas. He has authored or edited 25 books and several hundred articles and essays. Recent volumes include The Ashen Rainbow: Essays on the Arts and the Holocaust; and Tradition and Transformation: Three Millennia of Jewish Art & Architecture. \nRachel Stern is the Director of The Fritz Ascher Society for Persecuted\, Ostracized and Banned Art in New York. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEuropean refugees assisted by the Emergency Rescue Committee on board the Capitaine Paul-Lemerle\, a converted cargo ship sailing from Marseille to Martinique\, March 25\, 1941. Photo: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPierre Sauvage’s long awaited documentary A YEAR THAT MATTERED: VARIAN FRY AND THE REFUGEE CRISIS\, MARSEILLE\, 1940-41 is scheduled to be released in 2024. \n\n\n\n\nMORE INFORMATION ABOUT 2024 DOCUMENTARYVarian Fry and his rescue efforts are featured in “Transatlantic\,” a new limited series now playing on Netflix: \n\n\n\n\n\nThis event is part of the monthly series “Flight or Fight. stories of artists under repression\,” which is organized by The Fritz Ascher Society for Persecuted\, Ostracized and Banned Art\, New York. Future events and the recordings of past events can be found HERE. \nThe Fritz Ascher Society is a not-for-profit 501(c)3 organization. Your donation is fully tax deductible.\nYOUR SUPPORT MAKES OUR WORK POSSIBLE. THANK YOU. \n\n\n\n\n\nDONATE HERE URL:https://fritzaschersociety.org/exhibition-event/varian-fry/ LOCATION:ONLINE\, VA\, United States CATEGORIES:Events,Lectures,Past Events ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://fritzaschersociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Max-Ernst-Jacqueline-Breton-Andre-Masson-Andre-Breton-Varian-Fry-768x774-copy.jpeg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20230625 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20240115 DTSTAMP:20260405T155235 CREATED:20230329T133341Z LAST-MODIFIED:20240116T012229Z UID:7314-1687651200-1705276799@fritzaschersociety.org SUMMARY:Emmy Rubensohn! Netzwerkerin und Musikförderin – von Leipzig bis New YorkJune 25 - January 14\, 2024Museen im GRASSI\, Leipzig\, Germany DESCRIPTION:Emmy Rubensohn! Networker and Music Patron – from Leipzig to New York \nEmmy Rubensohn (1884-1961) was a networker\, music patron\, concert manager and author of letters. Born in Leipzig in 1884 as the daughter of the Jewish entrepreneurial family Frank\, she attended Gewandhaus concerts at an early age and collected autographs from prominent artists of her time. \nAfter marrying Ernst Rubensohn in 1907\, she moved to Kassel\, where the couple turned their house into a cultural meeting place\, where composers and performers such as Wilhelm Furtwängler\, Walter Braunfels or Ernst Krenek\, or visual artists such as the painter Oskar Kokoschka or the sculptor Benno Elkan guested. Thanks to a “residency grant”\, Krenek was able to complete his opera “Jonny spielt auf” here\, which premiered in Leipzig in 1927 and became the greatest opera success of the 1920s. \nFrom 1933 Emmy and her husband Ernst were exposed to increasing threats from the Nazi regime. Emmy organized concerts for the Jewish Cultural Association to enable Jewish musicians to earn an income\, for example with the conductor Joseph Rosenstock or the pianist Grete Sultan. \nIn 1940 the couple fled to Shanghai via Berlin. There\, too\, Emmy surrounded herself with music and culture and organized concerts. In 1947 the couple managed to emigrate to New York. \nAt all stages of life\, Emmy Rubensohn maintained a global network of artistic friends\, which can be reconstructed from the guest book that has been preserved. \nIn New York\, this circle of friends included the violinist Roman Totenberg\, the conductor Dimitri Mitropoulos and Alma Mahler-Werfel. \nExhibition view \nPatron of the exhibition is Ken Toko\, US Consul General of Saxony\, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia. \nThe exhibition was organized by the GRASSI Museum für Völkerkunde\, the GRASSI Museum für Musikinstrumente\, and the Fritz Ascher Society for Persecuted\, Ostracized and Banned Art in New York. \nIt was curated by Matthias Henke\, Stefan Hindtsche\, Léontine Meijer-van Mensch and Rachel Stern. \nGenerously supported by the US Consulate General of Saxony\, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia and by Reinwald GmbH Böhlen. \nThe exhibition is on view June 25 – January 14\, 2024 at Museen im GRASSI\, Johannisplatz 5-11\, 04103\, Leipzig\, Second Floor\, Foyer and Special Exhibition Space of the Musikinstrumentenmuseum der Universität Leipzig\, T +49 351 49 14 2000. \nOPENING HOURS: Tuesday – Sunday 10:00 am – 6:00 pm. \nA free ticket to visit the exhibition can be obtained from the GRASSI ticket office on the first floor. \nMatthias Henke’s richly illustrated\, bi-lingual book\, “Emmy Rubensohn. Musikmäzenin/Music Patron (1884–1961)” allows a deeper exploration of the curiosity and creativity\, passion\, resilience and connectedness of Emmy Rubensohn\, who revealed in a letter dated September 17\, 1946\, to Oskar Kokoschka: “Music has faithfully accompanied and always comforted me\, through the great pain we have all suffered at the hands of fate\, and the grief [we feel] for our dead and the victims.” \nORDER HEREListen to David Dambitsch’s German language exhibition review at Deutschlandfunk\, which aired September 29: \nDEUTSCHLANDFUNK EXHIBITION REVIEW (AUDIO\, GERMAN)DEUTSCH \nEmmy Rubensohn (1884–1961) war Netzwerkerin\, Musikförderin\, Konzertmanagerin\, und Briefautorin. Geboren 1884 in Leipzig als Tochter der jüdischen Unternehmerfamilie Frank\, besuchte sie schon früh Gewandhauskonzerte und sammelte Autogramme prominenter Künstlerinnen und Künstler ihrer Zeit. \nNach der Heirat mit Ernst Rubensohn 1907 zog sie nach Kassel\, wo das Ehepaar ihr Haus zu einem kulturellen Treffpunkt machten\, wo Komponisten und Interpreten wie Wilhelm Furtwängler\, Walter Braunfels oder Ernst Krenek\, oder bildende Künstler wie der Maler Oskar Kokoschka oder der Bildhauer Benno Elkan gastierten. Dank eines „Residenzstipendiums“ konnte Krenek hier seine Oper „Jonny spielt auf“ vollenden\, die 1927 ihre Uraufführung in Leipzig feierte\, und zum grössten Opernerfolg der 1920er Jahre wurde. \nAb 1933 waren Emmy und ihr Mann Ernst zunehmenden Bedrohungen durch das Naziregime ausgesetzt. Emmy organisierte Konzerte für den Jüdischen Kulturbund\, um jüdischen Musikern ein Einkommen zu ermöglichen\, etwa mit dem Dirigenten Joseph Rosenstock oder der Pianistin Grete Sultan. \n1940 flüchtete das Ehepaar über Berlin nach Shanghai. Auch dort umgab sich Emmy mit Musik und Kultur und organisierte Konzerte. 1947 gelang es dem Ehepaar\, nach New York zu emigrieren. \nAn allen Lebensstationen pflegte Emmy Rubensohn ein weltumspannendes Netzwerk künstlerischer Freunde\, das sich anhand des erhaltenen Gästebuchs rekonstruieren lässt. \nZu diesem Freundeskreis gehörten in New York der Geiger Roman Totenberg\, der Dirigenten Dimitri Mitropoulos und Alma Mahler-Werfel. \nSchirmherr der Ausstellung ist Ken Toko\, US Generalkonsul von Mitteldeutschland. \nDie Ausstellung wurde organisiert vom GRASSI Museum für Völkerkunde\, dem GRASSI Museum für Musikinstrumente\, und der Fritz Ascher Society for Persecuted\, Ostracized and Banned Art. \nSie wurde curatiert von Matthias Henke\, Stefan Hindtsche\, Léontine Meijer-van Mensch und Rachel Stern. \nMit freundlicher Unterstützung des US-Generalkonsulates für Sachsen\, Sachsen-Anhalt und Thüringen und der Reinwald GmbH Böhlen. \nDie Ausstellung ist zu sehen vom 25. Juni bis zum 14. Januar 2024 in den Museen im GRASSI\, Johannisplatz 5-11\, 04103\, Leipzig\, 1. OG\, Foyer und Sonderausstellungsbereich des Musikinstrumentenmuseums der Universität Leipzig \nÖffnungszeiten: Dienstag – Sonntag 10:00 – 18:00 Uhr \nFür den Ausstellungsbesuch ist eine Freikarte erforderlich\, die an der Kasse im EG des GRASSI erhältlich ist. \nGRASSI Museum für VölkerkundeMusikinstrumentenmuseum der Universität LeipzigThe Fritz Ascher Society is a not-for-profit 501(c)3 organization. Your donation is fully tax deductible.\nYOUR SUPPORT MAKES OUR WORK POSSIBLE. THANK YOU. \nDONATE HERE URL:https://fritzaschersociety.org/exhibition-event/emmy-rubensohn-grassi/ LOCATION:Museen im GRASSI\, Johannisplatz 5-1\, Leipzig\, 04103\, Germany CATEGORIES:Exhibitions,Past Exhibitions ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://fritzaschersociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Foto-1-copy.jpeg ORGANIZER;CN="Museen im GRASSI":MAILTO:besucherservice@skd.museum END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20230607T120000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20230607T130000 DTSTAMP:20260405T155235 CREATED:20230430T150323Z LAST-MODIFIED:20230607T182904Z UID:7381-1686139200-1686142800@fritzaschersociety.org SUMMARY:Erwin Blumenfeld (1897-1968)\, from Berlin to New York.A life in photography Talk by granddaughter Nadia Blumenfeld Charbit\, Paris (France) DESCRIPTION:Photographer Erwin Blumenfeld (1897-1969) survived two world wars to become one of the world’s most highly-paid fashion photographers and a key influence on the development of photography as an art form. An experimenter and innovator\, he produced an extensive body of work including drawings\, collages\, portraits and nudes\, celebrity portraiture\, advertising campaigns and his renowned fashion photography both in black and white and color. \nIn this talk\, Paris-based granddaughter Nadia Blumenfeld Charbit gives her personal insights into the life and work of the photographer Erwin Blumenfeld. Introduced by Rachel Stern\, director of the Fritz Ascher Society. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nImage above: Erwin Blumenfeld\, Double Self-Portrait with Linhoff\, Paris\, 1938 © Erwin Blumenfeld Estate  \n\n\n\n\n\nBorn to a Jewish middle class family in Berlin in 1897\, Erwin Blumenfeld received his first camera when he was 10 years old and started photographing and developing films in his parent’s bathroom. After his service in World War I\, he moved to Amsterdam\, where he became part of the Dada art movement\, alongside artist Paul Citroen (1896-1983) and George Grosz (1893-1959). He married Paul’s cousin Lena in 1921 and opened a leather goods store on Kalverstraat to support his growing family. However\, business was not good and he started to photograph the clients coming into his shop. He had found a darkroom at the back of his store and practiced developing and various experiments such as solarizations and superimpositions\, inspired by magazines and their photographers\, such as Man Ray. \nIn 1933\, in reaction to Adolf Hitler’s rise to power in Germany\, Blumenfeld produced a series of photomontages: on a portrait of the Führer\, he painted tears of blood and superimposed a skull. Here\, Blumenfeld portrayed the Führer as an embodiment of death –  an image that was later used in Allied propaganda material. \nErwin Blumenfeld\, Lisa Fonssagrives at the Eiffel Tower\, Paris 1939. Published in the May 1939 issue of Paris Vogue © Erwin Blumenfeld Estate \nErwin Blumenfeld\, Grauenfresse\, Amsterdam\, 1933 © Erwin Blumenfeld Estate \n\n\n\n\n\nGallerist Carel van Lier\, who had twice shown his photographs in Amsterdam\, encouraged him to seek his fortune in Paris. At the end of 1935\, Erwin left for Paris. At first he mainly did portrait photography. He employed accessories – veils\, opaque glass\, mirrors – and sophisticated lighting\, then reworked his images in the darkroom. In 1938\, the British photographer Cecil Beaton introduced him to Michel de Brunhoff\, editor of Paris Vogue\, who hired him immediately. In August 1939\, Blumenfeld went to New York and signed a contract with Harper’s Bazaar to follow French fashion. When he returned to Paris\, France had declared war on Nazi Germany. As a former German citizen\, he was now considered an alien enemy\, and from France’s surrender on June 22\, 1940 he and his family were persecuted as Jews and forced to live in various internment camps. They were able to emigrate to New York in August 1941. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nErwin Blumenfeld\, Cargo Mont-Viso\, May 1941. © Erwin Blumenfeld Estate \nErwin Blumenfeld\, Natalia Pascov\, New York 1942 © Erwin Blumenfeld Estate \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nIn New York\, Erwin Blumenfeld resumed working for Harper’s Bazaar\, sharing a studio with the Bazaar photographer Martin Munkacsi. Success came quickly and from Harper’s Bazaar\, Blumenfeld moved to Vogue in 1943. He was never under contract with them\, but while photographing for many magazines and for advertising\, he did approximately 50 Vogue covers\, his main client until 1955. \nBlumenfeld quickly established himself as one of New York’s leading fashion photographers. In 1944\, he left Harper’s Bazaar and took photos for the covers of Vogue and other magazines. He deplored his difficulty in imposing his ideas on artistic directors obsessed with commercial prerogatives\, but prided himself on ‘smuggling art’ into these images. At the same time\, he still loved darkroom experimentations\, in Black and White photography and also in Color.\nBlumenfeld became one of the world’s most highly-paid fashion photographers and a key influence on the development of photography as an art form. \n\nHe worked in his studio at 222 Central Park South in New York City until his death in 1969. His autobiography “Eye to I” was published posthumously in the United States (Thames & Hudson 1999; the original German title is “Einbildungsroman”). \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nErwin Blumenfeld\, The red cross\, for Vogue US 1945 © Erwin Blumenfeld Estate \nErwin Blumenfeld\, Doe Eye\, model Jean Patchett\, for Vogue US 1950 © Erwin Blumenfeld Estate \n\n\n\n\n\n\nNadia Blumenfeld Charbit is a granddaughter of Erwin Blumenfeld. She was born on October 5\, 1960 in New York to physicist Henry photographer Kathleen Blumenfeld\, both of European origin. She grew up in Princeton NJ\, Geneva and Gif sur Yvette. Nadia studied medicine in Paris and became a MD and PhD in biochemistry. She worked in research and outpatient care in hemoglobin disorders and taught at Paris XII University in biochemistry and in bioethics. \nFor the past 20 years\, she has decreased her medical practice and increasingly involved herself in the conservation and archiving of her grandfather’s photographic legacy. She promoted publications and curated or co-curated exhibits at the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum for Photography\, the Jeu de Paume in Paris\, the Nicéphore Niépce Museum in Chalon sur Saône\, Somerset House in London\, Foam in Amsterdam\, The Folkwang Museum in Essen\, Shanghai\, Sao Paolo and very recently at the Paris Museum of Jewish Art and History (mahJ) titled “the Tribulations of Erwin Blumenfeld\, 1930-1950” (October 2022 – March 2023).\nNadia is the vice president of Ar’cime\, an organization that helps young artists working in France to show their work. She lives in Paris\, France\, with husband Jean-Louis Charbit and their 3 children; Milena\, Gabriel and Joachim. \n\n\n\n\n\n\nErwin Blumenfeld\, Self portrait with Deardorff\, NY\, c. 1950 © Erwin Blumenfeld Estate \n“The Man Who Shot Beautiful Women”\, 2013. Director: Nick Watson\, Producer: Remy Blumenfeld. \n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe 2013 documentary “The Man Who Shot Beautiful Women” explores the life of Erwin Blumenfeld – from two world wars\, to fashion industry greatness\, to mysterious death. In the first ever film about his life and work\, BBC Four uses exclusive access to Blumenfeld’s extensive archive of stunning photographs\, fashion-films\, home-movies and self-portraits to tell of a man obsessed by the pursuit of beautiful women\, but also by the endless possibilities of photography itself. With contributions from leading photographers Rankin\, Nick Knight and Sølve Sundsbø; and 82 year old supermodel\, Carmen Dell’Orefice\, it uncovers the richly complex story of one of the 20th Century’s most original photographic artists. \nDirector: Nick Watson\, Producer: Remy Blumenfeld. \n\n\n\n\n\n\nFILM RENTAL OR PURCHASE ON AMAZON PRIMEERWIN BLUMENFELD WEBSITE\n\n\n\n\n“Photography is so easy a medium to use\, the box camera\, a roll of film\, a snap – a picture! Photography\, the art\, is so immensely difficult because it is so easy to get a picture of sorts. One must work hard to smuggle anything into a photograph other than record keeping.” (Erwin Blumenfeld)\nThis event is part of our monthly series Flight or Fight. stories of artists under repression. Future events and the recordings of past events can be found HERE. \nYOUR SUPPORT MAKES OUR WORK POSSIBLE. THANK YOU. \n\n\n\n\n\nDONATE HERE URL:https://fritzaschersociety.org/exhibition-event/erwin-blumenfeld/ LOCATION:ONLINE\, VA\, United States CATEGORIES:Events,Lectures,Past Events ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://fritzaschersociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/1-Double-self-portrait-with-Linhoff-Paris-1938-copy-1.jpeg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20230503T120000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20230503T130000 DTSTAMP:20260405T155235 CREATED:20230328T101025Z LAST-MODIFIED:20230503T183621Z UID:7289-1683115200-1683118800@fritzaschersociety.org SUMMARY:The Missing Archive: Bauhaus Designers and the Holocaust. Presentation by Elizabeth Otto\, PhD\, Buffalo\, NY DESCRIPTION:Histories of Germany’s Bauhaus art and design school (1919–33) usually position it exclusively as a movement in exile as soon as the Nazis took power in 1933. In fact\, the vast majority of its members remained and embraced Nazism\, survived it\, or became its victims. In this talk\, art historian Elizabeth Otto scrutinizes traces of the work and lives of Bauhäusler who\, through their imprisonment and often deaths in the concentration-camp system\, have largely been lost to the history of the Bauhaus movement. Using archival sources—often scant materials preserved by family members and friends\, including documents\, photographs\, and private memoirs—she reconstructs aspects of these artists’ work and lives and considers how to write the histories that Nazi violence has taken from us. \nPresentation by Elizabeth Otto\, PhD\, professor for modern and contemporary art history and gender studies at the State University of New York at Buffalo\, followed by Q&A. Moderated by Rachel Stern\, director of the Fritz Ascher Society. \nImage above: Wanda Debschitz-Kunowski\, photograph of a design for a variable window display with modern lighting designs from the firm of Goldschmidt & Schwabe. Display by Otto Rittweger (with help from Charlotte Rothschild?) Published in the design journal Die Form in 1931 \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDr. Elizabeth Otto is professor for modern and contemporary art history and gender studies at the State University of New York at Buffalo. She has published widely on issues of gender and sexuality in the art\, design\, photography\, and visual culture of twentieth-century Europe. Among Otto’s books are Haunted Bauhaus: Occult Spirituality\, Gender Fluidity\, Queer Identities\, and Radical Politics (MIT Press\, 2019)\, winner of the Northeast Popular Culture Association’s 2020 Peter C. Rollins prize\, and Bauhaus Women: A Global Perspective (Bloomsbury\, 2019)\, co-authored with Dr. Patrick Rössler. Otto’s work has been supported by fellowships from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation\, the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts\, the Getty Research Institute\, the National Humanities Center\, and\, during the current academic year\, the Gerda Henkel Foundation and the Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Research at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum.\n\n\n\nPhotographer Unknown\, Portrait of Lotte Rothschild\, early 1930s. Gelatin silver print. Private collection \nInterior of Charlotte Rothschild Menzel‘s French clothing and textile ration book with a false identity as Charlotte Flocon\, a (non-Jewish) Swiss national; probably counterfeited by Moses Bahelfer\, 1943. Private collection \nLotte Rothschild (1909-1944) was born in Frankfurt-am-Main and studied applied arts at the Bauhaus in Dessau. She designed industrial objects and metal furniture. After her studies she worked as a designer\, craftswoman and technical translator. At the Bauhaus she met her future husband\, Albert Mentzel. Born 1909 in Berlin\, he studied painting and advertising design from 1928 to 1931 with Hans Albers\, Paul Klee and Wassily Kandinsky. He belonged to the theater troop of the painter\, choreographer and theoretician\, Oscar Schlemmer. When Hitler assumed power in 1933\, they left for France\, where the Jewish-born Lotte later lived under an assumed identity. \nPhotographer Unknown\, Portrait of Richard Grune\, c. 1922. Collection Schwules Museum\, Berlin \nRichard Grune and Niels Brodersen\, cover of The Children’s Red Republic: A Book by Workers’ Children for Workers’ Children  (Berlin: Arbeiterjugendverlag\, 1928). \n\n\n\n\n\nRichard Grune (1903-1983)\, formally trained at the Bauhaus school in Weimar under teachers including Paul Klee and Wassily Kandinsky\, moved to Berlin in February 1933\, to work as a graphic artist. In 1934\, he was denounced as homosexual. From then on\, he was in protective custody much of the time and eventually sent to a concentration camp in 1937.  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThis event is part of our monthly series Flight or Fight. stories of artists under repression.\nFuture events and the recordings of past events can be found HERE. \nThe Fritz Ascher Society is a not-for-profit 501(c)3 organization. Your donation is fully tax deductible.\nYOUR SUPPORT MAKES OUR WORK POSSIBLE. THANK YOU. \n\n\n\n\n\nDONATE HERE URL:https://fritzaschersociety.org/exhibition-event/bauhaus-designers-and-holocaust/ LOCATION:ONLINE\, VA\, United States CATEGORIES:Events,Lectures,Past Events ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://fritzaschersociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/2-Debschitz-Kunowski_Die-Form-1931.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20230426T120000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20230426T130000 DTSTAMP:20260405T155235 CREATED:20230419T114501Z LAST-MODIFIED:20230426T175456Z UID:7360-1682510400-1682514000@fritzaschersociety.org SUMMARY:Benno Elkan (1877-1960) and the Definition of Israeli ArtTalk by Ori Z Soltes\, PhD DESCRIPTION:In honor of Yom Ha’azmaut\, Israel’s Independence Day\, and this year’s 75th anniversary of the establishment of the modern state of Israel in 1948\, this talk by Georgetown University professor Ori Z Soltes addresses the question of what defines Israeli art and when it began to take shape. Is it made only by Israelis—then how did Elkan’s Menorah become the consummate symbol of Israel when he never lived in the state? Did “Israeli” art begin with or before the birth of the state? How does this relate to the opening of the Bezalel School of Art in 1906–and closing by 1929\, only to re-open years later? How does it relate to the question of defining Jewish art? \nBenno Elkan’s stunning work\, overrun with symbolic images and words–drawing in diverse ways from a long history of symbolic language–could hardly be a more significant centerpiece to this array of questions\, or more appropriate to the celebration of Israel Independence Day and the intriguing ideas that this day generates. \nImage above: Benno Elkan\, Menorah\, 1956. Bronze\, 4.30 meters high\, 3.5 meters wide. Gan Havradim (Rose Garden) opposite the Knesset\, Jerusalem. Presented to the Knesset as a gift from the Parliament of the United Kingdom Parliament on April 15\, 1956 in honor of the eighth anniversary of Israeli independence. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nOri Z Soltes\, PhD\, teaches at Georgetown University across a range of disciplines\, from art history and theology to philosophy and political history. He is the former Director of the B’nai B’rith Klutznick National Jewish Museum\, and has curated more than 90 exhibitions across the country and overseas. He has authored or edited 25 books and several hundred articles and essays. Recent volumes include Our Sacred Signs: How Jewish\, Christian and Muslim Art Draw from the Same Source; The Ashen Rainbow: Essays on the Arts and the Holocaust; and Tradition and Transformation: Three Millennia of Jewish Art & Architecture; and Growing Up Jewish in India: Synagogues\, Ceremonies\, and Customs from the Bene Israel to the art of Siona Benjamin. \n\n\n\n\nBet Alpha synagogue mosaic “Holy of Holies” \nDafna Kaffeman\, Red Everlasting (installation detail\, Ultsira\, Norway)\, 2008 \nAbraham Melnikov\, Monument to the Heroes of Tel Hai\, 1930-34 \nYosl Bergner\, Golgotha\, ca 1955 \n\n\n\n\n\nFuture events and the recordings of past events can be found HERE. \nThe Fritz Ascher Society is a not-for-profit 501(c)3 organization. Your donation is fully tax deductible.\nYOUR SUPPORT MAKES OUR WORK POSSIBLE. THANK YOU. \n\n\n\n\n\nDONATE HERE URL:https://fritzaschersociety.org/exhibition-event/elkan-israeli-art/ LOCATION:ONLINE\, VA\, United States CATEGORIES:Events,Lectures,Past Events ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://fritzaschersociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/fig351-TRIMElkan.jpeg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20230417T120000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20230417T130000 DTSTAMP:20260405T155235 CREATED:20230306T133147Z LAST-MODIFIED:20230417T231905Z UID:7266-1681732800-1681736400@fritzaschersociety.org SUMMARY:EARLY ISRAELI AND AMERICAN ARTISTS:RE-VISIONING THE HOLOCAUST. Talk by Ori Z Soltes\, Georgetown University\, Washington DC DESCRIPTION:In honor of Yom HaShoah\, this talk by Georgetown University professor Ori Z Soltes focuses on three Israeli and three American familiar and unfamiliar artists working in very diverse styles and not typically thought of as focusing on the Holocaust. Each of them\, however\, has offered powerful reflections on the defining catastrophe of the twentieth century. \nBarnett Newman\, the foremost verbal spokesman for the chromatic side of the abstract expressionist movement redefining American painting in the early 1950s\, offers an unexpectedly intense reflection on the question of theodicy. Mordecai Ardon\, in the process of assuming leadership of the Bezalel school in Jerusalem at around the same time\, balances between abstraction and figuration in depicting the Nazi-engendered chaos. Yigal Tumarkin’s sculpture turns Holocaust chaos into upside-down order and Mauricio Lasansky’s drawings turn stridently to Nazi malfeasance to ask how evil can be envisioned. Micha Ullman’s installation addresses the void after the aftermath of Nazi destruction—and Geoffrey Laurence questions how we can and must shape the post-Holocaust future. \nEach of these artists contributes to the endlessly complex dialogue—between Jews and Christians\, humans and humans\, and humans and God—that is the ongoing legacy of the Holocaust. \nImage above: Micha Ullman\, The Empty Library\, 1995. Monument to the May 10\, 1933 book burning\, visible below the pavement of Bebelplatz in Berlin (Germany) \n\n\n\n\n\nMordecai Ardon\, Missa Dura: Kristallnacht\, 1958-60. Centre panel of triptych\, oil on canvas\, 76 3/4 x 102 1/2 in. (195 x 260 cm). Tate © Michael Ardon \nYigal Tumarkin\, Cenotaph (The Holocaust)\, 1975. Sculpture\, 2\,100 x 900 cm. Tel Aviv (Israel) \n\n\n\n\nMicha Ullman’s The Empty Library (1995) is a public memorial dedicated to the remembrance of the Nazi book burnings that took place in the Bebelplatz in Berlin\, Germany on May 10\, 1933. The memorial consists of a 530 x 706 x 706 cm (209 × 278 × 278 in.) subterranean room lined with empty white bookshelves\, beneath a glass plate in the cobblestones of the plaza. In this location\, students of the National Socialist Student Union and many professors of the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität burnt over 20\,000 books from many\, mainly Jewish\, communist\, liberal and social-critical authors\, under the musical accompaniment of SA- and SS-Kapellen\, and before a large audience.\n\n\n\n\nMauricio Lasansky\, The Nazi Drawings No. 18\, 1961. Pencil\, turpentine\, and earth colors on paper\, 75.5 x 45.5 in. The University of Iowa Museum of Art \nGeoffrey Laurence\,  ISWASWILLBE\, 2000. Oil on canvas. \n\n\n\n\nOri Z Soltes\, PhD\, teaches at Georgetown University across a range of disciplines\, from art history and theology to philosophy and political history. He is the former Director of the B’nai B’rith Klutznick National Jewish Museum\, and has curated more than 90 exhibitions across the country and overseas. He has authored or edited 25 books and several hundred articles and essays. Recent volumes include Our Sacred Signs: How Jewish\, Christian and Muslim Art Draw from the Same Source; The Ashen Rainbow: Essays on the Arts and the Holocaust; and Tradition and Transformation: Three Millennia of Jewish Art & Architecture; and Growing Up Jewish in India: Synagogues\, Ceremonies\, and Customs from the Bene Israel to the art of Siona Benjamin. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThis event is part of our online series Flight or Fight. stories of artists under repression.\nFuture events and the recordings of past events can be found HERE. \nThe Fritz Ascher Society is a not-for-profit 501(c)3 organization. Your donation is fully tax deductible.\nYOUR SUPPORT MAKES OUR WORK POSSIBLE. THANK YOU. \n\n\n\n\n\nDONATE HERE URL:https://fritzaschersociety.org/exhibition-event/re-visioning-the-holocaust/ LOCATION:ONLINE\, VA\, United States CATEGORIES:Events,Lectures,Past Events ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://fritzaschersociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Bebelplatz_Night_of_Shame_Monument.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20230329T120000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20230329T130000 DTSTAMP:20260405T155235 CREATED:20221214T231507Z LAST-MODIFIED:20230330T105922Z UID:7022-1680091200-1680094800@fritzaschersociety.org SUMMARY:"Sweet Kitsch\, I can't do that." Maria Luiko (1904-1941)With Wolfram P. Kastner and Mascha Erbelding\, both Munich (Germany) DESCRIPTION:The artistic work of Maria Luiko (1904-1941)\, born Marie Luise Kohn in Munich\, is characterized by an impressive diversity. In addition to drawings\, watercolors and oil paintings\, she created prints using various printing processes and paper cuts\, and designed book illustrations\, stage sets and marionettes. Already during her studies at the local Academy of Fine Arts and her training at the School of Applied Arts she was included in exhibitions in the Munich Glass Palace (Münchner Glaspalast).\nHer career was brutally cut short by the Nazi regime. As a Jew\, Luiko was not able to join the Reich Chamber of Fine Arts (Reichskammer der bildenden Künste)\, a Nazi organization founded in 1933. Without membership\, she could not obtain work materials\, exhibit or sell her artwork. The Cultural Association of German Jews (Kulturbund Deutscher Juden) was founded to give Jews access to cultural life and to provide Jewish artists who had become unemployed with a livelihood. Until 1939 Luiko contributed to them and to the Marionette Theater of Munich Jewish Artists. A large part of her graphic work\, in which she critically deals with the current living conditions and everyday situations\, were created during this time. On November 20\, 1941 Maria Luiko was deported to Kaunas in Lithuania together with her sister Dr. Elisabeth Kohn\, her mother Olga Kohn (nee Schulhöfer) and 996 other Jews and murdered there. \nPresentations by Wolfram P. Kastner\, curator and artist\, and Mascha Erbelding\, director of the Puppet Theatre / Fairground Attractions Collection at Münchner Stadtmuseum (Munich City Museum)\, will be followed by Q&A. Moderated by Rachel Stern\, director and CEO of the Fritz Ascher Society. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nImage above: Maria Luiko\, Beggar (Bettlerin)\, ca. 1935. Paper; Woodcut\, 30 cm x 38\,5 cm. Jewish Museum Munich (Jüdisches Museum München)\, Collection Maria Luiko \n\n\n\n\n\nMaria Luiko\, Man in Alley (Mann in Gasse I)\, ca. 1935. Linocut on Paper\, 18\,7 cm x 11 cm. Jewish Museum Munich (Jüdisches Museum München)\, Collection Maria Luiko \nMaria Luiko\, Group of People Before Deportation (Menschengruppe vor der Deportation)\, ca. 1938. Woodcut. Jewish Museum Munich (Jüdisches Museum München)\, Collection Maria Luiko \n\n\n\n\n\nMaria Luiko (1904-1941) was a daughter of the grain wholesaler Heinrich Kohn and Olga Schulhöfer\, her slightly older sister was the lawyer Elisabeth Kohn. The daughters lived in the Neuhausen district of Munich with their mother\, who was widowed in 1935. \nFrom 1923 Kohn studied eight semesters at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich and at the same time at the Munich School of Applied Arts\, where she also had her studio for a while. In 1924 she participated for the first time in an exhibition at the Munich Glass Palace\, and regularly until the 1931 fire at the Glass Palace. She then participated in the Munich Juryfreie. \nMarie Luise Kohn adopted the artist name Maria Luiko and was creatively active in a variety of ways. She was represented at local exhibitions with drawings\, watercolors and oil paintings as well as silhouettes\, lithographs\, woodcuts and linocuts. She also created book illustrations\, such as Ernst Toller’s Hinkemann in 1923 and Shalom Ben-Chorin’s 1934 book of poems The Songs of the Eternal Well. \n\n\n\n\n\nMaria Luiko\, Street Sweeper (Straßenfeger I)\, ca. 1935. Etching on paper\, 32 cm x 36\,5 cm. Jewish Museum Munich (Jüdisches Museum München)\, Collection Maria Luiko \nMaria Luiko\, Line of People (Menschenschlange)\, ca. 1935. Etching on paper\, 38 cm x 36 cm. Jewish Museum Munich (Jüdisches Museum München)\, Collection Maria Luiko \n\n\n\n\n\nHer career was brutally cut short by the Nazi regime. As a Jew\, Luiko was not able to join the Reich Chamber of Fine Arts (Reichskammer der bildenden Künste)\, a Nazi organization founded in 1933. Membership was decided on the basis of personal data as well as a professional or ideological assessment. Jews were not granted membership. Without membership\, she could not obtain work materials\, exhibit or sell her artwork. The Cultural Association of German Jews (Kulturbund Deutscher Juden) was founded to give Jews access to cultural life and to provide Jewish artists who had become unemployed with a livelihood. \nLuiko made her studio available for exhibitions and theater rehearsals. In 1934\, she participated in the “Graphic Exhibition of Bavarian Jewish Artists” in Munich\, and in 1935/36 she designed the stage set for Semen Yushkevich’s play “Sonkin and the Main Hit”. In April 1936 she participated in the “Reich Exhibition of Jewish Artists” at the Berlin Jewish Museum.\nShe designed and created the puppets for the Munich Marionette Theater of Jewish Artists. \n\n\n\n\n\nMaria Luiko\, Munich Marionette Theater of Jewish Artists\, Marionette “Israelite” (1/2) (Marionette “Israelitin” (1/2))\, 1935. Papier-Mâché laminated\, colored; Textile\, wire\, 42 cm. Münchner Stadtmuseum\, Sammlung Puppentheater / Schaustellerei (Munich City Museum\, Puppet Theatre / Fairground Attractions Collection) \nMaria Luiko\, Munich Marionette Theater of Jewish Artists\, Marionette “Cacatois XXII.\, Duke of Tulipatan” (Marionette “Cacatois XXII.\, Herzog von Tulipatan”)\, 1937. Wood\, papier-mâché laminated\, painted; Textile\, wire\, 46 cm. Münchner Stadtmuseum\, Sammlung Puppentheater / Schaustellerei (Munich City Museum\, Puppet Theatre / Fairground Attractions Collection)\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\nOn November 20\, 1941\, Luiko was deported “to the East” from Munich\, together with her mother and sister\, and 998 other Jewish people. The passenger train originally destined for Riga was diverted by the SS to Kovno (Kaunas). On November 25\, 1941\, all prisoners of Kaunas Fort IX were murdered. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMascha Erbelding is the director of the of the Sammlung Puppentheater / Schaustellerei des Münchner Stadtmuseums (Puppet Theatre / Fairground Attractions Collection). She studied dramaturgy\, comparative literature and history at the Bavarian Theatre Academy August Everding / Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich\, at the FU Berlin and at the Université Rennes II. Her diploma thesis on „Mit dem Tod spielt man nicht. Funktion und Gestalt des Todes im Figurentheater des 20. Jahrhunderts“ (One Does Not Play with Death. Function and Form of Death in Twentieth-Century Century Puppet Theatre) was published in 2006. She is the artistic and organisational director of the Munich International Puppet Theatre Festival “Wunder.” and the „KUCKUCK“ festival for children 0-5. Since 2007 she has been a member of the editorial board of the puppet theatre magazine double. She contributed to the „Compendium of German artistic puppet theater 1900-1945“ (edited by Manfred Wegner in 2019). \n\nWolfram P. Kastner is an independent artist\, researcher and and curator. He studied art\, psychology\, history and politics at the Munich university. He shows art in public spaces\, which interferes and sometimes disturbs: art that makes visible what is otherwise invisible. His art usually causes reflection and discussion\, contradiction\, but also bans\, death threats and court processes. In addition to interventions and actions in public on current and historical topics such as exclusion\, violence and war\, installations\, objects and satirical\, beautiful and sometimes angry pictures\, drawings\, objects\, photos\, etc. Exhibitions\, installations and actions since 1980 between Berlin and Vienna\, Budapest\, Hamburg\, Munich\, Salzburg\, Rotterdam. 2005 German Jewish History Award/Arthur Obermayer Foundation/Boston\, 2005 “Nothing to see?”against the so-called “Judensau” sculptures at German churches\, 2007 “Terrible Paths” project to commemorate the death march of Hungarian Jews in April 1945\, 2008 “Unheard Music”\, art project in memory of Jewish musicians and composers\, 2011 Prize of the International Auschwitz Committee\, 2022 Upright Walk Award\, Humanist Union Germany \n\n\n\n\n\n\nMARIA LUIKO ALBUM AT Münchner Stadtmuseum (Munich City Museum) (GERMANY)Maria Luiko\, Woman Mourning (Trauernde Frau)\, 1938. Woodcut. Jewish Museum Munich (Jüdisches Museum München)\, Collection Maria Luiko \n“Maria Luiko\, Mourner\, 1938”. Wrapping of the Neptune Fountain in the Old Botanical Garden Munich by Michaela Melián\, 2022 \n\n\n\n\n\nIn 2022\, Michaela Melián’s temporary installation “Maria Luiko\, Mourner\, 1938” played with opposites: On the one hand\, there is the veiled statue of Neptune\, which was erected by the National Socialists in 1937 as part of the redesign of the Old Botanical Garden in Munich. The sculptor\, Joseph Wackerle\, was later included in Adolf Hitler’s list of “God-gifted”. On the other hand\, Maria Luiko’s “Mourner”\, the woodcut of an anonymous mourning woman\, was created just one year later. “This anonymous mourning woman is now supposed to cover the powerful male Neptune body in the ruler’s pose\,” writes Melián.\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMascha Erbelding’s exhibition\, “(Not) A Doll’s House. Traditional Roles and Brand-New Images” includes puppets by Maria Luiko. Ensconced in doll’s houses\, fairground booths\, collections of curiosities\, wherever\, puppets and dolls have always exerted a powerful and fascinating appeal. Not only are they a prime figurative representation of humans\, but they also manage to embody our innermost wishes\, fears\, and desires. The exhibition is on view April 2\, 2023 – January 7\, 2024 at Münchner Stadtmuseum (Munich City Museum) (LINK). \nThe publication “Ehemals jüdischer Besitz” can be ordered in the museum’s online shop (LINK). \nOther publications mentioned during the online talk were Waldemar Bonard’s book Die gefesselte Muse. Das Marionettentheater im jüdischen Kulturbund München 1935-1937. Katalog des Münchner Stadtmuseums\, 1994\, and Diana Oesterle’s BAND 3 “So süßlichen Kitsch\, das kann ich nicht”: Die Münchener Künstlerin Maria Luiko (1904-1941)\, München: Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag\, 2009. (LINK)\n\n\n\n\n\n\nOrganized by the Fritz Ascher Society for Persecuted\, Ostracized and Banned Art in New York\, in cooperation with the Cultural Department of the Jewish Community in Munich. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThis event is part of our monthly series Flight or Fight. stories of artists under repression.\nFuture events and the recordings of past events can be found HERE. \nThe Fritz Ascher Society is a not-for-profit 501(c)3 organization. Your donation is fully tax deductible.\nYOUR SUPPORT MAKES OUR WORK POSSIBLE. THANK YOU. \n\n\n\n\n\nDONATE HERE URL:https://fritzaschersociety.org/exhibition-event/maria-luiko/ LOCATION:ONLINE\, VA\, United States CATEGORIES:Events,Lectures,Past Events ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://fritzaschersociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/JM_02_107_2007.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20230315T120000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20230315T130000 DTSTAMP:20260405T155235 CREATED:20230125T005827Z LAST-MODIFIED:20230315T180418Z UID:7176-1678881600-1678885200@fritzaschersociety.org SUMMARY:The Art of Felix Lembersky (1913-1970)Yelena Lembersky and Ori Z Soltes\, PhD DESCRIPTION:The program features a talk by Lembersky’s granddaughter\, Yelena Lembersky\, co-author of the recent and highly acclaimed memoir\, Like a Drop of Ink in a Downpour: Memories of Soviet Russia. Yelena will be introduced by Georgetown University professor\, Ori Z Soltes\, who has known her for many years and has written extensively on the work of Felix Lembersky. \n“We are merely honest people and see what is good and bad\, and we cannot be confused.” – Felix Lembersky\, Leningrad\, the Soviet Union\, 1960 \nImage above: Felix Lembersky\, At the Train Station\, ca 1960-64. © Felix Lembersky estate \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFelix Lembersky (1913-1970) was a Soviet Jewish painter\, teacher\, theater sets designer\, and an organizer of artistic groups in Leningrad and the Urals. Born in Poland\, he grew up in Ukraine\, and had his start in the arts in Kyiv during the Avant-Garde of the 1920s. In 1935\, he moved to Leningrad to study realist painting at the Academy of Art. He achieved national recognition for his portraits and paintings on historic subjects but rejected Socialist Realism\, mandated by the Soviets\, and became a vocal critic of  censorship and repressive policies against the arts. He is best known for his Execution: Babyn Yar canvases (ca. 1944-52)\, the earliest artistic representation of the massacre\, and his later non-realist work. In the 1980s\, his family brought his oeuvre to the United States.\n\n\n\n\n\nFelix Lembersky\, Red Workshop\, 1959. \nFelix Lembersky\, Reclining\, 1964. \n\n\n\n\n\nYelena Lembersky is an author\, an architect\, and a project director at the Uniterra Foundation\, promoting art and mutual understanding around the world. She has curated exhibitions and edited several catalogues of her grandfather’s art. Her writing has appeared in World Literature Today\, Cardinal Points\, and The Forward\, and she was recently interviewed on National Public Radio\, Radio Boston\, and BBC. \n\nOri Z Soltes\, PhD\, teaches at Georgetown University across a range of disciplines\, from art history and theology to philosophy and political history. He is the former Director of the B’nai B’rith Klutznick National Jewish Museum\, and has curated more than 90 exhibitions across the country and overseas. He has authored or edited 25 books and several hundred articles and essays. Recent volumes include Our Sacred Signs: How Jewish\, Christian and Muslim Art Draw from the Same Source; The Ashen Rainbow: Essays on the Arts and the Holocaust; and Tradition and Transformation: Three Millennia of Jewish Art & Architecture; and Growing Up Jewish in India: Synagogues\, Ceremonies\, and Customs from the Bene Israel to the art of Siona Benjamin. \n\n\n\n\nUntil 3/31: ORDER THE BOOK – 25% discount with code LEMBERSKY25 at checkout\n\n\n\n\nThis event is part of our monthly series Flight or Fight. stories of artists under repression.\nFuture events and the recordings of past events can be found HERE. \nThe Fritz Ascher Society is a not-for-profit 501(c)3 organization. Your donation is fully tax deductible.\nYOUR SUPPORT MAKES OUR WORK POSSIBLE. THANK YOU. \n\n\n\n\n\nDONATE HERE URL:https://fritzaschersociety.org/exhibition-event/felix-lembersky/ LOCATION:ONLINE\, VA\, United States CATEGORIES:Events,Lectures,Past Events ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://fritzaschersociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Felix-Lembersky-P084-AE-JPG-web-touched-up-At-the-Train-Station-ca-1960-64.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20230301T120000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20230301T130000 DTSTAMP:20260405T155235 CREATED:20221211T224815Z LAST-MODIFIED:20230320T104311Z UID:6980-1677672000-1677675600@fritzaschersociety.org SUMMARY:DOROTHY BOHM (1924-2023): A WORLD OBSERVED Lecture by Monica Bohm-Duchen\, London (UK) DESCRIPTION:Dorothy Bohm was born Dorothea Israelit in Königsberg\, East Prussia (now Kaliningrad\, Russia) in 1924 into an assimilated\, affluent and cultured Jewish milieu. In 1932 her father chose to move the family to Memel (now Klaipeda) in Lithuania\, but following the Nazi occupation of Memelland in March 1939\, her parents decided to send their daughter\, aged 14\, to the safety of England\, where she arrived in June 1939. She wasn’t to see her parents and sister again for over twenty years. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nImage above (appears as detail): Dorothy Bohm\, Venice Carnival\, 1987 © Dorothy Bohm Archive \n\n\n\n\n\nDorothy Bohm\, Self-Portrait\, 1942\, age 18. © Dorothy Bohm Archive \nDorothy Bohm\, Ascona\, 1948. © Dorothy Bohm Archive \n\n\n\n\n\nAfter a year at school in Sussex\, she studied photography in Manchester and opened her own portrait studio in the city at the age of 21. In the late 1940s a visit to Switzerland prompted her to start working outside the studio\, and by the late 1950s she had abandoned studio portraiture for street photography\, working in black and white until the early 1980s before moving totally to colour. Her first exhibition\, People at Peace\, was held at the Institute of Contemporary Arts\, London\, in 1969\, and her first book\, A World Observed was published in 1970. Closely involved in the founding of The Photographers’ Gallery in the early 1970s\, she was elected an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society in 2009. \nWith a career spanning over seven decades and numerous exhibitions and publications to her name\, Dorothy Bohm is widely regarded as one of the doyennes of British photography. She passed on\, aged 98\, in March 2023. \n\n\n\n\n\nDorothy Bohm\, Market Stall\, Islington\, London\, 1960s. © Dorothy Bohm Archive \nDorothy Bohm\, Cairo\, 1986. © Dorothy Bohm Archive \n\n\n\n\n\nLondon-based art historian Monica Bohm-Duchen will give her personal insights into the life and work of her mother\, photographer Dorothy Bohm\, who as a girl of fourteen found sanctuary from Nazi Europe in the UK\, and in due course established herself as one of the leading figures in post-war British photography. Introduced by Rachel Stern\, director of the Fritz Ascher Society. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMonica Bohm-Duchen is a freelance writer\, lecturer\, and curator. Based in London\, the institutions she has worked for the Courtauld Institute of Art\, Sotheby’s Institute of Art\, Tate\, the National Gallery\, the Royal Academy of Arts and the University of London. She has been acting as the curator of her mother Dorothy Bohm’s photographic archive since the late 1990s\, and in 2010 curated the first retrospective exhibition of her work\, A World Observed 1940-2010: Photographs by Dorothy Bohm. A version of this exhibition is currently touring eastern Europe. Monica is the founding Director of Insiders/Outsiders\, an ongoing celebration of  the contribution of refugees from Nazi Europe to British culture (https://insidersoutsidersfestival.org/) and contributing editor of the companion volume\, Insiders/Outsiders\, Refugees from Nazi Europe and their Contribution to British Culture (Lund Humphries\, 2019). She is currently co-editing a special issue of History of Photography journal dedicated to the women émigré photographers who came to the UK after 1933. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDorothy Bohm by Rick Stoller\, 2015 © Dorothy Bohm Archive \n\n\n\n\n\n\nMORE INFORMATION ON DOROTHY BOHM WEBSITE\n\n\n\n\n\nThis event is part of our monthly series Flight or Fight. stories of artists under repression. Future events and the recordings of past events can be found HERE. \nYOUR SUPPORT MAKES OUR WORK POSSIBLE. THANK YOU. \n\n\n\n\n\nDONATE HERE URL:https://fritzaschersociety.org/exhibition-event/dorothy-bohm/ LOCATION:ONLINE\, VA\, United States CATEGORIES:Events,Lectures,Past Events ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://fritzaschersociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/013-Venice-Carnival-1987.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20230215T120000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20230215T130000 DTSTAMP:20260405T155235 CREATED:20230108T185543Z LAST-MODIFIED:20230216T002141Z UID:7114-1676462400-1676466000@fritzaschersociety.org SUMMARY:Seven Murals by Philip Orenstein (b. 1938)A French-Jewish Perspective on France During World War IIPhilip Orenstein and Dr. Nadine M. Orenstein in conversation DESCRIPTION:Inspired by a visit to his birth country in the 1990s\, American artist Philip Orenstein (b. 1938) created seven murals about the French complicity in the persecution of Jews in France during World War II. At that time\, the French government had not admitted it had taken part in the persecution. The murals have been shown in various galleries and museums in the United States. In 1999\, William Zimmer wrote in the New York Times\, “Mr. Orenstein’s method involves combining poignancy with the determination that the viewers not miss the story. To this end\, Mr. Orenstein skillfully\, and wittily\, employs the look of today’s splashy graffiti.” The works have not yet been shown in France. \n\n\nBorn in Paris\, France\, in 1938\, Philip Orenstein had survived Nazi persecution as a young boy hidden with his brother by a gentile family. After World War II\, in 1949\, his family emigrated to the United States. He became a visual artist and professor of art at Rutgers University in New Brunswick (NJ)\, where he had majored in physics. \n\n\n\nImage above:  Detail of Philip Orenstein\, “De Gaulle and Petain\,” 1995. Paint on canvas\, 8′ x 24′ © Philip Orenstein \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThis event features Philip Orenstein presenting his artwork\, followed by a conversation with Dr. Nadine Orenstein. \n\nPhilip Orenstein is a visual artist and professor emeritus of art at Rutgers University. He was born in Paris\, France\, in December 1938. After World War II\, in 1949\, his family emigrated to the United States. He majored in physics at Rutgers University. Orenstein also painted\, studied art history\, and took a course in modern art history with Alan Kaprow\, who encouraged him to quit physics and become an artist. After graduating from Rutgers\, Orenstein moved to New York in the early 1960’s\, where he painted\, sculpted and designed for adecade. In 1971 he began teaching studio art at Rutgers University\, eventually becoming a tenured professor and teaching art at Rutgers for thirty years. Orenstein has an extensive exhibition record dating from 1964 to the present. \n\nDr. Nadine M. Orenstein is the Drue Heinz Curator in Charge of the Department of Drawings and Prints in The Metropolitan Museum of Art where she has been active as a curator since 1992. She has written and lectured extensively on sixteenth and seventeenth-century prints and drawings. Her exhibitions include Pieter Bruegel the Elder: Drawings and Prints (2001)\, Hendrick Goltzius (1558 – 1617). Prints\, Drawings and Paintings (2003)\, Infinite Jest: Caricature and Satire from Leonardo to Levine (2011)\, and The Mysterious Landscapes of Hercules Segers (2017). The Renaissance of Etching (2019 – 2020)\, co-organized with the Albertina\, Vienna was awarded the 2020 IFPDA Foundation Book Award. \n\n\n\n\n\nPhilip Orenstein during World War II \nOrenstein Family (Philip Orenstein\, his brother and his parents) before Immigration to America \n\n\n\n\n\nPhilip Orenstein had a life-long interest in art and painted whenever he had the opportunity. While living in New York in the early 1950’s\, he visited art museums and galleries\, just at the time the Abstract Expressionists were becoming known. While Orenstein was a student at Rutgers in the late 1950’s\, three major art movements were germinating there: Happenings\, Fluxus and Pop Art. While he did not take studio art classes at Rutgers\, Orenstein continued to paint\, studied art history\, and took a course in modern art history with Alan Kaprow. Kaprow encouraged Orenstein to quit physics and become an artist\, which he did after his graduation from Rutgers. \nHe moved back to New York in the early 1960’s\, where he painted\, sculpted and designed for a decade. In 1971 he began teaching studio art at Rutgers\, where he eventually became a tenured professor and taught art for thirty years. \nOrenstein has an extensive exhibition record dating from 1964 to the present. \n\n\n\n\n\nPhilip Orenstein\, “Massaire” Chair (5000 Series)\, 1967. Manufacturer Mass Art\, Inc.\, New York\, NY © Philip Orenstein \nPhilip Orenstein\, Inflatable Products\, n.d. Manufacturer Mass Art\, Inc.\, New York\, NY © Philip Orenstein \n\n\n\n\n\n\nIn 1967\, the artist designed an inflatable chair\, which was included in an exhibition organized by the New York Architectural League that travelled to Paris and London. A model of the chair is now in the permanent collection of the Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein\, Germany\, and another is in the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPhilip Orenstein\, The Vel d’Hiv Roundup\, 1942\, 1992. Paint on canvas\, 8 x 30 ft. © Philip Orenstein \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nIn 1993 in France there was a lot of discussion about the coming fiftieth anniversary of the liberation of Paris from Nazi occupation in 1944.  The myth that had developed over the years was that the French army and the French Resistance had liberated the city and that this had been an occasion for great rejoicing\, ignoring the facts that the French government had collaborated with the occupiers\, the French police had carried out all the roundups of Jewish families\, and that the very day of the liberation a trainload of Jews was sent from France to Auschwitz. \n\n\nSix of Orenstein’s seven murals were shown at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches\, Texas\, and some were exhibited individually at various other venues\, including the Susan Teller Gallery in New York\, Sacred Heart University in Fairfield\, Connecticut\, and the New Jersey State Museum in Trenton. \n\n\n\n\n\n\nLINK TO PHILIP ORENSTEIN’S WEBSITE\n\n\n\n\nPhilip Orenstein\, The Battle of Britain\, 1941\, 1994. Paint on canvas\, 8 x 24 ft. © Philip Orenstein \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPhilip Orenstein\, De Gaulle and Petain\, 1994. Paint on canvas\, 8 x 24 ft. © Philip Orenstein \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThis event is part of our monthly series Flight or Fight. stories of artists under repression.\nFuture events and the recordings of past events can be found HERE. \nThe Fritz Ascher Society is a not-for-profit 501(c)3 organization. Your donation is fully tax deductible.\nYOUR SUPPORT MAKES OUR WORK POSSIBLE. THANK YOU. \n\n\n\n\n\nDONATE HERE URL:https://fritzaschersociety.org/exhibition-event/philip-orenstein/ LOCATION:ONLINE\, VA\, United States CATEGORIES:Events,Lectures,Past Events ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://fritzaschersociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/DE-GAULLE-PETAIN-YouTube-scaled.jpeg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20230201T120000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20230201T130000 DTSTAMP:20260405T155235 CREATED:20230108T112937Z LAST-MODIFIED:20230206T121823Z UID:7096-1675252800-1675256400@fritzaschersociety.org SUMMARY:CASTAWAY MODERNISM. Basel's Acquisitions of "Degenerate" ArtPresentation by Dr. Eva Reifert\, Kunstmuseum Baselfollowed by discussion with Rachel Stern DESCRIPTION:The Kunstmuseum Basel’s department of classic modernism houses one of the most prestigious collections of its kind. It was in fact assembled at a comparatively late date. In the summer of 1939 — shortly before the outbreak of World War II — Georg Schmidt (1896–1966)\, the museum’s director at the time\, managed to acquire twenty-one avant-garde masterpieces all at once. The works were among those denounced in 1937 by Nazi cultural policy as “degenerate” and forcibly removed from German museums. The Third Reich’s Ministry of Propaganda correctly assumed that a portion of such works would find buyers abroad and bring in foreign currency. In this way certain artworks deemed “internationally exploitable” reached the art market via various channels. \nCastaway Modernism introduces important facets of one particular moment in Basel’s collecting history. It also looks at how the cultural violence committed by the Nazi regime led to an artificial scattering of modern art. That act of selection — sorting some works into the category of “exploitable” while condemning others to oblivion or destruction — still casts a shadow over museum collections around the world. Unexpected stories of people\, artworks\, and commerce surface. \nImage above: Franz Marc\, Two Cats\, Blue and Yellow\, 1911. Oil on canvas\, 74.1 x 98.2 cm. Kunstmuseum Basel Photo: Martin P. Bühler \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThis event features curator Eva Reifert\, PhD\, who presents her exhibition Castaway Modernism at Kunstmuseum Basel\, followed by a discussion with Rachel Stern\, director of the Fritz Ascher Society. \nEva Reifert\, PhD\,  is the Curator of 19th-Century and Modern Art at Kunstmuseum Basel\, Switzerland. She has mounted numerous presentations from the collection and major exhibitions\, among them The Cubist Cosmos (2019) and Sophie Taeuber-Arp (2021)\, a collaboration with MoMA. Prior to her post in Basel she was a trainee at the Bavarian State Paintings Collections\, Munich\, and an Andrew W. Mellon Curatorial Fellow at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York\, where she worked on the exhibition project Unfinished. Thoughts Left Visible. She received her PhD from Freie Universität Berlin in 2011. \n\n\n\n\n\nPaul Klee\, Villa R\, 1919. Oil on cardboard\, 26.5 x 22.4 cm. Kunstmuseum Basel\, Photo: Jonas Hänggi \nPaula Modersohn-Becker\, Self-Portrait as a Half-Length Nude with Amber Necklace II\, 1906. Oil on canvas\, 61.1 x 50 cm. Kunstmuseum Basel. Foto: Martin P. Bühler \n\n\n\n\n\n\nIn Nazi Germany (1933–1945)\, “degenerate” art was the label for art that did not fit the Nazis’ worldview\, including Expressionism\, Dadaism\, the New Objectivity\, Surrealism\, Cubism\, and Fauvism. In particular\, the Nazis loathed works by Jewish artists and works on Jewish or political themes. This art was removed from German museums in 1937—all in all\, more than 21\,000 objects were seized by the authorities. Many of them were presented in the exhibition “Degenerate Art\,” which traveled throughout Germany. \nThe “Law on the Confiscation of Products of Degenerate Art” went into force in Germany in 1938. It gave the authorities power over the works seized as “degenerate” art in 1937. An inventory was drawn up and the works were divided into various groups. Around 780 paintings and sculptures and 3500 works on paper were set aside as “internationally marketable\,” which is to say\, they seemed suitable for sale abroad in order to raise funds in foreign currencies. In reality\, the authorities sold almost twice as many works. 125 of them were auctioned off by Theodor Fischer in Lucerne in 1939; the others were sold on the international market through selected art dealers. Much of the “unsalable” rest was burnt in Berlin on March 20\, 1939. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nArtists in the exhibition:\nAlexej von Jawlensky\, André Derain\, Anita Clara Rée\, Christoph Voll\, Conrad Felixmüller\, Elfriede Lohse-Wächtler\, Emil Nolde\, Erich Heckel\, Ernst Barlach\, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner\, Felix Nussbaum\, Franz Frank\, Georg Schrimpf\, George Grosz\, Hanns Ludwig Katz\, Henri Matisse\, James Ensor\, Jankel Adler\, Jeanne Mammen\, Josef Vinecky\, Karl Hofer\, Karl Opfermann\, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff\, Käthe Kollwitz\, Lasar Segall\, Louis Moilliet\, Lovis Corinth\, Ludwig Meidner\, Lyonel Feininger\, Marc Chagall\, Marg Moll\, Marie Laurencin\, Max Beckmann\, Max Ernst\, Milly Steger\, Oskar Kokoschka\, Oskar Schlemmer\, Otto Dix\, Otto Mueller\, Otto Nagel\, Pablo Picasso\, Paul Klee\, Paul Kleinschmidt\, Paula Modersohn-Becker\, Rudolf Belling\, Wassily Kandinsky\, Wilhelm Lehmbruck\nThe exhibition “CASTAWAY MODERNISM. Basel’s Acquisitions of Modern Art” is on view until February 19\, 2023 at Kunstmuseum Basel (Switzerland). \n\n\n\n\n\nLINK TO THE EXHIBITION AT KUNSTMUSEUM BASEL (SWITZERLAND)\n\n\n\n\nThis event is part of our monthly series Flight or Fight. stories of artists under repression.\nFuture events and the recordings of past events can be found HERE. \nThe Fritz Ascher Society is a not-for-profit 501(c)3 organization. Your donation is fully tax deductible.\nYOUR SUPPORT MAKES OUR WORK POSSIBLE. THANK YOU. \n\n\n\n\n\nDONATE HERE URL:https://fritzaschersociety.org/exhibition-event/castaway-modernism/ LOCATION:ONLINE\, VA\, United States CATEGORIES:Events,Lectures,Past Events ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://fritzaschersociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/gw11_0001515_19911105_s01-copy.jpeg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20230125T130000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20230125T140000 DTSTAMP:20260405T155235 CREATED:20221201T112451Z LAST-MODIFIED:20230201T111559Z UID:6962-1674651600-1674655200@fritzaschersociety.org SUMMARY:AS SEEN THROUGH THESE EYESConversation with Film Director Hilary Helstein\, Los Angeles DESCRIPTION:In honor of UN Holocaust Remembrance Day\, Hilary Helstein\, director of the award-winning documentary “As Seen Through These Eyes” spoke with Rachel Stern\, director and CEO of the Fritz Ascher Society New York\, about the making of her documentary. \nAs poet Maya Angelou narrates this powerful documentary\, she reveals the story of a brave group of people who fought Hitler with the only weapons they had: charcoal\, pencil stubs\, shreds of paper and memories etched in their minds. These artists took their fate into their own hands to make a compelling statement about the human spirit\, enduring against unimaginable odds. Featuring interviews with Simon Wiesenthal as he talks about his art\, never before appearing in a film\, the children of Theresienstadt\, Dina Babbitt\, personal artist to Dr. Mengele\, and Gypsy artist\, Karl Stojka. Score features music by Sony/BMG’s Anna Nalick and Lorin Sklamberg of The Klezmatics. \nThis event is dedicated to the memory of Fred Terna (1923-2022)\, who died on 9 December 2022\, at the age of 99 years. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nWatch the Trailer of “AS SEEN THROUGH THESE EYES”: \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTo contact Hilary Helstein\, please email info@asseenthroughtheseeyes.com. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFred Terna (1923-2022) was born in 1923 in Vienna. His family returned to Prague\, their hometown\, soon thereafter. He lived and attended school there until the Germans occupied the city in 1939. Beginning in October 1941\, Mr. Terna was interned in a number of camps\, including Terezin\, Auschwitz-Birkenau\, and Kaufering\, a sub-camp of Dachau. He was liberated near Landsberg in Bavaria on April 27\, 1945. He was the only remaining member of his family. After liberation\, Mr. Terna was hospitalized in Bavaria for a few months\, then sent back to Prague for further recuperation. He left Prague late in 1946\, settling in Paris for several years. In 1952\, he arrived in New York. As an artist and painter\, Terna used folded canvas\, sand\, and pebbles\, seeking to address the psychological space of trauma\, often incorporating the charged symbols of chimneys and ash to abstract effect. He served as president of the Jewish Visual Artists Association from 1978-1981. Besides speaking about his wartime experiences\, he lectured extensively on the history of Jewish art\, and taught a course on the subject for some years at the New School in New York. \n\n\n\n\n\nFred Terna\, Brooklyn 2012. Photograph by Daniel Terna © Daniel Terna \nFred Terna\, Promise on Fire © Fred Terna Estate \n\n\n\n\n\nIn 1944\, Josef Mengele ordered a Jewish inmate in Auschwitz to paint portraits of Romani people as graphic ‘evidence’ of the Nazis’ racial theory. A young art student when she was deported to Auschwitz\, Dina Gottliebová Babbitt (1923-2009) had drawn a “Snow White” scene on a wall of a children’s barracks to help soothe the youngsters. Josef Mengele\, the infamous Nazi doctor who performed hideous experiments on prisoners\, heard of her talents and made her his personal artist. In 1973\, the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum informed the artist that some of the works still existed. Babbitt’s long and unsuccessful campaign to retrieve the seven paintings of doomed Gypsy prisoners from a Polish state museum at Auschwitz became a rallying point for many other artists and Holocaust survivors. \n\n\n\n\n\nThe Book of Alfred Kantor\, An Artist Journal of the Holocaust\, Schocken; 1st edition (January 13\, 1987) \nDina Gottliebova\, Gypsy girl painted for Mengele\, Watercolor on paper. Museum Auschwitz-Birkenau\, Auschwitz (Poland) ©Dina Gottliebova Babbitt \n\n\n\n\n\nKarl Stojka (1931-2003)\, a Gypsy child who was Mengele’s errand boy\, painted over 1\,000 canvases because he didn’t “want to forget anything. These images are burned into my mind.” Karl was the fourth of six children born to Roman Catholic parents in the village of Wampersdorf in eastern Austria. The Stojkas belonged to a tribe of Roma (“Gypsies”) called the Lowara Roma\, who made their living as itinerant horse traders. In 1943\, at the age of only 12 years\, Karl was deported to the concentration camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau\, together with his mother and his five brothers and sisters. His father had already been murdered by the Nazis. The so-called Gypsy Family Camp was situated at the far end of the vast area of Auschwitz-Birkenau\, close by the crematoria and the ramp where the trains carrying the deportees came to a halt to unload their cargo. “One could see the fire day and night; it stank terribly. The main street of the Gypsy camp was in front of our barracks; we named it the highway to hell. My brother and I stood at the fence and saw rows of people with yellow stars pass on their way to the gas chambers.” \nKarl Stojka survived\, and started painting as an autodidact in 1985\, depicting his traumatic experiences in the concentration camps. \n\n\n\n\n\nKarl Stojka\, Family Portrait. My Brother and Sisters and Me \nKarl Stojka in his art studio \n\n\n\n\n\nHolocaust survivor\, artist\, Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal (1908-2005) created the sketch below during his captivity on the Death Block in Mauthausen concentration camp in 1945. “Oh Lord\, do not forgive them\, for they know what they do!” \nAfter surviving the Janowska concentration camp (late 1941 to September 1944)\, the Kraków-Płaszów concentration camp (September to October 1944)\, the Gross-Rosen concentration camp\, a death march to Chemnitz\, Buchenwald\, and the Mauthausen concentration camp (February to 5 May 1945)\, Wiesenthal dedicated his life to tracking down and gathering information on fugitive Nazi war criminals so that they could be brought to trial. \n\n\n\n\n\nSimon Wiesenthal\, Death Head \nSimon Wiesenthal in Vienna\, Photograph Hilary Helstein \n\n\n\n\n\n\nHilary Helstein began her work in the humanitarian field with Spielberg’s USC Shoah Foundation\, where she directed/produced over 250 interviews with survivors\, liberators and rescuers.  Her commitment to teaching history initiated the 10+ year journey in creating the documentary\, As Seen Through These Eyes\, (narrated by Maya Angelou\, co-produced by the Sundance Channel) collecting testimonies from Holocaust artist-survivors\, including Simon Wiesenthal\, about art used as a form of resistance and mental escape and healing. The film has garnered multiple international awards including Best Film at the prestigious Thessaloniki Documentary Festival in Greece as well as in Warsaw\, Argentina\, Los Angeles and others. It won the Director’s Choice Gold Medal for Excellence\, Award for Best Impact of Music in a Documentary at the Park City Film Music Festival. It was shown at the United Nations for their special Holocaust Remembrance Program and subsequently screened at UN offices throughout the world including the EU Headquarters in Brussels\, Vienna’s UNIS\, Israel\, Myanmar\, South Africa\, the Philippines and Namibia\, as a human rights film. \nHilary’s passion for film led her to the position of Executive Director/CEO/co-founder of the Los Angeles Jewish Film Festival LAJFF)\, now in its sixteenth year.  \nBeyond film\, Hilary has curated art exhibitions including “Samuel Bak: Between Worlds” for the Jewish Federation in Los Angeles\, “Memory and Meaning” for the LA Museum of the Holocaust\, and the most recent traveling exhibit\, “Art Survives: Expressions from the Holocaust\,” based on the artwork in As Seen Through These Eyes. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThis event was organized by the Fritz Ascher Society for Persecuted\, Ostracized and Banned Art\, in partnership with Austrian Consulate General Los Angeles\, the Consulate General of the Federal Republic of Germany New York\, Classrooms Without Borders\, Descendants of Holocaust Survivors\, Goethe Institut New York\, German Film Office\, the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan\, Mensch International Foundation\, 3G New York – Descendants of Holocaust Survivors and the Los Angeles Jewish Film Festival. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Fritz Ascher Society is a not-for-profit 501(c)3 organization. Your donation is fully tax deductible.\nYOUR SUPPORT MAKES OUR WORK POSSIBLE. THANK YOU.\n\n\n\n\nDONATE HERE URL:https://fritzaschersociety.org/exhibition-event/hilary-helstein/ LOCATION:ONLINE\, VA\, United States CATEGORIES:Events,Lectures,Past Events ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://fritzaschersociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Stojkas-Family-painting-for-fest-use.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20230111T120000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20230111T130000 DTSTAMP:20260405T155235 CREATED:20221108T011441Z LAST-MODIFIED:20230226T142537Z UID:6912-1673438400-1673442000@fritzaschersociety.org SUMMARY:Back into the Light. Four Women Artists - Their Works. Their Paths. Lecture by Eva Atlan\, PhD\, Frankfurt (Germany) DESCRIPTION:Erna Pinner\, Rosy Lilienfeld\, Amalie Seckbach\, and Ruth Cahn were among the first women artists in Frankfurt to enjoy professional success. Throughout the Roaring Twenties\, these four Jewish women left their mark on Frankfurt’s art scene\, published and exhibited internationally\, cultivated a cosmopolitan lifestyle\, and competed with their male colleagues. When the National Socialists seized power\, their careers came to an abrupt end. From then on\, they were persecuted as Jews and their works ostracized; later\, after the end of World War II\, they were largely forgotten. Now\, “Back into the Light” is at long last bringing them back to the public eye. \nThe departure point is an article by art historian Sascha Schwabacher\, published May 1935 in the Frankfurter Israelitisches Gemeindeblatt\, a German-language Jewish newspaper in Frankfurt. Schwabacher recalls her visits to the studios of the four artists and describes their personalities—at a time when these women had no more than limited job opportunities in Germany as a result of the persecution they suffered at the hands of the National Socialists. The lecture delves into these four studio visits\, and in doing so\, it brings the Frankfurt art scene of the 1920s back to life\, making palpable the disruption Nazi rule meant for the four artists’ work and lives. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThis lecture by Dr. Eva Sabrina Atlan is based on research for the exhibition “Back into the Light. Four Women Artists – Their Works. Their Paths” which is on view until April 17\, 2023 at the Jewish Museum Frankfurt (Germany). Introduced by Rachel Stern\, director of the Fritz Ascher Society. \nEva Sabrina Atlan\, PhD\, is deputy director of the Jewish Museum Frankfurt. Previously she was curator for art and Judaica (2005 – 2018) and then head of collections. She is curator of the exhibition “Back into the Light. Four Women Artists – Their Works. Their Paths.” After studying art history\, classical archeology and Romance studies in Frankfurt am Main\, she spent a research stay in Boston/USA\, followed by her doctorate at the Johann-Wolfgang-Goethe University in 1997 on Samuel Bak. Work monograph from 1945 to 1990. In addition to the new permanent exhibition area Splendor of the Commandment\, she is responsible for numerous exhibitions and publications\, including as co-editor of Eternal Light. Samuel Bak. A Childhood in the Shadow of the Holocaust (1996)\, Access to Israel (2 vols.\, 2008) and 1938. Art. Artist. Politics”(2013) and as the author and co-editor of The Feminine Side of God. Art and Ritual (2020) and Back into the Light. Four Women Artists – Their Works. Their Paths (2022). \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nImages above:  Left: Amalie Seckbach\, 15.11.43 Theresienstadt (original inscription by artist)\, 1943. Pastel on paper\, 24 x 16\,5 cm. The Ghetto Fighters’ House – Itzhak Katzenelson Holocaust and Jewish Resistance Heritage Museum\, Israel; Right: Ruth Cahn\, Girl in Red Jacket (Mädchen in roter Jacke)\, 1920-1935. Oil on hardboard\, 57\,5 x 47 cm. Edition Memoria\, Thomas B. Schumann\, Hürth\, Germany\n\n\n\n\nAmalie Seckbach\, Hydrangea Blossom (Hortensienblüte) (original title not known)\, 1939. Oil on China paper\, 33 x 24 cm. Buch Family Private Collection \nAmalie Seckbach\, 15.11.43 Theresienstadt (original inscription by artist)\, 1943. Pastel on paper\, 24 x 16\,5 cm. The Ghetto Fighters’ House – Itzhak Katzenelson Holocaust and Jewish Resistance Heritage Museum\, Israel \n\n\n\n\n\nAmalie Seckbach (1870\, Hungen – 1944\, Theresienstadt)\nThe German-Jewish artist Amalie Seckbach (1870-1944) moved with her parents from the town of Hungen to Frankfurt am Main in 1902. Inspired by Far Eastern philosophy and religion\, she built up a collection of Chinese woodblock prints that was highly praised in specialist circles as early as the early 20th century. It was only later in life\, after the death of her husband\, the architect Max Seckbach (1866-1922)\, that she began to work as a painter and sculptor. As early as 1929 she was able to exhibit her sculptural works in an exhibition with James Ensor (1860-1949) at the Musée des Beaux-Arts as well as in exhibitions at the Salon des Indépendants in Paris. \nFrom 1933 onwards\, she could only exhibit in Germany within the parameters of the Jewish Cultural Association or abroad\, as she did in 1936 at the Art Institute of Chicago. In 1941\, when the Nazi regime persecution reached devastating proportions\, Amalie Seckbach decided to leave Germany\, but was arrested in September 1942 and deported to the Theresienstadt concentration camp. Here she painted with the materials at her disposal\, but succumbed to the consequences of imprisonment in August 1944. \n\n\n\n\n\nErna Pinner (1890-1987)\, Four Women at Lago Maggiore (Vier Frauen am Lago Maggiore)\, 1925. Ink on transparent papir\, 16\,5 x 29\,4 cm. Jewish Museum Frankfurt / Estate of Erna Pinner \nErna Pinner\, William’s Jerboa (Williams’ Springmaus) (“Allactaga williamsi”)\, 1935 – 1948. Drawing\, 11 x 15\,5 cm. Jewish Museum Frankfurt © Estate of Erna Pinner \n\n\n\n\n\nErna Pinner (1890\, Frankfurt am Main – 1987\, London)\nThe exhibition sets out to juxtapose two fundamentally different phases of Erna Pinner’s life and work. In both phases\, though\, the focus is primarily on her oeuvre as a writer and illustrator. Erna Pinner gained public recognition in the 1920s with such publications as Das Schweinebuch (“The Book of Pigs”\, 1922)\, Eine Dame in Griechenland (“A Lady in Greece”\, 1927)\, and Ich reise um die Welt (“I Travel Around the World”\, 1931). Through her illustrations\, these books stand as quite independent works far removed from the influence of the expressionist writer Kasimir Edschmid. In them\, she not only attained a graphic style with a precise and elegant use of line\, but also effectively fused the seen and experienced with the written word. \n\n\nAfter emigrating to London in 1935\, she developed a new style of illustrations for popular science publications\, depicting volumes\, proportions\, and textures in almost photographic detail. She studied zoology at university and took courses in printmaking. After the war\, her publications increasingly dealt with the history of species. From the years after her emigration\, two books especially provide an impressive example of her mix of artistic insight and scientific research – Curious Creatures (1951\, 1953 in German) and Born Alive (1959). \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nRuth Cahn\, Palm House in the Palm Garden (Palmenhaus im Palmengarten)\, 1924. Gouache on paper\, 88 x 68 cm. Historical Museum Frankfurt \nRuth Cahn\, Girl in Red Jacket (Mädchen in roter Jacke)\, 1920-1935. Oil on hardboard\, 57\,5 x 47 cm. Edition Memoria\, Thomas B. Schumann\, Hürth\, Germany \n\n\n\n\n\n\nRuth Cahn (1875\, Frankfurt am Main – 1966\, Frankfurt am Main)\nBorn in Frankfurt am Main in 1875\, the artist Amalie Leontine Cahn became known far beyond her hometown as Ruth Cahn. She studied art in Munich and Barcelona\, and in particular with the Fauvist painter Kees van Dongen in Paris. In the 1920s\, her paintings were shown at the Frankfurt art dealers H. Trittler and Ludwig Schames. In 1924\, the Dalmau Gallery in Barcelona presented Ruth Cahn’s pictures in a solo show. The same gallery also enabled Joan Miró and Salvador Dalí\, then unknown artists\, to have their first shows. \n\nRuth Cahn’s family was scattered across Spain\, Switzerland and South America. In 1935\, she emigrated from Nazi Germany to Chile\, only returning to Europe in 1953. After living in Barcelona for some years\, she moved back to Frankfurt in 1961. She died in her hometown five years later. Today\, the vast majority of Cahn’s oeuvre is thought to have been lost in the turmoil of the Spanish Civil War and the Second World War. We would like to reconstruct Ruth Cahn’s life and work. She belongs to that generation of Frankfurt German-Jewish women artists whose creative work was abruptly halted. \nOn 8 September 1984\, the Frankfurt Arnold auction house sold two of Cahn’s paintings. Since then\, all trace of them has been lost. Does anyone know where they could be now? \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nRosy Lilienfeld (1896-1942)\, Woman Smoking a Pipe (Frau Pfeife rauchend)\, 1923. Etching\, 9\,4 x 6\,9 cm. Jewish Museum Frankfurt \nRosy Lilienfeld\, The Messiah flies over the Sambation (Der Messias überfliegt den Sambation) \, 1933. Pencil and chalk on paper\, 25 x 22\,5 cm. Jewish Museum Frankfurt \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nRosy Lilienfeld (1896\, Frankfurt – 1942\, Auschwitz)\nRosy Lilienfeld was born in Frankfurt am Main on 17 January 1896. The family lived in Frankfurt’s Westend district. In the early 1920s\, Rosy Lilienfeld studied at the Städelschule art academy under artist Ugi Battenberg. The Städelschule also provided her with a studio in the Sachsenhausen artist’s quarter until 1936\, when the contract was terminated. Unemployed from 1933\, Lilienfeld could no longer pay the rent for the studio. On 17 July 1939\, Rosy Lilienfeld’s mother applied for permission for herself and her daughter to emigrate to England. But rather than their journey taking them to England\, it took them to Holland. From 23 November 1939\, Rosy Lilienfeld was registered as resident in Rotterdam. She lived at a variety of addresses in the city until 25 February 1941. At that point\, all traces of her mother are lost; her name is also not on the deportation lists. On 26 February 1941\, Rosy Lilienfeld moved to Utrecht. There\, she was arrested the following year and moved to the Westerbork transit camp. She was then deported to Auschwitz\, where just a few weeks later she was murdered. \nSome of Lilienfeld’s compositions are imbued with a strong sense of unease. Their almost nightmarish atmosphere may be an indication of the artist’s mental state. As records show\, after first attempting suicide in 1923 she was diagnosed as manic depressive and was in regular psychiatric treatment until 1935. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe exhibition “Back into the Light. Four Women Artists – Their Works. Their Paths” is on view until April 17\, 2023 at the Jewish Museum Frankfurt am Main (Germany). \n\n\n\n\n\n\nLINK TO EXHIBITION AT JEWISH MUSEUM FRANKFURT (GERMANY)\n\n\n\n\n\nThis event is part of our monthly series Flight or Fight. stories of artists under repression.\nFuture events and the recordings of past events can be found HERE. \nThe Fritz Ascher Society is a not-for-profit 501(c)3 organization. Your donation is fully tax deductible.\nYOUR SUPPORT MAKES OUR WORK POSSIBLE. THANK YOU. \n\n\n\n\n\nDONATE HERE URL:https://fritzaschersociety.org/exhibition-event/back-into-light/ LOCATION:ONLINE\, VA\, United States CATEGORIES:Events,Lectures,Past Events ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://fritzaschersociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/2023_1_11-copy-2-scaled.jpeg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20221207T120000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20221207T130000 DTSTAMP:20260405T155235 CREATED:20220525T090936Z LAST-MODIFIED:20221207T235336Z UID:6579-1670414400-1670418000@fritzaschersociety.org SUMMARY:The Shape and Color of Survival.Samuel Bak (born Vilnius\, Lithuania\, 1933) Lecture by Ori Z Soltes\, PhD DESCRIPTION:Image above: Samuel Bak\, Warsaw Excavation\, 2007. Oil on canvas\, 16 x 20 in. Image Courtesy Pucker Gallery © Samuel Bak\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSamuel Bak was 6 years old when the Nazis began ending his childhood\, as the war that they engendered would soon extend to his native Vilnius. The number “6” became an important element in his art\, since it is also the number of the Commandment with which God enjoins us not to commit murder\, for which the Holocaust represented such a profound abrogation. His father smuggled him out of the ghetto in the sack that he was still permitted to use to gather firewood—and was subsequently murdered by the regime. By then Bak himself had already chosen his career as an artist—he had his first exhibit\, as a young boy\, in the Ghetto itself. \n\n\n\n\n\nSamuel Bak\, Last Movement\, 1996. Oil on linen\, 55 x 63 in. Image courtesy Pucker Gallery © Samuel Bak \nSamuel Bak\, Pardes III\, 1994. Oil on linen\, 45.75 x 45.75 in. Image Courtesy Pucker Gallery © Samuel Bak \n\n\n\n\n\nAfter the Holocaust\, he and his mother immigrated to Palestine\, and as his life as a painter developed\, he migrated from Israel to Paris and ultimately to Western Massachusetts. There\, where he continues to reside\, he expanded his prolific and exceedingly skillful work–paint that appears as stone or wood masquerading as human flesh; figures and landscapes as surreal as they are straightforward. He offers a deeply configured narrative of the Jewish experience\, as literal\, metaphorical\, and mystical. \n\n\n\n\n\nSamuel Bak\, Warsaw Excavation\, 2007. Oil on canvas\, 16 x 20 in. Image Courtesy Pucker Gallery © Samuel Bak \nSamuel Bak\, Shema Israel. Oil on linen\, 40 x 39.5 in. Image courtesy Pucker Gallery © Samuel Bak \n\n\n\n\n\nThis talk\, illustrated with a range of paintings drawn from his both dark and yet often hopeful career—they draw the beauty of survival out of scarred emotional and intellectual depths—will explore Bak’s haunting imagery\, at once insightful and inciteful\, as it transcends the border between past and future\, subsuming time and space into an eternal present. \nOri Z Soltes\, PhD\, teaches at Georgetown University across a range of disciplines\, from art history and theology to philosophy and political history. He is the former Director of the B’nai B’rith Klutznick National Jewish Museum\, and has curated more than 90 exhibitions across the country and overseas. He has authored or edited 25 books and several hundred articles and essays. Recent volumes include Our Sacred Signs: How Jewish\, Christian and Muslim Art Draw from the Same Source; The Ashen Rainbow: Essays on the Arts and the Holocaust; and Tradition and Transformation: Three Millennia of Jewish Art & Architecture; and Growing Up Jewish in India: Synagogues\, Ceremonies\, and Customs from the Bene Israel to the art of Siona Benjamin. \nIntroduced by Rachel Stern\, Director and CEO of the Fritz Ascher Society for Persecuted\, Ostracized and Banned Art. \n\n\n\n\n\nPhoto of Samuel Bak\, Puckergallery\, CC BY-SA 4.0 \, via Wikimedia Commons \nFuture events and the recordings of past events can be found HERE. \nYOUR SUPPORT MAKES OUR WORK POSSIBLE. THANK YOU.\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/samuel-bak/ LOCATION:ONLINE\, VA\, United States CATEGORIES:Events,Lectures,Past Events ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://fritzaschersociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Hol-22-Bak-Warsaw-Excavat-2007.jpg END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR