FRITZ ASCHER SOCIETY Newsletter #31, March 2020

Dear Friends,

How much has our life changed over the past few days!

“Fritz Ascher, Expressionist” at the Joel and Lila Harnett Museum of Art in Richmond, Virginia is closed. Until our online exhibition is up, you can see photos of the installation here.

“Fritz Ascher, Expressionist” at the Joel and Lila Harnett Museum of Art in Richmond, Virginia

We also invite you to be part of our free online conversations, which we will announce on our website, on Facebook, and on Twitter.

“Housebound and Hiding. From Fritz Ascher in 1942 to Ourselves Today in 2020” is the first conversation on Thursday, on March 26th, at 8:00pm EDT, commemorating the 50th anniversary of Fritz Ascher’s death. Dr. Eva Fogelman, Dr. Ori Z. Soltes and Rachel Stern will speak about the psychological repercussions of having to go into hiding for a long stretch of time–especially for someone who was almost stereotypically a “sensitive artist.” This topic seems particularly relevant to conditions right now, when so many of us are in hiding.

The URL is https://zoom.us/j/9293688925.

We will tape the conversations, so you if you can’t join us live, you can watch them here.

Fritz Ascher was one of about 1,700 Jews who survived the Nazi terror regime hiding in Berlin. Twelve years of persecution, three of these in hiding, forever altered his personality, his life, as well as his art. He now painted vibrant landscapes inspired by the nearby Grunewald forest. Finally, he was able to paint the motifs he had envisioned in poems like “Sonnenuntergang” (“Sunset”) from 1942, written in hiding:

Das güldne Ründen senkte sacht, verstrahlend;
Erglutete verblutend alle Ferne.
Bis es ergraut = an Schaffe dann gewandt =
Das Nächtige geschah.

The golden roundness sinks softly, glimmering;
It enflames all the distances, bleeding.
Until it turns grey = wending to creation =
Night’s gloom has happened.

Fritz Ascher, Sunset, 1962.
Oil on canvas, 31.5 x 27.6 in. (80 x 70 cm)

Fritz Ascher, Wooded Landscape, ca. 1960.
Oil on canvas, 39.37 x 37.4 in. (100 x 95 cm)

These landscapes are intense authentic reminders of continuity and renewal, and Ascher’s powerful contribution to “Tikkun Olam,” to “Repairing the World.”

Please be safe, strong and healthy!

With all best wishes,

Rachel Stern, Director and CEO
New York City, March 24, 2020

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