Dear Friends,
Breathtaking foliage, crisp weather and the change of clocks are the messengers of fall – a fall that brings an important election in the United States – please vote, everyone! – and the opening of the Fritz Ascher exhibition in Freiburg im Breisgau in Germany. If you can, please join me there!
And don’t miss the online presentation of this very little known woman artist:
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 20 ONLINE
FELKA PLATEK – ARTIST AND COMPANION
OF THE PAINTER FELIX NUSSBAUM
Presentation by Anne Sibylle Schwetter
Felka Platek, Self-portrait in front of an open window, around 1940. Gouache on drawing paper, 65 x 49.7 cm. Felix-Nussbaum-Haus at Museumsquartier Osnabrück, on permanent loan from the Felix Nussbaum Foundation, photo © Felix-Nussbaum-Haus Osnabrück
Felka Platek (1899 Warsaw – 1944 Auschwitz) came to Berlin from Warsaw in the early 1920s to become a painter. In 1932 she followed her friend and later husband Felix Nussbaum (1904 Osnabrück – 1944 Auschwitz) to Italy. In 1935 they decided to go into exile in Belgium. However, neither of them could escape persecution by the Nazis. They were captured in their hiding place in Brussels on June 21, 1944 and murdered in Auschwitz shortly afterwards.
The lecture by Anne Sibylle Schwetter, art historian and curator of the Felix Nussbaum Collection at the Felix-Nussbaum-Haus in Osnabrück, provides an insight into Platek’s artistic work, from her earliest works from 1927 to the last known graphics, which were created in hiding in 1943.
This event is part of the online series “Flight or Fight. stories of artists under repression.”
Please join us in Freiburg im Breisgau (Germany) to celebrate our 10th anniversarywith an exciting exhibition of Fritz Aschers work on paper:
It has been eight years since the artist Fritz Ascher (Berlin, 1893–1970) was presented to the German and American public with a first retrospective – a time in which numerous individual studies and thematic exhibitions have illuminated specific aspects of his life and work. New works have been discovered, previously unknown documents have surfaced and networks have been established. Therefore, there could be no better time for this exhibition.
The strong and unique artistic voice of the Expressionist Fritz Ascher testifies to his eventful life, but also to political and social upheavals. Ascher survived two world wars, the first at the front, the second in hiding – he was persecuted by the Nazis as a Jew.
From November 8, 2024 until March 2, 2025 the House of the Graphic Collection in the Augustinermuseum is showing the exhibition “Love and Betrayal – The Expressionist Fritz Ascher from New York Private Collections”.
The exhibition is curated by Jutta Götzmann, Managing Director of the Freiburg Municipal Museums, and Rachel Stern, Director of the Fritz Ascher Society for Persecuted, Ostracized and Banned Art, New York. Organized by Augustinermuseum and Museum für Neue Kunst, Freiburg im Breisgau (Germany).
In cooperation with the Fritz Ascher Society for Persecuted, Ostracized and Banned Art, New York.
The exhibition catalogue, published by Michael Imhof Verlag, costs EUR 23.90 in the online shop and in-house, and is available in bookstores for EUR 34.95.
Please check the many interesting programs that accompany the exhibition.
I’ll feature only one here, and it can not be accessed virtually:
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 14:00 UHR
FRITZ ASCHER IN BERLIN –
EINE SPURENSUCHE
Kurzvortrag und Führung von Rachel Stern Augustinermuseum, Haus der Graphischen Sammlung, Freiburg
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If you missed our October events, you can watch the recordings here.
The first talk addressed the complicated question of compliance and defiance during the Nazi regime, raised n the context of the artistic work of the German born painter Otto Antoine (1865-1951), who in 1930 retired from a long-term career of creating art for the German postal service. In 1933 he became a member of the Nazi controlled Reich Chamber of Culture enabling him to continue creating art. He increasingly depicted landscapes and Berlin cityscapes, which were included in the Große Deutsche Kunstausstellung (“Great German Art Exhibition”) that displayed Nazi-supported art between 1937 and 1944. According to his family, Antoine hated the Nazis.
It was inspiring to listen to Paula J. Birnbaum explore the life and work of the Ukrainian-born French sculptor Chana Orloff (1888-1968), who demonstrated perseverance and endured tremendous sacrifices during World War II. And it was painful to hear how severely her family was impacted by Hamas’ terror attack on Israel on October 7, just as the first anniversary of this horrific day was upon us:
Please donate generously to make our work possible. THANK YOU.
If you want to commemorate loved ones by making a contribution to a specific event or project, please contact me at stern@fritzaschersociety.org.
The Fritz Ascher Society is a not-for-profit 501(c)3 organization. Your donation is fully tax deductible.
I look forward to seeing you online or in person in Germany!
All best wishes,
Rachel Stern
Executive Director
