Dear Friends,

As we prepare to welcome the Jewish New Year on Wednesday night, we reflect on the past while looking ahead with hope and purpose.

Thank you for being part of our community, and for supporting our work.

In the coming year, we reaffirm our commitment to educate, engage and inspire with engaging and meaningful virtual and in-person events and exhibitions about artists, who were suppressed and persecuted by the German Nazi regime.

Looking back 100 years, allows us to learn and think about highly relevant topics.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 9 ONLINE
OTTO ANTOINE (1865-1951): “THE PAINTER OF BERLIN”
BETWEEN COMPLIANCE AND DEFIANCE
Presentation by KATHLEEN LANGONE

Otto Antoine, Brandenburg Gate, 1928. Oil on cardboard

Kathleen Langone will present the German born painter Otto Antoine (1865-1951), who displayed an early artistic talent but, due to economic circumstances, started a long-term career as a civil servant, initially as a clerk at a local post office. His drawing abilities were soon recognized and trained by the Impressionist painter Franz Skarbina at the Prussian Academy of Art in Berlin. In the following years, he increasingly was used as a painter, engraver and designer of stamps for the German postal service.

Antoine officially retired from civil service in 1930. To continue creating art, he became a member of the Nazi controlled Reich Chamber of Culture in 1933. According to his family, Antoine hated the Nazis and painted Hitler as the devil. These artworks were found by the SS, he was beat up and the paintings destroyed. Antoine increasingly depicted landscapes and Berlin cityscapes. His artwork was included in Große Deutsche Kunstausstellung (“Great German Art Exhibition”), which displayed Nazi-supported art between 1937 and 1944.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 23 ONLINE
SCULPTING A LIFE: CHANA ORLOFF
DURING OCCUPATION, ESCAPE, EXILE, RETURN (1938-1949)
Presentation by PAULA J. BIRNBAUM

Chana Orloff, Self-Portrait, 1940. Plaster. Courtesy of Ateliers Chana Orloff

In this presentation, University of San Francisco professor and author Paula J. Birnbaum explores the life and work of Chana Orloff (1888-1968), the Ukrainian-born French sculptor who demonstrated perseverance and endured tremendous sacrifices during World War II. Against the resonant backdrop of world wars and a life of forced migrations, her sculptures embody themes of gender, displacement, exile, and belonging.

A major figure in the School of Paris, Orloff contributed to the canon of modern art alongside Picasso, Modigliani and Chagall. Professor Birnbaum analyzes Orloff’s life and work during the tumultuous years leading up to the War and its aftermath (1938-1949), to show how she used her art as a form of both survival and healing from trauma.

If you missed our August events, you can watch the recordings here:

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 [email protected].

The Fritz Ascher Society is a not-for-profit 501(c)3 organization. Your donation is fully tax deductible.

We wish you and yours, and the entire world a very healthy, happy, and sweet new years,

Shanah Tovah,

Rachel Stern

Executive Director