Berlin Archives - Page 3 of 7 - Fritz Ascher Society

Mar 3, 2021

Becoming Jewish:
The Sculptor Benno Elkan (1877-1960)
Christian Walda, Dortmund with
Wolfgang Weick and Ori Z. Soltes

Rachel Stern2022-02-18T07:06:06-05:00March 3rd, 2021|Events, Lectures, Past Events|Comments Off on Becoming Jewish:
The Sculptor Benno Elkan (1877-1960)
Christian Walda, Dortmund with
Wolfgang Weick and Ori Z. Soltes

Born 1877 in Dortmund, the sculptor Benno Elkan (1877-1960) first studied painting in Munich and Karlsruhe. At the end of his studies, he turned to sculpture. As a young artist, he spent time in Paris, Rome, and Frankfurt. Elkan’s oeuvre was largely made up of commissions. In the beginning, he mainly created tombs. Medals, portrait busts of well-known personalities, monuments to victims and candelabras follow, partly for the religious (Jewish and Christian) context. Elkan fled persecution by the German Nazi regime to Great Britain in 1934and lived with his family in London until the end of his life. Perhaps the most important work besides the Menorah in Jerusalem (1956) was never built: Memorial to the Defenseless Victims of the Bombing [...]

Feb 24, 2021

2020 – Rachel Stern (Ed.)
Fritz Ascher. Poesiealbum 357

Rachel Stern2021-02-24T05:40:28-05:00February 24th, 2021|Selected Publications|Comments Off on 2020 – Rachel Stern (Ed.)
Fritz Ascher. Poesiealbum 357

Ascher composed, wrote, drew and painted: Between 1942 and 45 - three long years - he hid from the persecution of the fascists in the basement of a bombed-out house in Berlin-Grunewald. Immobility, loneliness and hunger as well as the fear of betrayal and discovery, torture and death did not leave him during this time. In this situation he found poignant words for his “unpainted pictures”. He conveys both the intensity of his thought processes and his sensitivity for - and his use of - words as well as their nuances and sound patterns. Above all, he demonstrates the indomitable spirit of the artist Fritz Ascher, which no circumstance, regardless of the medium, can prevent from creating with vehement and [...]

Feb 10, 2021

Excluded and yet entangled in two dictatorships:
The political constructivist Oskar Nerlinger
Eckhart Gillen, Berlin

Rachel Stern2022-02-18T07:13:15-05:00February 10th, 2021|Events, Lectures, Past Events|Comments Off on Excluded and yet entangled in two dictatorships:
The political constructivist Oskar Nerlinger
Eckhart Gillen, Berlin

Oskar Nerlinger (1893-1969) was one of the most important artists of the committed art scene in the Weimar Republic. He was a member of the Association of Proletarian Revolutionary Art (ASSO for short), which was founded in 1928 and belonged to the KPD, which cooperated with the Soviet avant-garde artist group Oktober. At that time there was no conflict between positions of aesthetic modernism and KPD politics. In 1932 the political and artistic avant-garde in the Soviet Union fell apart, with serious consequences for left-wing artists in Germany. Almost at the same time, the Nazi system broke with all forms of modernity. With his idea of art suddenly doubly isolated within his own party, which followed Stalin's art verdict, [...]

Jan 6, 2021

Biala (1903-2000):
The Rash Acts of Rescue and Escape
Jason Andrew, New York

Rachel Stern2021-01-11T06:14:12-05:00January 6th, 2021|Events, Lectures, Past Events|Comments Off on Biala (1903-2000):
The Rash Acts of Rescue and Escape
Jason Andrew, New York

WATCH THE RECORDING OF THIS EVENT HERE. More information about Janice Biala is available HERE. Lecture featuring Jason Andrew Independent Scholar, Curator and Producer in New York Introduced by Rachel Stern Executive Director of the Fritz Ascher Society in New York Biala (1903-2000) was a Polish born American painter whose career stretched over eight decades and spanned two continents. Through it all, she retained an intimacy in her art rooted in Old World Europe—sensibilities that began with memories of her childhood in a Polish village, shaped by School of Paris painters like Bonnard, Matisse and Braque, inspired by Velázquez and the Spanish Masters, and broadened by the community of loft-living artists in Post World War II Downtown New York. Her [...]

Dec 2, 2020

White Shadows:
The Photograms of Anneliese Hager (1904-1997)
Lynette Roth, Harvard Art Museums

Rachel Stern2022-03-06T11:39:32-05:00December 2nd, 2020|Events, Lectures, Past Events|Comments Off on White Shadows:
The Photograms of Anneliese Hager (1904-1997)
Lynette Roth, Harvard Art Museums

Lecture by Lynette Roth Daimler Curator of the Busch-Reisinger Museum and Head of the Division of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Harvard Art Museums Moderated by Rachel Stern Executive Director of the Fritz Ascher Society in New York Anneliese Hager (1904-1997) is one of a number of modern artists who began their artistic experimentation in Germany after National Socialist cultural policy began to harden against all forms of modern art. Her preferred medium was the photogram, a photographic image made by placing an object directly on (or in close proximity to) a light-sensitive surface and exposing it to light. Hager called the reversal of light and dark in the resulting contact print “white shadows.” [...]

Nov 4, 2020

John Heartfield (1891-1968)
His Political Engagement and Private Life in London
Rosa von der Schulenburg, Berlin

Rachel Stern2020-11-04T15:01:37-05:00November 4th, 2020|Events, Lectures, Past Events|Comments Off on John Heartfield (1891-1968)
His Political Engagement and Private Life in London
Rosa von der Schulenburg, Berlin

WATCH THE RECORDING OF THIS EVENT HERE. Lecture featuring Rosa von der Schulenburg, Head of the Art Collection of the Academy of Arts in Berlin Moderated by Rachel Stern, Executive Director of the Fritz Ascher Society in New York John Heartfield (1891-1968) was a German visual artist who pioneered the use of art as a political weapon. This presentation starts with preliminary remarks about John Heartfield’s bequest in the Akademie der Künste in Berlin and shows how it is accessible nowadays. A short introduction of how all began follows, showing the background of the birth of Heartfield’s political photo-montages (World War I, Dada, Communist Party, Willi Münzenberg’s Die Arbeiter-Illustrierte-Zeitung in short AIZ), glances at Heartfield’s first exile stage in Prague and then focuses on [...]

Nov 1, 2020

FRITZ ASCHER SOCIETY Newsletter November 2020

Rachel Stern2020-11-23T23:33:37-05:00November 1st, 2020|Newsletter|Comments Off on FRITZ ASCHER SOCIETY Newsletter November 2020

Dear Friends, First of all, IF YOU ARE AN US CITIZEN, PLEASE VOTE! John Heartfield, Krieg und Leichen – Die letzte Hoffnung der Reichen, Montagefotografie für die Arbeiter-Illustrierten-Zeitung, 1932, Nr. 18, Silbergelatineabzug, kaschiert Akademie der Künste, Berlin, Inv.Nr. JH 1955 © The Heartfield Community of Heirs / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2020 This will be an extremely busy month at FAS, starting on November 4, 2020 at 12:00pm ET with Rosa von der Schulenburg’s lecture “About John Heartfield’s Political Engagement and Private Life in London”, which is part of our monthly zoom series “Fight or Flight. stories of artists under repression,” generously funded by Allianz Partners. (SEE EVENT HERE) John [...]

Oct 29, 2020

Twitterview @Ascher_Society
Giora Seeliger
“Ask A Healthcare Clown!”

Rachel Stern2020-11-02T20:09:58-05:00October 29th, 2020|Events, Past Events, Send in the Clowns|Comments Off on Twitterview @Ascher_Society
Giora Seeliger
“Ask A Healthcare Clown!”

Twitter @Ascher_Society Giora Seeliger, Artistic Director and Founder of Red Noses Clowndoctors International, takes over the FAS Twitter account to answer your burning questions about clowning, the role of a healthcare clown, and anything else that comes to mind! Submit your questions in advance by writing to info@fritzaschersociety.org Part of "Send in the Clowns," an interactive two-week digital initiative, which explores the clown as a figure between tragedy and comedy, between self- identification and stage--a character designed to (literally) mask the performer’s true feelings behind a facade of happiness. “Send in the Clowns” uses the prominence of the “clown” figure in Fritz Ascher’s work as a lens through which to explore the duality of the clown both historically and today. [...]

Oct 28, 2020

“The Hospital Clown: Between Joy and Sadness”
Roundtable featuring
Giora Seeliger, Harry Page, Ed Stephan
Moderated by Elizabeth Berkowitz

Rachel Stern2020-10-28T14:24:47-04:00October 28th, 2020|Events, Past Events, Send in the Clowns|Comments Off on “The Hospital Clown: Between Joy and Sadness”
Roundtable featuring
Giora Seeliger, Harry Page, Ed Stephan
Moderated by Elizabeth Berkowitz

Watch the recording of this event HERE. Roundtable featuring Giora Seeliger Artistic Director and Founder of the Red Noses Clowndoctors International Harry Page “Flash” the Clown Ed Stephan “Dumbbell” the Clown Moderated by Elizabeth Berkowitz Art Historian and Digital Interpretation Manager, The Fritz Ascher Society in New York One of the more appealing aspects of the clown subject to artists like Fritz Ascher was the divide between a public persona committed to joy and happiness, and the pain or sadness that might lurk beneath the real, human surface. Hospital or healthcare clowns straddle this divide every day of their professional lives—working to bring happiness to child patients who are often in circumstances that might otherwise inspire grief or pain. This [...]

Oct 22, 2020

Twitter Takeover @Ascher_Society
Matthew R. Wilson, PhD
“Commedia dell’Arte and the Clown in Popular Culture”

Rachel Stern2020-09-29T20:08:44-04:00October 22nd, 2020|Events, Send in the Clowns|Comments Off on Twitter Takeover @Ascher_Society
Matthew R. Wilson, PhD
“Commedia dell’Arte and the Clown in Popular Culture”

Twitter @Ascher_Society Actor and theater historian Matthew R. Wilson takes over the FAS Twitter account to discuss the history of the Commedia dell’Arte, key themes in the genre, and how the Commedia dell’Arte has impacted popular culture. Submit your questions in advance by writing to info@fritzaschersociety.org Part of "Send in the Clowns," an interactive two-week digital initiative, which explores the clown as a figure between tragedy and comedy, between self- identification and stage--a character designed to (literally) mask the performer’s true feelings behind a facade of happiness. “Send in the Clowns” uses the prominence of the “clown” figure in Fritz Ascher’s work as a lens through which to explore the duality of the clown both historically and today. Generously sponsored [...]

Oct 21, 2020

“The Clown on Stage”
Roundtable featuring
Matthew R. Wilson, Ori Z. Soltes, Tricia Manuel / “Pricilla Mooseburger”
Moderated by Elizabeth Berkowitz

Rachel Stern2020-10-22T00:35:30-04:00October 21st, 2020|Events, Past Events, Send in the Clowns|Comments Off on “The Clown on Stage”
Roundtable featuring
Matthew R. Wilson, Ori Z. Soltes, Tricia Manuel / “Pricilla Mooseburger”
Moderated by Elizabeth Berkowitz

Watch the recording of this event HERE. Roundtable featuring Matthew R. Wilson Director (SDC), Actor (AEA, SAG-AFTRA), and Fight Director (SAFD, SDC), as well as a scholar and playwright Ori Z. Soltes Teaching Professor at Center for Jewish Civilization, Georgetown University, Washington D.C. Tricia Manuel / "Pricilla Mooseburger" the Clown Tricia Manuel is the unmistakable Pricilla Mooseburger! Moderated by Elizabeth Berkowitz Art Historian and Digital Interpretation Manager, The Fritz Ascher Society in New York How do we define “the clown,” historically, in art, and today, in practice? What is the appeal of the clown in performance, and how has the clown subject impacted popular culture? This roundtable pools the expertise from a diversity of fields to place Fritz Ascher’s interest in “the [...]

Oct 14, 2020

FRITZ ASCHER SOCIETY Newsletter #36, October 2020

Rachel Stern2020-11-24T20:14:35-05:00October 14th, 2020|Newsletter|Comments Off on FRITZ ASCHER SOCIETY Newsletter #36, October 2020

Dear Friends, On October 17 we celebrate Fritz Ascher’s birthday - this year with the launch of DigiFAS - diverse, innovative digital initiatives that provide new ways of engagement with the art and life of artists persecuted by an authoritarian regime. DigiFAS is generously sponsored by Allianz Partners. This launch includes the Society’s first-ever fully digital exhibition “Fritz Ascher: Themes and Variations.” You can explore the exhibition HERE. We have worked on this for months and can’t wait for your reactions! We also invite you to participate in the 2- week digital engagement project “Send in the Clowns,” which explores the clown as a figure between tragedy and comedy, between self- identification [...]