drawing Archives - Fritz Ascher Society

Mar 6, 2025

Art and Conscience in a Time of Upheaval.
Ben Shahn (1898-1969)
Presentation by Ori Z Soltes, Washington (DC)

Rachel Stern2025-03-12T14:22:13-04:00March 6th, 2025|Events, Lectures, Past Events|Comments Off on Art and Conscience in a Time of Upheaval.
Ben Shahn (1898-1969)
Presentation by Ori Z Soltes, Washington (DC)

Georgetown University professor Ori Z Soltes will speak about Ben Shahn (1898-1969), who arrived in 1906 as a child to the United States from Tsarist-governed Lithuania. Four years after the Tsarist authorities had exiled his father to Siberia for alleged revolutionary activities, his mother managed to bring the family to New York. There they reconnected with Ben's father who had escaped from Siberia and made it to the US by way of South Africa. Image above: Ben Shahn, Detail of the Mural "The Meaning of Social Security," Wilbur J. Cohen Federal Building, Washington, D.C. Within 25 years Shahn emerged as perhaps the key figure in the developing arena of American Social [...]

Feb 14, 2025

There is something mad about the art”
The German-Jewish Art Dealer Alfred Flechtheim and his Heirs’ Fight for Restitution
Presentation by Journalist Michael Sontheimer, Berlin (Germany)

Rachel Stern2025-03-06T14:49:27-05:00February 14th, 2025|Events, Lectures|Comments Off on There is something mad about the art”
The German-Jewish Art Dealer Alfred Flechtheim and his Heirs’ Fight for Restitution
Presentation by Journalist Michael Sontheimer, Berlin (Germany)

Journalist Michael Sontheimer will speak about Alfred Flechtheim, who was born in 1878 in Münster as the son of a wealthy German Jewish grain dealer. He was trained as a trader but did not want to stay in the family business. As he was fascinated with art, he left his hometown and moved to Düsseldorf, where he opened a gallery in 1913. After serving in the German Army during the First World War, in 1921 he opened a second gallery in Berlin, the place to be in the 1920s. He brought works from modern French artists like Picasso, Braque, Chagall, and others to Germany. He also made German painters like Max Beckmann, George Grosz, and Paul Klee widely known. [...]

Jan 20, 2025

Love and Betrayal. The German-Jewish artist Fritz Ascher (1893-1970)
A presentation by Rachel Stern, organized by Saint Elizabeth University, Morristown (NJ)

Rachel Stern2025-03-02T04:34:45-05:00January 20th, 2025|Events, Lectures, Past Events|Comments Off on Love and Betrayal. The German-Jewish artist Fritz Ascher (1893-1970)
A presentation by Rachel Stern, organized by Saint Elizabeth University, Morristown (NJ)

Rachel Stern will present insights into the art and life of the German-Jewish artist Fritz Ascher and the mission of The Fritz Ascher Society for Persecuted, Ostracized and Banned Art. Introduced by Richard Quinlan, Director of the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Education at Saint Elizabeth University in Morristown (NJ). Image above: Fritz Ascher, Male Portrait in Red, c. 1915. Private collection © Bianca Stock Fritz Ascher (1893-1970), a painter, graphic artist, and poet, was recommended to the art academy in Königsberg by the renown German painter Max Liebermann at the age of 16. From 1913 onwards, he gained recognition as a painter in Berlin. Ascher was a keen observer of his era; the [...]

Dec 22, 2024

Making Way for Berthe Weill—
Art Dealer of the Parisian Avant-Garde
A presentation by Lynn Gumpert, New York

Rachel Stern2025-01-22T13:31:12-05:00December 22nd, 2024|Events, Lectures, Past Events|Comments Off on Making Way for Berthe Weill—
Art Dealer of the Parisian Avant-Garde
A presentation by Lynn Gumpert, New York

Berthe Weill was a trailblazing art dealer who exhibited works by emerging artists in her Parisian gallery from 1901 to 1941. Even though many of them went on to become key avant-garde figures, Weill’s role has been omitted from most historical accounts of 20th-century modernism. In this presentation, Lynn Gumpert, a co-curator of the first exhibition on Weill, provides an overview of this remarkable woman. Image above: Amedeo Modigliani, Fille rousse (Girl with red hair), c. 1915. Oil on canvas, 16 x 14 3/8 in. (40.5 x 36.5 cm). Musée de l’Orangerie, Paris. Jean Walter and Paul Guillame Collection, 1960.46 © Photo: Musée de l’Orangerie / Sophie Crépy Passionate and outspoken, Weill was the [...]

Dec 4, 2024

Love, Betrayal and Ascher’s Unpainted Pictures
Tour by Exhibition Curator Jutta Götzmann
Haus der Graphischen Sammlung, Freiburg (Germany)

Rachel Stern2024-12-18T05:55:27-05:00December 4th, 2024|Events, Lectures, Past Events|Comments Off on Love, Betrayal and Ascher’s Unpainted Pictures
Tour by Exhibition Curator Jutta Götzmann
Haus der Graphischen Sammlung, Freiburg (Germany)

Jutta Götzmann, exhibition curator of "Love and Betrayal," presents the artist Fritz Ascher (1893-1970) during a tour. In addition to early charcoal, graphite and ink drawings, colorful gouaches are fascinating. Poems that are considered his "unpainted pictures" and were created in secret during the National Socialist era complement the exhibition. BUY TICKETS HERE The Fritz Ascher Society is a not-for-profit 501(c)3 organization. Your donation is fully tax deductible. YOUR SUPPORT MAKES OUR WORK POSSIBLE. THANK YOU. DONATE HERE

Nov 24, 2024

Behind the Glass: The Villa Tugendhat and Its Family
A book talk by Michael Lambek, Toronto (Canada)

Rachel Stern2024-12-18T14:18:11-05:00November 24th, 2024|Events, Lectures, Past Events|Comments Off on Behind the Glass: The Villa Tugendhat and Its Family
A book talk by Michael Lambek, Toronto (Canada)

In this book talk, Michael Lambek follows the intertwined history of Mies van der Rohe’s iconic Villa Tugendhat and the family who inhabited it from 1930-1938. Part memoir, part social history, the book traces the family from its origins in a Jewish ghetto to the present day, focussing on the author’s maternal grandmother, Grete Tugendhat who commissioned and championed the house, which is now a World Heritage Site in Brno, Czechia. Image above: Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Villa Tugendhat, Brno (Czechia), photo David Zidlicky The Villa Tugendhat, designed by Mies van der Rohe in 1929, is an icon of architectural modernism in Brno, Czechia. It was also a family home. [...]

Oct 28, 2024

Liebe und Verrat: Fritz Ascher
Kurator Erik Riedel im Gespräch mit Rachel Stern
Jüdisches Museum Frankfurt (Germany)

Rachel Stern2024-11-24T14:39:31-05:00October 28th, 2024|Events, Lectures, Past Events|Comments Off on Liebe und Verrat: Fritz Ascher
Kurator Erik Riedel im Gespräch mit Rachel Stern
Jüdisches Museum Frankfurt (Germany)

Der Maler, Grafiker und Dichter Fritz Ascher (1893-1970) wurde bereits als 16-Jähriger von Max Liebermann an die Akademie in Königsberg empfohlen. Ab 1913 gehörte er zu den gefragten Malern in Berlin. Er war ein genauer Beobachter seiner Zeit; die Urkatastrophe des Ersten Weltkriegs und die revolutionären Unruhen in Berlin führten ihn zu christlichen und mystischen Themen, die er radikal neu interpretierte. Nach 1933 erhielt Ascher als Jude Berufsverbot. Während der Pogrome am 9./10. November 1938 wurde er verhaftet und im Konzentrationslager Sachsenhausen und im Potsdamer Gestapo-Gefängnis interniert. Die Schoa überlebte er ab 1942 versteckt in einem Keller in Berlin-Grunewald. Während dieser einsamen Jahre verfasste er Gedichte. Als Künstler fand Ascher nach 1945 seinen ganz eigenen Stil. Angeregt vom nahe [...]

Oct 22, 2024

Fritz Ascher in Berlin – eine Spurensuche
Kurzvortrag und Führung von Rachel Stern, New York
Augustinermuseum, Haus der Graphischen Sammlung, Freiburg

Rachel Stern2024-11-24T14:40:53-05:00October 22nd, 2024|Events, Lectures, Past Events|Comments Off on Fritz Ascher in Berlin – eine Spurensuche
Kurzvortrag und Führung von Rachel Stern, New York
Augustinermuseum, Haus der Graphischen Sammlung, Freiburg

Der spätexpressionistische Künstler Fritz Ascher (1893-1970) überlebte zwei Weltkriege und die Verfolgung durch das nationalsozialistische Regime. Als aufmerksamer Beobachter der Schrecken des Ersten Weltkriegs und der revolutionären Unruhen wandte er sich christlich-spirituellen Themen zu, die er radikal neu interpretierte. In intimen Zeichnungen beschäftigte er sich ab 1916 mit dem Thema Liebe und Verrat, sowohl in seiner Auseinandersetzung mit dem Kreuzigungsthema als auch mit der Figur des Bajazzo in der tragikomischen Oper „I Pagliacci“. Kurzvortrag und Führung von Rachel Stern zeigen den Künstler in seinem sozialen und politischen Umfeld. Image above: Fritz Ascher, Im Wald, um 1919. Weisse Gouache und schwarze Tusche über Aquarell und Bleistift auf Papier, 34 x 32,2 cm © Bianca Stock The late expressionist [...]

Jul 2, 2024

George Grosz (1893-1959):
The Stick Men
Presentation by Karli Wurzelbacher, PhD, Huntington (New York)

Rachel Stern2024-07-24T14:45:50-04:00July 2nd, 2024|Events, Lectures, Past Events|Comments Off on George Grosz (1893-1959):
The Stick Men
Presentation by Karli Wurzelbacher, PhD, Huntington (New York)

George Grosz (American, b. Germany, 1893–1959) created the “Stick Men” series in Huntington, where he lived from 1947 until shortly before his death. Featuring hollow figures in an apocalyptic landscape, this group of watercolors offers a searing indictment of humanity following World War II, the Holocaust, and the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Grosz was an internationally renowned German-born artist who remained invested in political art following his immigration to the United States in 1933. In the “Stick Men” series, he wrestles with the emergence of Abstract Expressionism and reaffirms the ability of painting to impact society. Image above: Detail of George Grosz (American, b. Germany, 1893–1959), The Grey Man Dances, 1949. Oil on canvas. George [...]

Jun 28, 2024

“My verses are like dynamite”
Curt Bloch’s Het Onderwater Cabaret
Presentation by Aubrey Pomerance, Berlin (Germany)

Rachel Stern2024-07-10T16:07:15-04:00June 28th, 2024|Events, Lectures, Past Events|Comments Off on “My verses are like dynamite”
Curt Bloch’s Het Onderwater Cabaret
Presentation by Aubrey Pomerance, Berlin (Germany)

Under threat from Nazi antisemitism, the young Jewish lawyer Curt Bloch (1908–1975) fled Dortmund for the Netherlands in 1933. He went into hiding there in 1942 and emigrated to the United States after the war. In his hiding place, from August 1943 to April 1945 Bloch produced a magazine with the telling title Het Onderwater Cabaret – “The Underwater Cabaret.” Image above: Curt Bloch, Het Onderwater Cabaret 30 Aug 1943; Jewish Museum Berlin, Convolute/816, Curt Bloch collection, loaned by the Charities Aid Foundation America thanks to the generous support of Curt Blochʼs family Week by week, Curt Bloch created small-format booklets with artfully designed covers, containing a total of 483 handwritten poems in German and [...]

Jun 2, 2024

Art and Internment.
Heinz Henghes the Stowaway Sculptor
Presentation by Ian Henghes, London (UK)

Rachel Stern2024-06-19T14:37:38-04:00June 2nd, 2024|Events, Lectures, Past Events|Comments Off on Art and Internment.
Heinz Henghes the Stowaway Sculptor
Presentation by Ian Henghes, London (UK)

Heinz Henghes (1906-1975) was born in Hamburg in 1906, a ‘Mischling’ of mixed Jewish and German descent. In America for almost 10 years before returning to Europe at a time of great political unrest Heinz spent time in Italy where he enjoyed the patronage of Ezra Pound, despite Pounds noted anti-semitism. In London at the outbreak of war Heinz was interned and sent to Australia on the notorious ship the Dunera. Ian Henghes, the artist's son, presents his father’s extraordinary story and the contact he had with other artists, writers and thinkers of his time. Image above: Heinz Henghes in Milan studio ca 1935 © Ian Henghes Ian Henghes is an online communications specialist working [...]

Apr 17, 2024

“Let’s Talk of Interesting People”:
The Story of Erna Friedländer (1890-1979)
With Noit Banai, PhD, Hong Kong, and Ketul Arnold, Boulder (Colorado)

Rachel Stern2024-05-08T21:07:06-04:00April 17th, 2024|Events, Lectures, Past Events|Comments Off on “Let’s Talk of Interesting People”:
The Story of Erna Friedländer (1890-1979)
With Noit Banai, PhD, Hong Kong, and Ketul Arnold, Boulder (Colorado)

This presentation by Noit Banai, PhD, Hong Kong, and Ketul Arnold, Boulder (Colorado), traces Erna Friedländer‘s unique journey as a German refugee who survived Nazi persecution and World War II in Hong Kong, and subsequently migrated to England, Israel, and the USA. Image above: Erna Friedländer, Chinese Landscape. Undated. Monotype. Courtesy The Studio: An Illustrated Magazine of Fine and Applied Art, London As a German refugee who survived World War II in Hong Kong, and subsequently migrated to England, Israel, and the USA, Erna Friedländer’s journey is unique among the many histories of Jewish dispossession. Though few traces remain of Friedländer artistic oeuvre, she was a thoroughly modernist artist. Painter, printmaker, and teacher at the [...]