Fritz Ascher Society Archives - Fritz Ascher Society

Sep 1, 2026

Newish and Jewish from Europe:
Refugees, Survivors and the Spread of Modernism
Presentation by Samuel D. Gruber

Rachel Stern2026-09-01T07:13:25-04:00September 1st, 2026|Events, Lectures|Comments Off on Newish and Jewish from Europe:
Refugees, Survivors and the Spread of Modernism
Presentation by Samuel D. Gruber

The architecture of the American Jewish community was transformed following World War II by émigré and refugee architects engaged to design synagogues and Jewish Community Centers. Eric Mendelsohn’s synagogues for St. Louis, Cleveland and elsewhere are well known but the work of Fritz Nathan, Mendelsohn’s German-Jewish contemporary, is virtually forgotten. Image above: Hamden, CT, Mishkan Israel sanctuary, photo S. Gruber, 2011. Architects: Fritz Nathan and Bertram Bassuk, Ark: Ben Shahn, Stained Glass: Robert Pinart and Jean-Jacques Duval REGISTER HERE Erich Mendelsohn, sketch for Congregation Bnai Amoona, St Louis, MO Erich Mendelsohn, Model for Congregation Bnai Amoona, St Louis, MO Nathan arrived in the United States [...]

Sep 1, 2026

Reconciling Identities:
Marcel Janco and the Romanian Avant-Garde in the Interwar Years
Presentation by Amelia Miholca
followed by a conversation with Nicola Baird, PhD, London (UK)

Rachel Stern2026-09-16T14:42:28-04:00September 1st, 2026|Events, Lectures, Past Events|Comments Off on Reconciling Identities:
Marcel Janco and the Romanian Avant-Garde in the Interwar Years
Presentation by Amelia Miholca
followed by a conversation with Nicola Baird, PhD, London (UK)

In her presentation, Dr. Miholca will spotlight the artistic and historical significance of Marcel Janco and the Romanian avant-garde group during a period of tremendous creative experimentation and productivity, when artists and writers merged their Jewish identity with the international identity they sought to foster through their network of dadaist and constructivist magazines. Janco, alongside other Romanian-Jewish artists like M. H. Maxy, Victor Brauner, Mattis Teutsch, and Benjamin Fondane, wished to capitalize on the Dada movement initiated by Janco and Tristan Tzara—alongside Hugo Ball, in Zurich, 1916—with their own avant-garde movement in Bucharest that mainly emerged through magazines such as Contimporanul (1922-1932), 75HP (1924) and Integral (1925-1928). The presentation will be followed by a conversation with Nicola Baird, PhD. [...]

Aug 31, 2026

SAVE THE DATE!
Understanding Past Realities of the Holocaust.
Photography versus Art
With Dr. Christoph Kreutzmüller (Berlin) and Dr. Rachel Perry (Boston)

Rachel Stern2026-09-16T16:36:06-04:00August 31st, 2026|Events, Lectures|Comments Off on SAVE THE DATE!
Understanding Past Realities of the Holocaust.
Photography versus Art
With Dr. Christoph Kreutzmüller (Berlin) and Dr. Rachel Perry (Boston)

This event will bring together leading scholars to examine how visual media contribute to our understanding of the Holocaust. Berlin-based Dr. Christoph Kreutzmüller and Boston-based Dr. Rachel Perry will interpret visual narratives that serve as both powerful and complex testimonies to lived experience. Through a detailed visual analysis, they will examine what photographs and works of art reveal about the individuals and communities depicted, as well as the embedded social dynamics and historical contexts. The discussion will also address the interpretive challenges inherent in visual sources. What are the strengths and limitations of photography compared to artistic representation? How do intention, perspective, and medium influence what is shown—or left out? By examining both photographic and artistic documents, the event [...]

Aug 4, 2026

Cocktail Reception
at the home of Gary Zimmerman
Central Park South, NYC

Rachel Stern2026-09-16T16:40:08-04:00August 4th, 2026|Events, Lectures|Comments Off on Cocktail Reception
at the home of Gary Zimmerman
Central Park South, NYC

Event Chair: Carol Prendergast Keynote Speaker: Bella Meyer A Migrant's Legacy - Marc Chagall's Response. Reflections of his Granddaughter Event committee (in formation): Betty Ehrenberg Cheryl Fishbein Janet Heit Sam Konig Carol Lipsky Ilona Oltuski Steven Orlikoff Ian Shapolsky Ori Z Soltes Rachel Stern

Jul 28, 2026

FRITZ! in AUGUST with our first ever survey

Rachel Stern2026-08-13T07:03:53-04:00July 28th, 2026|Newsletter|Comments Off on FRITZ! in AUGUST with our first ever survey

Dear Friends, Summertime! How do you recharge? Today we want to hear even more from you. Recently, we invited you to join us for New York in-person events - do you want to see more of that? Please share your ideas, opinions and thoughts in our first ever survey: ENTER THE SURVEY HERE Thank you for taking the time - we very much appreciate your feedback. This month, we invite you to meet Suzanne Loebl, who has a dramatic life story to tell, which informs her research interests: WEDNESDAY, August 12, 12:00PM ET online Lost and Sometimes Found: Suzanne Loebl’s Encounter with Nazi-Plundered Art and Its Sometime Restitution Suzanne [...]

Jul 21, 2026

Lost and Sometimes Found:
Suzanne Loebl’s Encounter with Nazi-Plundered Art
and Its Sometime Restitution
Suzanne Loebl in Conversation with Ori Z Soltes

Rachel Stern2026-08-13T06:16:59-04:00July 21st, 2026|Events, Lectures, Past Events|Comments Off on Lost and Sometimes Found:
Suzanne Loebl’s Encounter with Nazi-Plundered Art
and Its Sometime Restitution
Suzanne Loebl in Conversation with Ori Z Soltes

Born in Germany, Suzanne Loebl and her family left for Belgium in 1938, and lucky enough to be hidden there after the Nazis overran the country. She survived to carve out a diverse career as a writer, including books that focus on the visual arts and museums. Her most recent volume, Plunder and Survival, draws from her passion for art and her fascination with the story of both the Nazi obsession and theft of cultural property and the winding trajectory of attempts to restore plundered artworks to the families or institutions from which they were stolen. Image above: Yussuf Abbo, sketch of Gretel Bamberger, Suzanne's mother, n.d. Courtesy Suzanne Loebl . In this zoom program Loebl [...]

Jun 30, 2026

FRITZ! in July with THANK YOU and Bauhaus women photographers

Rachel Stern2026-06-30T12:04:40-04:00June 30th, 2026|Newsletter|Comments Off on FRITZ! in July with THANK YOU and Bauhaus women photographers

Dear friends, First of all: THANK YOU! A heartfelt thank you to those of you who responded so generously to help us continue and expand our work, and a heartfelt thank you to the anonymous sponsor who matched the donations. With your support, we will continue to bring to you buried art treasures and the stories of their creators in historical context. And now we are heading for the 250th birthday of the United States of America! Founded on the basis of an idea, we celebrate the double helix of American DNA: the Jeffersonian embrace of the enlightenment and Adam's emphasis not only on reason, but also on religion and tradition. We celebrate America as a work in [...]

Jun 28, 2026

The Extraordinary Life of Edith Tudor Hart –
Émigré, Photographer and Secret Agent
Book talk by Daria Santini, London (United Kingdom)

Rachel Stern2026-07-15T13:51:50-04:00June 28th, 2026|Events, Lectures, Past Events|Comments Off on The Extraordinary Life of Edith Tudor Hart –
Émigré, Photographer and Secret Agent
Book talk by Daria Santini, London (United Kingdom)

In her talk, Daria Santini presents her new biography of the Austrian-British photographer and Soviet agent Edith Tudor Hart (1908–1973). At the centre of a wide and vibrant circle of predominantly Central European artists, architects, designers, scientists, intellectuals and political activists in 1930s and 1940s London, Tudor Hart combined a successful career as a photographer with a clandestine role as a communist agent. This remarkable dual identity forms the basis of a compelling and dramatic life story. Image above: Edith Tudor Hart, London ca 1935. Born in Vienna into a secular, social-democratic Jewish family deeply rooted in the progressive culture of the city that became known as 'Red Vienna', Edith Tudor [...]

Jun 2, 2026

FRITZ ASCHER SOCIETY Newsletter June 2026

Rachel Stern2026-06-09T07:08:31-04:00June 2nd, 2026|Newsletter|Comments Off on FRITZ ASCHER SOCIETY Newsletter June 2026

Dear Friends, This month, the FIFA Soccer World Cup kicks off, and this year it is hosted in North America, with games - among them the final - being played "just across the bridge" in New Jersey. What does that have to do with us? Well, in 1916, the artist Fritz Ascher drew soccer players into one of his sketchbooks - most probably from direct observation. He captured a dramatic moment, when a player holds a shot on goal. He catches the ball with his hands, which identifies him as the opponent's goal keeper - regular players are not allowed to touch the ball with their hands. Fritz Ascher, Soccer Players, ca. 1916. Black ink [...]

May 24, 2026

Visibility Practices: Women Photographers of the Bauhaus
Presentation by Carla Maria Huttenloher, Berlin (Germany)

Rachel Stern2026-07-22T15:12:44-04:00May 24th, 2026|Events, Lectures, Past Events|Comments Off on Visibility Practices: Women Photographers of the Bauhaus
Presentation by Carla Maria Huttenloher, Berlin (Germany)

In this presentation, Carla Maria Huttenloher brings women’s photographic agency to the forefront of the Bauhaus story, uncovering the rich and long-underexplored links between their lives and their powerful bodies of work. Image above: Grit Kallin-Fischer, Self-portrait with cigarette, around 1928. Courtesy Bauhaus-Archiv Berlin . Women have worked behind the camera since photography’s beginnings, but their contributions have been sidelined in art‑historical narratives. The Bauhaus offers a clear case: during the Weimar Republic women engaged with and shaped photographic modernism in multiple ways, yet their work is insufficiently acknowledged to date. In the 1920s and early 1930s, the social figure of the New Woman — ideologically linked to greater independence, professional [...]

Apr 28, 2026

FRITZ ASCHER SOCIETY Newsletter MAY 2026

Rachel Stern2026-06-15T07:08:32-04:00April 28th, 2026|Newsletter|Comments Off on FRITZ ASCHER SOCIETY Newsletter MAY 2026

Dear Friends, This yearning to be out and about, after this long and cold winter! Every year I marvel at the blooming trees and flowers and am reminded of the power of renewal. In addition to our online events, we are promoting two special in person events here in New York this month, and I hope to meet many of you who live in or around New York or are here for a visit. May is Jewish American Heritage Month, a commemoration of Jewish contributions to American culture and the celebration of the history, culture and achievements of the diverse Jewish community in the U.S. Our first virtual lecture of the month looks at early Jewish Immigrant Artists: [...]

Apr 27, 2026

Stolen Jewish Legacies:
The Fate of Eugen Spiro and His Looted Collection
Presentation by Anne Uhrlandt, Munich (Germany)

Rachel Stern2026-05-21T07:16:30-04:00April 27th, 2026|Events, Lectures, Past Events|Comments Off on Stolen Jewish Legacies:
The Fate of Eugen Spiro and His Looted Collection
Presentation by Anne Uhrlandt, Munich (Germany)

In this online lecture Anne Uhrlandt will present the forgotten story of once prominent German Jewish artist and collector Eugen Spiro (April 18, 1874, Wrocław - September 26, 1972, New York City). During her two-year research project, Uhrlandt reconstructed the artist’s biography and the fate of his looted collection by bringing together evidence and sources from numerous international archives. Two case studies about specific stolen objects highlight the dramatic events following both s the Nazi government ‘s expulsion of Spiro from his profession, robbing him of his sources of income, and the theft of his art collection, which included both his own works of art and works of art by other artists. The case studies demonstrate the potential of [...]

Newish and Jewish from Europe:
Refugees, Survivors and the Spread of Modernism
Presentation by Samuel D. Gruber

Reconciling Identities:
Marcel Janco and the Romanian Avant-Garde in the Interwar Years
Presentation by Amelia Miholca
followed by a conversation with Nicola Baird, PhD, London (UK)

SAVE THE DATE!
Understanding Past Realities of the Holocaust.
Photography versus Art
With Dr. Christoph Kreutzmüller (Berlin) and Dr. Rachel Perry (Boston)

Cocktail Reception
at the home of Gary Zimmerman
Central Park South, NYC

Lost and Sometimes Found:
Suzanne Loebl’s Encounter with Nazi-Plundered Art
and Its Sometime Restitution
Suzanne Loebl in Conversation with Ori Z Soltes

The Extraordinary Life of Edith Tudor Hart –
Émigré, Photographer and Secret Agent
Book talk by Daria Santini, London (United Kingdom)

Visibility Practices: Women Photographers of the Bauhaus
Presentation by Carla Maria Huttenloher, Berlin (Germany)

Stolen Jewish Legacies:
The Fate of Eugen Spiro and His Looted Collection
Presentation by Anne Uhrlandt, Munich (Germany)

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