Fritz Ascher Archives - Page 6 of 12

Sep 9, 2020

“Narr der ich bleib…”
Poems and Artwork by Fritz Ascher
Preview of “Poesiealbum” by Märkischer Verlag

Rachel Stern2020-10-28T14:30:51-04:00September 9th, 2020|Comments Off on “Narr der ich bleib…”
Poems and Artwork by Fritz Ascher
Preview of “Poesiealbum” by Märkischer Verlag

Reading of Poems by Stephan Weigelin and Reflexion on Artwork by Julia Diekmann The event previews a "Poesiealbum" of Fritz Ascher’s poems, which will be published in December 2020 by Märkischer Verlag Wilhelmshorst, in the series “Ostracized Poets – Burned Books.” "Fritz Ascher's poetic voice rises at a time when his artistic voice is forced to fall silent. Fear of death, hunger and immobility, isolation and loneliness are his daily reality. In this situation he writes poems in which he shares his thoughts and innermost feelings and creates unpainted pictures. Ascher's poems are authentic, tender and powerful, and live from the expressive, creative use of language." Rachel Stern "... we can now safely include him in our canon of [...]

Sep 9, 2020

Guided Tour through the Exhibition
“The Loner. Clowns in the Art of Fritz Ascher”
by Curator Julia Diekmann, Höxter (Germany)

Rachel Stern2020-09-11T08:40:26-04:00September 9th, 2020|Events|Comments Off on Guided Tour through the Exhibition
“The Loner. Clowns in the Art of Fritz Ascher”
by Curator Julia Diekmann, Höxter (Germany)

Exhibition curator Julia Diekmann guides through the exhibition. Whether in dramatic context or as individual figure, the clown always plays the role of the outsider, of the one opposite the many. He is laughed at and ridiculed, is the fool, despised, and humiliated, always operating from the margin. In Ascher’s work, the figure of the clown, the Bajazzo, appears first around 1916. It becomes a lifelong interest, expressed in paintings, drawings, lithographs and poems. Based on the opera I Pagliacci by Ruggero Leoncavallo (1857-1919), which was popular in the 1920s, Ascher creates both dramatic scenes of the tragic love burlesque and studies of the Bajazzo, the Pagliaccio or clown as a single figure. The intensity in the artistic expression of the figure, [...]

Sep 3, 2020

Guided Tour through the Exhibition
“The Loner. Clowns in the Art of Fritz Ascher”
by Curator Julia Diekmann, Höxter (Germany)

Rachel Stern2020-09-30T06:38:57-04:00September 3rd, 2020|Events, Past Events|Comments Off on Guided Tour through the Exhibition
“The Loner. Clowns in the Art of Fritz Ascher”
by Curator Julia Diekmann, Höxter (Germany)

Exhibition curator Julia Diekmann guides through the exhibition. Whether in dramatic context or as individual figure, the clown always plays the role of the outsider, of the one opposite the many. He is laughed at and ridiculed, is the fool, despised, and humiliated, always operating from the margin. In Ascher’s work, the figure of the clown, the Bajazzo, appears first around 1916. It becomes a lifelong interest, expressed in paintings, drawings, lithographs and poems. Based on the opera I Pagliacci by Ruggero Leoncavallo (1857-1919), which was popular in the 1920s, Ascher creates both dramatic scenes of the tragic love burlesque and studies of the Bajazzo, the Pagliaccio or clown as a single figure. The intensity in the artistic expression of the figure, [...]

Aug 31, 2020

Painting as an Act of Resistance.
The artist Felix Nussbaum (1904-1944)
Anne Sibylle Schwetter, Osnabrück

Rachel Stern2020-10-07T15:06:33-04:00August 31st, 2020|Events, Past Events|Comments Off on Painting as an Act of Resistance.
The artist Felix Nussbaum (1904-1944)
Anne Sibylle Schwetter, Osnabrück

WATCH THE RECORDING OF THIS EVENT HERE. Lecture featuring Anne Sibylle Schwetter, Curator of the Felix Nussbaum Collection in the Felix Nussbaum House in the Osnabrück Museum Quarter, Osnabrück Moderated by Rachel Stern, Executive Director of the Fritz Ascher Society in New York The German-Jewish artist Felix Nussbaum (1904 Osnabrück - 1944 Auschwitz) started a promising career in Berlin around 1930, which ended abruptly when the National Socialists came to power in 1933. Years in exile in Italy and Belgium followed. In 1942 Nussbaum went into hiding in Brussels. The artist's last paintings were created here from June 1943 until shortly before his arrest in June 1944. A little later he was murdered in Auschwitz. Like hardly any other painter [...]

Aug 20, 2020

FRITZ ASCHER SOCIETY Newsletter #34, August 2020

Rachel Stern2020-08-20T21:32:19-04:00August 20th, 2020|Newsletter|Comments Off on FRITZ ASCHER SOCIETY Newsletter #34, August 2020

Dear Friends, What a strange summer this is. But I have exciting news of some degree of normalcy: an exhibition in Germany! This is no small feast in these times, and I am thankful to my co-curator Julia Diekmann for her flexibility and creativity in co-organizing the exhibition. Who would have thought that the largest hurdle is getting the artwork out of the locked down campus of Richmond University? In the end it all worked - our shipper Cadogan Tate had just taken up operation again and flight schedules for art opened up, the drawings, which have never been shown before will be matted and framed practically overnight, the artwork will be hanged as fast as it probably never [...]

Aug 19, 2020

Dance under the Swastika:
Mary Wigman and Gyp Schlicht (1917-2015)
Sabine Rollberg, Freiburg

Rachel Stern2020-09-25T07:28:27-04:00August 19th, 2020|Events, Lectures, Past Events|Comments Off on Dance under the Swastika:
Mary Wigman and Gyp Schlicht (1917-2015)
Sabine Rollberg, Freiburg

View a recording this event HERE EXCLUSIVE: Watch Annette von Wangenheim's German language documentary film "Tanz unterm Hakenkreuz" from 2003 HERE. Big thanks to Annette von Wangenheim and Sabine Rollberg for making this possible! Gyp Schlicht speaks at 38:02 min. Lecture featuring Sabine Rollberg, Professor Emeritus of Documentary Film at the Academy of Media Arts in Cologne and former ARTE Representative and ARTE Commissioning Editor for WDR Moderated by Rachel Stern, Executive Director of the Fritz Ascher Society in New York In times of Nazi Germany, becoming an artist was not the typical career path for women. The „deutsche Frau“ was supposed to represent the “good housewife”, as a mother of many children, not wearing make-up and fancy dresses. The Nazis were refuting what [...]

Aug 7, 2020

Flight or Fight. stories of artists under repression
The difficult case of painter Emil Nolde (1867-1956)
Aya Soika, Berlin

Rachel Stern2020-11-29T20:32:16-05:00August 7th, 2020|Events, Past Events|Comments Off on Flight or Fight. stories of artists under repression
The difficult case of painter Emil Nolde (1867-1956)
Aya Soika, Berlin

View a recording of the event HERE. Lecture featuring Aya Soika, Professor of Art History at Bard College Berlin, Germany Moderated by Rachel Stern, Executive Director of the Fritz Ascher Society in New York The German Expressionist Emil Nolde is arguably one of most prominent victims of the Nazis' art politics: No other painter had so many works confiscated, or was presented as prominently in the show „Degenerate Art,“ which opened in Munich in July 1937. Yet, his position differs fundamentally from that of many other artists who will be presented in the Fritz Ascher Society's lecture series "From Flight to Fight": Nolde was not just a victim but also a loyal supporter of the regime whose world views were radicalized by antisemitic propaganda in [...]

Jul 9, 2020

FRITZ ASCHER SOCIETY Newsletter #33, July 2020

Rachel Stern2020-07-15T15:54:15-04:00July 9th, 2020|Newsletter|Comments Off on FRITZ ASCHER SOCIETY Newsletter #33, July 2020

Dear Friends, Antisemitism and racism are not the same. But they are both based on the lack of regard to the values this country was founded on: freedom, justice and equality. As a proud immigrant, I deeply believe in these values, admire the dynamic energy of this country, and hope that this unprecedented time helps speed up the process towards realizing these ideals of freedom, justice and equality for all. As an individual and as the executive director of the Fritz Ascher Society, I strive to do my part in this process. The Fritz Ascher Society tells the stories of artists, who lived and worked in Germany, as the country abandoned its first and very fragile democracy and instead [...]

Jul 9, 2020

Zoe Strimpel, British Historian
Rhodes Must Stand: a lightly Jewish perspective on
why we must learn to live with the past, not destroy it

Rachel Stern2020-07-15T17:24:03-04:00July 9th, 2020|Events, Past Events|Comments Off on Zoe Strimpel, British Historian
Rhodes Must Stand: a lightly Jewish perspective on
why we must learn to live with the past, not destroy it

Lecture featuring Zoe Strimpel, British Historian and flagship columnist for the Sunday Telegraph Moderated by Rachel Stern, Director of the Fritz Ascher Society in New York Since the Black Lives Matter movement gained new urgency following the police murder of George Floyd, much material - not just statues and monuments to the past but culture more broadly – has been flagged as racist and therefore undeserving of a continued place in the public sphere. Recently, Dickens has attracted the condemnation of anti-racists. But nobody has ever, or is likely to, pore over the anti-Semitic connotations or history of art or industry. Jews have learned to live with the prominence of Wagner; of authors from Trollope to Kingsley Amis, with statues to [...]

Jun 25, 2020

Flight or Fight. stories of artists under repression

Jewish Identity and Communist Belief.
Lea Grundig’s Path from Dresden to Palestine and back to Dresden
Lecture by Eckhart Gillen, Berlin

Rachel Stern2020-08-05T22:20:06-04:00June 25th, 2020|Events, Past Events|Comments Off on Flight or Fight. stories of artists under repression

Jewish Identity and Communist Belief.
Lea Grundig’s Path from Dresden to Palestine and back to Dresden
Lecture by Eckhart Gillen, Berlin

Watch the video of this event HERE Lecture featuring Eckhart Gillen, Independent Curator based in Berlin, Germany Moderated by Rachel Stern, Executive Director of the Fritz Ascher Society in New York The lecture tells how the daughter of the Jewish clothing and furniture retailer Moritz Langer leaves her family's Orthodox milieu to study at the Dresden Art Academy. There she meets art student Hans Grundig. With him she joined the German Communist Party in 1926. From now on she wanted to put her art at the service of the working class. After returning from exile in Palestine, she used her art for the newly founded GDR. There she had a career as a professor and as president of the Association [...]

May 30, 2020

FRITZ ASCHER SOCIETY Newsletter #32, May 2020

Rachel Stern2020-06-02T16:23:50-04:00May 30th, 2020|Newsletter|Comments Off on FRITZ ASCHER SOCIETY Newsletter #32, May 2020

Dear Friends, I hope you and your families are well despite the continuing challenges, both physical and psychological. “Fritz Ascher, Expressionist” at the Joel and Lila Harnett Museum of Art in Richmond, Virginia “Fritz Ascher, Expressionist” at the Joel and Lila Harnett Museum of Art in Richmond, Virginia These are the last impressions of “Fritz Ascher, Expressionist” at the Harnett Museum of Art in Richmond. The exhibition is now officially closed, even though the artwork will stay in solitary confinement until the art shippers are back in business. This past week, we celebrated Fritz Ascher, the exhibition in Richmond, and the winners of our competition, with a virtual event. [...]

May 27, 2020

Flight or Fight. stories of artists under repression

Hans Hofmann:
Coming to America
Lecture by Karen Wilkin, NY

Rachel Stern2020-07-29T09:13:41-04:00May 27th, 2020|Events, Past Events|Comments Off on Flight or Fight. stories of artists under repression

Hans Hofmann:
Coming to America
Lecture by Karen Wilkin, NY

Watch the video of this zoom event HERE Lecture featuring Karen Wilkin, Independent Curator and Critic Moderated by Rachel Stern, Director of the Fritz Ascher Society in New York Hans Hofmann (1880-1966) first arrived in the US from Munich in 1930, to teach a summer art course at the University of California, Berkeley. He returned twice more, extending his 1932 visit to pursue teaching opportunities. In 1933, he decided to remain in the US, opening the Hans Hofmann School of Fine Arts in 1934. He did not return to Europe until 1949, for an exhibition in France, and to Germany until 1962, for a touring retrospective. Before coming to America, Hofmann had only drawn for 15 years, because of the [...]