Rachel Stern2023-06-11T07:42:53-04:00April 23rd, 2023|Newsletter|
The big anniversaries keep coming up - this week is the 75th anniversary of the establishment of the modern state of Israel in 1948. In honor of Yom Ha’azmaut, join us for Georgetown University professor Ori Z Soltes’ talk about what defines Israeli art and when it began to take shape. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 26 12:00 pm ET / 18:00 Uhr CET ONLINE EVENT ”Benno Elkan (1877-1960) and the Definition of Israeli Art” REGISTER FOR THIS ZOOM EVENT HERE Benno Elkan, Menorah, 1956. Bronze, 4.30 meters high, 3.5 meters wide. Gan Havradim (Rose Garden) opposite the Knesset, Jerusalem. Presented to the Knesset as a gift from the Parliament of the United Kingdom Parliament on April [...]
Rachel Stern2023-04-03T09:59:19-04:00March 30th, 2023|Newsletter|
Spring is here! Let’s celebrate with Fritz Ascher’s blossoming Golden Chain. Just this past week, March 26, marked the 53rd anniversary of his death. Born in 1893 to Jewish parents in Berlin, Fritz Ascher (1893-1970) survived persecution by the German Nazi regime in hiding. Fritz Ascher, Golden Chain, ca 1959. Oil on canvas, 25.6 x 27.6 in. (65 x 70 cm). ©Bianca Stock Watch New York scholars Karen Wilkin and Elizabeth Berkowitz, PhD, discuss his post-1945 landscapes: WATCH THE RECORDING Dr. Eva Sabrina Atlan’s January 11 lecture in our virtual lecture series “Flight or Fight. stories of artists under repression” has found much interest. Today, we are excited to offer an English-language virtual [...]
Rachel Stern2023-02-23T08:11:27-05:00February 23rd, 2023|Newsletter|
Have we got exciting events for you! Hear about the influential British photographer Dorothy Bohm, now aged 98, from her daughter: Wednesday, March 1 12:00 pm EST / 17:00 Uhr GMT DOROTHY BOHM (B. 1924): A WORLD OBSERVED Lecture by Monica Bohm-Duchen ZOOM EVENT REGISTRATION Dorothy Bohm, Haifa, Israel, 1959. © Dorothy Bohm Archive London-based art historian Monica Bohm-Duchen will give her personal insights into the life and work of her mother, photographer Dorothy Bohm, who as a girl of fourteen found sanctuary from Nazi Europe in the UK, and in due course established herself as one of the leading figures in post-war British photography. Dorothy Bohm was born Dorothea Israelit [...]
Rachel Stern2022-04-28T09:33:15-04:00April 26th, 2022|Newsletter|
Dear Friends, Thursday is Yom HaShoah - Holocaust Memorial Day. In January, we invited you to actively commemorate victims of National Socialism by contributing to the Arolsen Archive’s digital memorial #EVERYNAMECOUNTS. I know that some of you found the project so meaningful that you are still donating your time to it. Right now, you can choose to enter data of documents from Buchenwald, Flossenbürg or Dachau: PARTICIPATE HERE This Thursday, I invite all to donate time to help build this important digital memorial. On our website you find further information about the project and our partnership with the Arolsen Archive: https://fritzaschersociety.org/digifas/everynamecounts/ And please share your experience with us! In May, we turn to the experience of [...]
Rachel Stern2022-03-28T05:26:02-04:00March 28th, 2022|Newsletter|
Dear Friends, When the artist Ben-Zion was born in 1897, his hometown Starokostiantyniv belonged to the Russian Empire. By the time he left for the United States, it belonged to the Ukraine/Poland. Today it again belongs to the Ukraine, and is brutally attacked and destroyed by the Russian army. As the casualties are mounting, we hope for peace, democracy and independence in the Ukraine. Join us on Wednesday, April 6 for a ZOOM LECTURE in our monthly series "Flight or Fight. stories of artists under repression” about the painter, printmaker, sculptor, educator, and poet: Wednesday, April 6, 12:00pm “Ben-Zion (1897-1987): Man of Many Faces” Featuring Tabita Shalem and Ori Z Soltes ) ZOOM EVENT REGISTRATION Ben-Zion, Prophet [...]
Rachel Stern2022-03-28T04:56:27-04:00March 1st, 2022|Newsletter|
Dear Friends, Join us TOMORROW for a ZOOM LECTURE in our monthly series "Flight or Fight. stories of artists under repression" about a recently re-discovered artist: Wednesday, March 2, 12:00pm EST: Jussuf Prince of Thebes – Re-constructing the life and work of a forgotten talent from Safed Featuring Dorothea Schöne, Berlin (Germany) ZOOM EVENT REGISTRATION Jussuf Abbo, Head of a Black Man, ca. 1939, plaster, painted, H: 28 cm. Estate of Jussuf Abbo, Brighton/UK, photo: Gunter Lepkowski Born in Safed, in the province of Beirut of the Ottoman Empire, the sculptor Joseph M. Abbo (1888–1953) – who later renamed himself Jussuf Abbo – came to Berlin in 1911 and began studying at the Royal Academy of [...]
Rachel Stern2022-03-25T18:43:40-04:00February 15th, 2022|Newsletter|
Dear Friends, Our new online exhibition is ready to be launched, and we want to celebrate with you, together with our new partner, the Sheen Center! Please join us: Sunday, February 27, 3:00-4:30pm “Identity and Migration: Artists and Composers who Fled Persecution” The Sheen Center for Thought & Culture, New York MORE INFO AND TICKET LINK During the first half of the 20th century, with the rise of Nazism and other fascist movements across most of Europe, the numbers of people migrating were second only to today. Many refugees made the United States their destination. During this event, expert panelists discuss the degree of receptivity of America to incoming refugees, as well as [...]
Rachel Stern2022-03-25T17:53:06-04:00January 25th, 2022|Newsletter|
Dear Friends, For this Holocaust Remembrance Day, we invite you to participate in building the largest digital memorial to the victims of National Socialism. In partnership with the Arolsen Archives and Yad Vashem, our event kicks off a 48 hour data entry challenge, during which we ask the global community to get together to enter data from 20,000 documents of the Central Location Index, an umbrella organization based in New York that coordinated the search for missing relatives. This collection, which is now in Yad Vashem, has never been indexed before. Wednesday, January 26, 12:00pm EST: International Holocaust Remembrance Day #EVERYNAMECOUNTS Challenge in Partnership with Arolsen Archives and Yad Vashem FIND OUT MORE AND [...]
Rachel Stern2022-02-16T13:07:29-05:00January 19th, 2022|
“Identity, Art and Migration” investigates the experience of seven Jewish European artists who were forced to abandon their country of origin, or remain in hiding for years, in response to Nazi policies in effect from 1933 to 1945. These six artists: Anni Albers, Friedel Dzubas, Eva Hesse, Rudi Lesser, Lily Renée and Arthur Szyk emigrated to the United States, while one, Fritz Ascher, stayed behind in Germany, hiding in a basement for three years. These artists’ lives and work address the multi-layered concept of identity and the particulars of its expression from slightly different angles. We invite you to explore with us how these wrenching experiences affected their sense of who they were, and the art they made. [...]
Rachel Stern2022-03-25T18:23:56-04:00December 25th, 2021|Newsletter|
Dear Friends, Until December 31, you can still watch the 2019 feature documentary "Lily" - for free! A big thank you to director Adrienne Gruben for making the film available to us. LINK TO FILM SCREENING AND RECORDING OF 11/17 EVENT There, you can also watch the recording of the November 17 discussion about discovering Lily Renée and producing the film, featuring Award-winning Herstorian and writer Trina Robbins, director and producer Adrienne Gruben and producer David Armstrong. December 31 is also the end of the year. For us, it was the busiest year in the (short) history of the Fritz Ascher Society. We continued our virtual programming with our monthly "Flight or Fight" lectures and our investigation into "Trauma, Memory and Art," and we [...]
Rachel Stern2022-01-09T15:43:18-05:00November 20th, 2021|Newsletter|
Dear Friends, As we approach Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas and the final weeks of 2021, we thank you for your interest in our work. Over the past two years, our audience grew exponentially and became global, and we very much appreciate the diversity of backgrounds and viewpoints we now find in our discussions. We are especially grateful to those who helped make our work possible with their donations. And I just have to ask again for your support, because we need your donations more than ever. This year, until December 31, there are also unique tax-savings opportunities available in the US: The 2020 CARES Act allows you to deduct cash gifts to charity up to 100% of [...]
Rachel Stern2022-01-09T15:47:45-05:00November 1st, 2021|Newsletter|
Dear Friends, This month, we continue our Zoom discussions featuring Anni Albers, Arthur Szyk and Lily Renee: Wednesday, November 3, 12:00pm EDT: From Sea to Shining Sea: Anni Albers in America (1899–1994) Join us for a conversation about Anni Albers’ art and career, featuring Laura Muir, Associate Director of Academic and Public Programs and the Louis Miller Thayer Research Curator at the Harvard Art Museums in Cambridge MA and Ori Z Soltes, PhD, Teaching Professor at Georgetown University, Washington DC., moderated by Rachel Stern, Director and CEO of the Fritz Ascher Society in New York. ZOOM REGISTRATION LINK Anni Albers, Preliminary Design for Wall Hanging, 1926. Gouache and pencil on paper; [...]
