Rachel Stern2022-12-07T18:53:36-05:00May 25th, 2022|Events, Lectures, Past Events|
Image above: Samuel Bak, Warsaw Excavation, 2007. Oil on canvas, 16 x 20 in. Image Courtesy Pucker Gallery © Samuel Bak Samuel Bak was 6 years old when the Nazis began ending his childhood, as the war that they engendered would soon extend to his native Vilnius. The number “6” became an important element in his art, since it is also the number of the Commandment with which God enjoins us not to commit murder, for which the Holocaust represented such a profound abrogation. His father smuggled him out of the ghetto in the sack that he was still permitted to use to gather firewood—and was subsequently murdered by the regime. By then Bak himself had already [...]
Rachel Stern2018-12-04T11:47:15-05:00March 23rd, 2018|Newsletter|
Dear Friends, I was touched by how many neighbors and friends from near and far came out into the chilly but sunny winter weather on February 21 to celebrate Fritz Ascher and recognize his persecution by the National Socialists by laying a “Stolperstein” (stumbling stone) at Niklasstraße 21/23 in Berlin-Zehlendorf, where his family lived from 1909. Thank you to the anonymous donor for making this event possible, to Dirk Jordan (AG Stolpersteine), Michael Rohrmann (Projekt Stolpersteine) and Wolfgang Ellerbrock for organizing it, to Cornelie von Bismarck for creating a beautiful context, and to Sabine Witt from Museum Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf in Berlin and Jutta Götzmann from Potsdam Museum for supporting it. A special thank you to the students from Potsdam for reciting [...]
Rachel Stern2018-12-04T12:15:18-05:00December 21st, 2017|Newsletter|
Dear Friends, Today I am excited to share with you some photos of last week’s opening of “Beauteous Strivings: Fritz Ascher, Works on Paper”, which is on view at the New York Studio School daily 10:00am-6:00pm until December 3 (website link). In this exhibition, “powerful emotions seem to lurk just beneath the apparent directness and economy of the tree and flower paintings” of the 1950s and 1960s, observes curator Karen Wilkin in the catalogue that accompanies the exhibition. She continues: “A sense of near-obsession, of ferocious concentration, of focus that excluded everything else, was palpable, made visible in the traces of his rapidly moving hand, driving across the paper, making loops and whorls, and then abruptly changing direction. At the [...]
Rachel Stern2018-12-04T12:26:37-05:00September 17th, 2017|Select Press Coverage|
Der Gezeichnete Sven Goldmann Gefördert von Max Liebermann, geschätzt wie Grosz, Dix und Heartfield – doch es bedurfte des 125. Hertha-Geburtstages, um dem Maler Fritz Ascher neue Aufmerksamkeit zu verschaffen. Schwarze Tusche und Grafit auf Papier: „Fußball konnte er also auch malen.“ Verena Veldes Augen huschen über den Ausstellungskatalog, „Leben ist Glühn“, Abbildung 37 auf Seite 202. Eine Zeichnung mit sechs kräftigen Burschen in knielangen Hosen. Einer kommt von links mit kräftigem Spreizschritt herangestürmt, zu spät, der Ball befindet sich schon in den Händen des Torhüters, der drückt ihn zugleich zärtlich und energisch an sich. Konzentriertes Schweigen am anderen Ende des Tisches. So sah Fußball vor 100 Jahren aus – gar nicht so viel anders als heute. „Gefällt mir“, sagt [...]
Rachel Stern2018-12-21T06:00:22-05:00September 17th, 2017|Selected Publications|
Wiebke Hölzer. Fritz Ascher. Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL), vol. 38, Nordhausen: Verlag Traugott Bautz GmbH. pp. 66-71 Download PDF Geboren am 17.10.1893 in Berlin, gestorben am 26.03.1970 in Berlin; expressionistischer Maler und Grafiker, Dichter. Er wuchs als Sohn der jüdisch assimilierten Eltern Hugo Ascher (27.7.1859-18.08.1922) und Minna Luise Ascher, geb. Schneider (17.01.1867-17.10.1938) zusammen mit seinen zwei jüngeren Schwestern Charlotte (08.10.1894-06.12.1978) und Margarete (11.06.1897-15.01.1973) auf. 1899 trat Hugo Ascher mit seinen Kindern aus dem Judentum aus und ließ Fritz 1901 evangelisch taufen. Sein Vater war durch die Entwicklung von künstlichem Zahnschmelz zu Wohlstand gekommen und konnte somit Wohnungen in der Friedrichstraße und der Jägerstraße und später den Bau einer Villa in der Niklasstraße in Zehlendorf finanzieren. 1909 besuchte Ascher — durch das [...]
Rachel Stern2018-12-04T12:33:00-05:00September 1st, 2017|Newsletter|
Dear Friends, It was fun to attend the opening of “Hauptstadtfussball” at the Ephraim Palais in Berlin, celebrating the 125th anniversary of the Berlin soccer club Herta BSC and its local rivals. I learned so many things about soccer in Berlin, and about Herta BSC in this creative, well researched exhibition. And you can see Fritz Ascher’s “Soccer Players” from c. 1916! It will be on view until January 8, 2018. link Thank you to Sven Goldmann for bringing Fritz Ascher alive in his full page piece in the German newspaper Der Tagesspiegel! link Here in New York, the preparations for “‘Beauteous Strivings.’ Fritz Ascher - Works on Paper” at the New York Studio School are in full swing. The New [...]
Rachel Stern2018-12-04T12:35:37-05:00May 15th, 2017|Newsletter|
Dear Friends, I am very excited to invite you to the opening of the Fritz Ascher exhibition at the Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz MUSEUM GUNZENHAUSER on March 4, 2017 at 7:30pm. For the first time ever, Fritz Ascher’s “Golem” from the collection of the Jewish Museum Berlin will here be reunited with other works he created between 1913 and 1933. The Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz is home to an important collection of German Expressionism, dominated by artwork of the locally founded Expressionist group Brücke and especially Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, who grew up in Chemnitz, along with Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Erich Heckel. The Museum Gunzenhauser is home to the vast Expressionist art collection of Alfred Gunzenhauser, with the worldwide largest collection of works by Otto [...]
Rachel Stern2021-02-24T07:06:52-05:00March 3rd, 2017|Select Press Coverage|
EXPRESSIONISTISCHE KUNST IM MUSEUM GUNZENHAUSER Chemnitz – Zur Eröffnung der 26. Tage der jüdischen Kultur in Chemnitz wird am Samstag eine Sonderausstellung zum deutschen Künstler Fritz Ascher präsentiert. Die Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz zeigen im Museum Gunzenhauser rund 40 Gemälde und Grafiken des 1893 in Berlin geborenen Expressionisten, der bisher nur wenigen Kunstkennern ein Begriff ist. Die in New York lebende Kuratorin, Rachel Stern, hat erstmals eine Einzelausstellung zu Fritz Ascher organisiert, die nun in Chemnitz Station macht. Als Kind von evangelisch getauften, assimilierten Juden fand der Künstler zu einer kraftvollen Bildsprache, die seine Spiritualität – aber auch seine innere Zerrissenheit widerspiegelt. Während der Zeit des Nationalsozialismus war Fritz Ascher zeitweise im Gefängnis und im KZ Sachsenhausen inhaftiert, konnte bis Kriegsende jedoch [...]
Rachel Stern2018-12-04T12:36:20-05:00February 28th, 2017|Newsletter|
Dear Friends, Thank you for supporting us with your interest in our work, reading our newsletters and publications and/or visiting our exhibitions, and - last not least - supporting our work financially. 2016 was the first year that our work started showing, with the participation in the exhibition Verfahren. "Wiedergutmachung" im geteilten Berlin / »Making Amends« Compensation and Restitution Cases in Divided Berlin at Aktives Museum Berlin (October 9, 2015 - January 14, 2016) and Landgericht Berlin/Amtsgericht Mitte, Berlin (September 29 - November 18, 2016) and the long anticipated first ever retrospective with its comprehensive catalogue (link) "Leben ist Glühn" Der Expressionist Fritz Ascher / “To Live is to Blaze with Passion" The Expressionist Fritz Ascher at the Felix-Nussbaum-Haus Osnabrück [...]
Rachel Stern2018-12-03T16:21:23-05:00January 12th, 2017|Exhibitions, Past Exhibitions|
The worldwide first Fritz Ascher Retrospective is on view at the Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz - MUSEUM GUNZENHAUSER from March 5 to June 18, 2017. (website link) The main focus of the presentation at the Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz - MUSEUM GUNZENHAUSER is on the artist's important early masterworks like "Golgatha" (1915), "Bajazzo and Artists" (ca. 1916) and "The Tortured" (ca. 1916). For the first time ever, Fritz Ascher’s “Golem” from the collection of the Jewish Museum Berlin will here be reunited with other works the artist created between 1913 and 1933. The Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz is home to an important collection of German Expressionism, dominated by artwork of the locally founded Expressionist group Brücke and especially Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, who grew up in Chemnitz, along [...]
Rachel Stern2018-12-04T12:38:08-05:00December 7th, 2016|Newsletter|
Dear Friends, As the holiday season is upon us, we at the Fritz Ascher Society had an exciting discovery: the gouache of a “Male Head” to the left appeared at auction in November. Even though it is not signed or dated, we recognize the gouache as a study for Fritz Ascher’s “Golem” from 1916. The features of the “Male Head” appear both in the Golem itself, as well as in the person on the left. The original graphite drawing from 1916 was later painted over with red, green, blue and black ink by the artist himself. He did this most probably in the late 1940s, when the artist repeatedly reworked previously done works on canvas and paper. Fritz Ascher, “Male [...]
Rachel Stern2018-12-04T12:43:56-05:00July 28th, 2016|Newsletter|
Dear Friends, Today we are all about literature. 400 years ago the poet William Shakespeare died (1564-1616). Ever since, the dramatic scenes in his plays have inspired many artists’ brush and pen, like William Turner, Edvard Munch, Max Slevogt and Lovis Corinth. Fritz Ascher drew scenes from Shakespeare’s "King John“, "King Richard II." and "Henry IV." He is almost certainly inspired by numerous performances, especially in Berlin. Most famous was the Austrian theater producer Max Reinhardt, who staged Shakespeare's plays at the "Deutsches Theater" and the "Großes Schauspielhaus". The drawing below shows the stage in the right background; in the foreground a man and a woman sit in a box, the rest of the audience sits below. Stage plays have [...]
