NEW YORK Archives - Fritz Ascher Society

Oct 11, 2023

Samson Schames: Fragments of Exile
Lecture by Annika Friedman, Frankfurt

Rachel Stern2023-08-23T21:25:19-04:00October 11th, 2023|Events, Lectures|Comments Off on Samson Schames: Fragments of Exile
Lecture by Annika Friedman, Frankfurt

This event is sponsored by Ilona Oltuski in memory of Ruth Drory. Samson Schames (1898-1967) came from a long-established Jewish family in Frankfurt am Main. With the support of his uncle, renowned gallery owner Ludwig Schames, he made his way into the 1920s art scene and began his training as a painter, graphic artist, and stage designer. Schames’ designs, drawings, and oil paintings from the period up to 1933 testify to his deep connection to Frankfurt and her landscapes. Image above: Samson Schames, Blowing the Shofar, c. 1956. Glass tiles on glass, 56 x 71 cm. Jewish Museum Frankfurt REGISTER HERE FOR ONLINE EVENT Samson Schames, Opernplatz Frankfurt, 1930. Jewish Museum Frankfurt [...]

Sep 27, 2023

Art for the Millions:
American Culture and Politics in the 1930s
Lecture by Allison Rudnick, New York

Rachel Stern2023-09-01T19:06:55-04:00September 27th, 2023|Events, Lectures|Comments Off on Art for the Millions:
American Culture and Politics in the 1930s
Lecture by Allison Rudnick, New York

The 1930s was a decade of political and social upheaval in the United States, and the art and visual culture of the time reflected the unsettled environment. Americans searched for their cultural identity during the Great Depression, a period marked by divisive politics, threats to democracy, and intensified social activism, including a powerful labor movement. The exhibition with the same title, on view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art New York until December 10, 2023, features more than 100 works from the collection and several lenders, and explores how artists expressed political messages and ideologies through a range of media, from paintings, sculptures, prints, and photographs to film, dance, decorative arts, fashion, and ephemera. Highlights include paintings by Georgia [...]

Sep 13, 2023

From Émigré to Englishman: Fred Uhlman, ‘Painter of Dreams’
Lecture by Dr. Nicola Baird, London

Rachel Stern2023-09-13T13:30:35-04:00September 13th, 2023|Events, Lectures, Past Events|Comments Off on From Émigré to Englishman: Fred Uhlman, ‘Painter of Dreams’
Lecture by Dr. Nicola Baird, London

Manfred [Fred] Uhlman was born on 19th January 1901 in Stuttgart, Germany, the eldest child of Ludwig Uhlman (1869–c.1943), a textile merchant, and his wife, Johanna Grombacher (1879–c.1943), both of whom were later to perish at Theresienstadt concentration camp. He studied law at the Universities of Freiburg, Munich, and Tübingen, graduating with a doctorate in 1923. In 1927 he joined the Social Democrat Party, becoming its official legal representative in 1932. Image above: Fred Uhlman, Still Life with African Figures, oil on canvas, Hatton Gallery, © the artist's estate / Bridgeman Images. Photo credit: Hatton Gallery In March 1933, after a warning that his arrest was imminent because of his political affiliations, he fled [...]

Sep 4, 2023

FRITZ ASCHER SOCIETY Newsletter September 2023

Rachel Stern2023-09-04T18:11:08-04:00September 4th, 2023|Newsletter|Comments Off on FRITZ ASCHER SOCIETY Newsletter September 2023

Happy September! The air here in New York is crisp and smells like fall. In two weeks we ring in the new Jewish year by celebrating Rosh Hashanah, making this the last two weeks of our SUMMER FUNDRAISING CAMPAIGN. Your donation helps us organize programs that discover and commemorate artists persecuted by the German Nazi regime. In learning about their lives and art and discussing the historical and cultural context they lived in, we aim to understand history better to help create a better future for us all. WE ARE HALFWAY THERE, raising $8,000.00 to support our virtual lecture program! Please help us reach our goal with your tax-deductible donation. DONATE TODAY With this month’s first [...]

Aug 23, 2023

THE ISLAND OF EXTRAORDINARY CAPTIVES
Book Talk by author Simon Parkin, London

Rachel Stern2023-08-23T14:13:45-04:00August 23rd, 2023|Events, Lectures, Past Events|Comments Off on THE ISLAND OF EXTRAORDINARY CAPTIVES
Book Talk by author Simon Parkin, London

In May 1940, faced with a country gripped by paranoia, Britain’s Prime Minister Winston Churchill ordered the internment of all German and Austrian citizens living in the country. Most were refugees who had come to the country to escape Nazi oppression. They were now imprisoned by the country in which they had staked their trust. More than 1,200 men were taken to Hutchinson camp, on the Isle of Man, which a group of world-renowned artists, musicians and academics turned into history’s most extraordinary prison camp. This is a story of a battle between fear and compassion at a time of national crisis that reveals how Britain’s treatment of refugees during the Second World War led to one of the [...]

Aug 9, 2023

A Painter in Search of an Audience:
Marie-Louise von Motesiczky in Exile
Talk by Ines Schlenker, London

Rachel Stern2023-08-09T14:35:11-04:00August 9th, 2023|Events, Lectures, Past Events|Comments Off on A Painter in Search of an Audience:
Marie-Louise von Motesiczky in Exile
Talk by Ines Schlenker, London

Marie-Louise von Motesiczky was born into a wealthy, aristocratic Jewish family in Vienna in 1906. She trained under the German painter Max Beckmann, a family friend, and embarked on a promising career. When the National Socialists marched into Austria in 1938 Motesiczky fled the country for the Netherlands, eventually settling in England. Her attempts to build a new life in a foreign country were supported by a network of fellow émigrés, among them the painter Oskar Kokoschka and the writer Elias Canetti, with whom she had a long relationship. Lecture by Ines Schlenker, introduced and moderated by Rachel Stern. Image above: Self-Portrait with Red Hat, 1938 (Private Collection) ©️Marie-Louise von Motesiczky Charitable Trust 2023 [...]

Jul 26, 2023

FRITZ ASCHER SOCIETY Newsletter August 2023

Rachel Stern2023-07-26T19:36:56-04:00July 26th, 2023|Newsletter|Comments Off on FRITZ ASCHER SOCIETY Newsletter August 2023

This month, we are kicking off our SUMMER FUNDRAISING CAMPAIGN. Before the start of the new Jewish year, we aim to raise $8,000.00 to support our virtual lecture program. Help us continue educating about Antisemitism and the Holocaust through the Arts. Telling the stories of artists persecuted by the German Nazi regime and putting them in their historical and societal context initiates discussions that could not be more relevant today. To sponsor a lecture in honor or memory of someone, please contact Rachel Stern at stern@fritzaschersociety.org. If you like what we do, please show us! DONATE TODAY We have two extraordinary virtual events in our series “Flight or Fight. Stories of Artists under Repression” planned [...]

Jul 19, 2023

Between America and France:
Varian Fry and the Rescue of Artists
Talk by Ori Z Soltes, PhD

Rachel Stern2023-07-19T13:51:04-04:00July 19th, 2023|Events, Lectures, Past Events|Comments Off on Between America and France:
Varian Fry and the Rescue of Artists
Talk by Ori Z Soltes, PhD

With a belated reminder of the proximity of the American and French Independent Day celebrations, this talk focuses on the artists’ Schindler, the American journalist, Varian Fry (1907-1967). Using methods both legal and not, Fry managed to rescue some 2,000 individuals from France between 1940 and 1941. France had become largely swallowed up by Nazi Germany, the “free” parts in Southern France (Vichy France) were not necessarily unreluctant to assist with the deportation of Jews into Nazi-held territories, and the US immigration policies were far from open-handed to those seeking refuge. Who was he and who were some of those he helped—or in some cases, could not help—to escape destruction? Lecture by Ori Z. Soltes, introduced and moderated by [...]

Jul 11, 2023

FRITZ ASCHER SOCIETY Newsletter July 2023

Rachel Stern2023-07-13T05:39:23-04:00July 11th, 2023|Newsletter|Comments Off on FRITZ ASCHER SOCIETY Newsletter July 2023

There couldn’t be a better reason to send out this newsletter so late: The Emmy Rubensohn exhibition in Leipzig is now open! A big thank you to everyone who made this exhibition possible. “Emmy Rubensohn, Networker and Music Patron – from Leipzig to New York” GRASSI Museum in Leipzig, Germany From left: Exhibition opening with Rachel Stern (Director Fritz Ascher Society), Léontine Meijer-van Mensch (Director State Ethnographic Collections Saxony, Ken Toko (US Consul General of Middle Germany), and Ulrich Hörning (Mayor of the City of Leipzig) Emmy Rubensohn (1884-1961) was a networker, music patron, concert manager and author of letters. Born in Leipzig in 1884 as the daughter of the Jewish entrepreneurial family [...]

Jun 25, 2023

Emmy Rubensohn! Netzwerkerin und Musikförderin – von Leipzig bis New York
June 25 – January 14, 2024
Museen im GRASSI, Leipzig, Germany

Rachel Stern2023-09-21T06:01:30-04:00June 25th, 2023|Exhibitions|Comments Off on Emmy Rubensohn! Netzwerkerin und Musikförderin – von Leipzig bis New York
June 25 – January 14, 2024
Museen im GRASSI, Leipzig, Germany

Emmy Rubensohn! Networker and Music Patron - from Leipzig to New York Emmy Rubensohn (1884-1961) was a networker, music patron, concert manager and author of letters. Born in Leipzig in 1884 as the daughter of the Jewish entrepreneurial family Frank, she attended Gewandhaus concerts at an early age and collected autographs from prominent artists of her time. After marrying Ernst Rubensohn in 1907, she moved to Kassel, where the couple turned their house into a cultural meeting place, where composers and performers such as Wilhelm Furtwängler, Walter Braunfels or Ernst Krenek, or visual artists such as the painter Oskar Kokoschka or the sculptor Benno Elkan guested. Thanks to a "residency grant", Krenek was able to complete his opera "Jonny [...]

Jun 7, 2023

Erwin Blumenfeld (1897-1968), from Berlin to New York.
A life in photography
Talk by granddaughter Nadia Blumenfeld Charbit, Paris (France)

Rachel Stern2023-06-07T14:29:04-04:00June 7th, 2023|Events, Lectures, Past Events|Comments Off on Erwin Blumenfeld (1897-1968), from Berlin to New York.
A life in photography
Talk by granddaughter Nadia Blumenfeld Charbit, Paris (France)

Photographer Erwin Blumenfeld (1897-1969) survived two world wars to become one of the world's most highly-paid fashion photographers and a key influence on the development of photography as an art form. An experimenter and innovator, he produced an extensive body of work including drawings, collages, portraits and nudes, celebrity portraiture, advertising campaigns and his renowned fashion photography both in black and white and color. In this talk, Paris-based granddaughter Nadia Blumenfeld Charbit gives her personal insights into the life and work of the photographer Erwin Blumenfeld. Introduced by Rachel Stern, director of the Fritz Ascher Society. Image above: Erwin Blumenfeld, Double Self-Portrait with Linhoff, Paris, 1938 © Erwin Blumenfeld Estate Born to [...]

May 31, 2023

FRITZ ASCHER SOCIETY Newsletter June 2023

Rachel Stern2023-06-11T08:09:34-04:00May 31st, 2023|Newsletter|Comments Off on FRITZ ASCHER SOCIETY Newsletter June 2023

In the 1940s, Erwin Blumenfeld established himself in New York as one of the leading photographers. Join us online to hear Paris-based granddaughter Nadia Blumenfeld Charbit give her personal insights into his life and work: WEDNESDAY, JUNE 7 12:00 pm ET / 18:00 Uhr CET ”Erwin Blumenfeld (1897-1968), from Berlin to New York. A Life in Photography” REGISTER FOR THIS ZOOM EVENT HERE Erwin Blumenfeld, The red cross, for Vogue US, 1945. © Erwin Blumenfeld Estate “No medium of expression is art unless it becomes a vehicle for successfully transmitting an emotion from the one using to the one viewing it – and if it does this what difference is there what raw materials are used?” [...]