NEW YORK

Jan 11, 2021

Between Art and Record Keeping –
Artistic Representations of the Holocaust
Ori Z Soltes, Washington DC

2022-02-18T07:19:09-05:00January 11th, 2021|, , |Comments Off on Between Art and Record Keeping –
Artistic Representations of the Holocaust
Ori Z Soltes, Washington DC

WATCH THE RECORDING OF THIS EVENT HERE. Visual art during and after the Holocaust, by victims and survivors eloquently contradicts the famous comment by Theodor Adorno that "after the Holocaust to make art is barbaric." On the contrary, it was and is necessary: as part of the record of events as they were transpiring, and as part of the human response to horror--to express anger, to raise questions, to offer healing--in the time after those events. Who creates the art and what kind of art is created? What role does it play in wrestling with the question of what God is and what we humans are? These issues have implications both from within the heart of the Holocaust and from well beyond its particular boundaries. [...]

Jan 10, 2021

FRITZ ASCHER SOCIETY Newsletter January 2021

2021-02-24T05:46:01-05:00January 10th, 2021|Newsletter|Comments Off on FRITZ ASCHER SOCIETY Newsletter January 2021

Dear Friends, Please join us, the Museum of Jewish Heritage and the German Consulate General in New York TOMORROW, January 19 at 2:00pm ET for a stirring performance of Carolyn Enger’s Mischlinge Exposé, which will be live streamed from Edmond J. Safra Hall. The performance will be followed by a discussion. Registration link for the livestream HERE. Carolyn Enger is a pianist based in the greater New York City area, with roots reaching back to Breslau, now Wroclaw, Poland. Her “Mischlinge Exposé” brings to light the stories of Mischlinge—a derogatory term used by the Nazis to describe people with both Jewish and Aryan ancestry—like her father and godmother, interwoven [...]

Jan 1, 2021

FRITZ ASCHER SOCIETY New Year Newsletter

2021-02-24T05:44:07-05:00January 1st, 2021|Newsletter|Comments Off on FRITZ ASCHER SOCIETY New Year Newsletter

Dear Friends, Thank You For Your Support! When our exhibitions were prematurely closed, we created virtual spaces to get together for lectures and discussions, digital projects and conferences. Thanks to your support, our community grew globally.  But this past year has been financially hard for us. If you can, please consider a tax deductible DONATION (https://fritzaschersociety.org/donate/) to the Fritz Ascher Society. The mailing of our new book publication has started. If you are interested in details about ordering a copy, please email fritzaschersociety@gmail.com. (Sorry, US and Canada only) We are very excited about this interdisciplinary volume, which explores the painting of Alice Lok Cahana, a survivor of three [...]

Dec 31, 2020

Live From
Museum of Jewish Heritage
Carolyn Enger’s
Mischlinge Exposé

2022-02-18T07:23:41-05:00December 31st, 2020|, , |Comments Off on Live From
Museum of Jewish Heritage
Carolyn Enger’s
Mischlinge Exposé

Join the Museum of Jewish Heritage  — A Living Memorial to the Holocaust, the German Consulate General in New York, and the Fritz Ascher Society for Persecuted, Ostracized, and Banned Art for a stirring performance of Enger’s Mischlinge Exposé, Live from Edmond J. Safra Hall™. The performance will be followed by a discussion between Enger and Rachel Stern, Founding Director and CEO of the Fritz Ascher Society. Carolyn Enger is a pianist based in the greater New York City area, with roots reaching back to Breslau, now Wroclaw, Poland. Her Mischlinge Exposé brings to light the stories of Mischlinge—a derogatory term used by the Nazis to describe people with both Jewish and Aryan ancestry—like her [...]

Dec 16, 2020

FRITZ ASCHER SOCIETY Newsletter Year End 2020

2020-12-16T12:52:26-05:00December 16th, 2020|Newsletter|Comments Off on FRITZ ASCHER SOCIETY Newsletter Year End 2020

Dear Friends, I HAVE to let you know before 2020 ends: The book is out! We are very excited about this interdisciplinary volume, which explores the painting of Alice Lok Cahana, a survivor of three Holocaust concentration camps; the poetry of her son, Ronnie Cahana; and the photography and award-winning filmmaking of her granddaughter, Kitra Cahana. It places that layered narrative within the context of art, the biology of memory, and the physiological and psychological question of how both creativity and intense trauma can be transmitted from one generation to the next. The book is generously sponsored by the Consulate General of the Federal Republic of Germany in New [...]

Dec 3, 2020

Excluded and yet entangled in two dictatorships:
The political constructivist Oskar Nerlinger
Eckhart Gillen, Berlin

2022-02-18T07:13:15-05:00December 3rd, 2020|, , |Comments Off on Excluded and yet entangled in two dictatorships:
The political constructivist Oskar Nerlinger
Eckhart Gillen, Berlin

Oskar Nerlinger (1893-1969) was one of the most important artists of the committed art scene in the Weimar Republic. He was a member of the Association of Proletarian Revolutionary Art (ASSO for short), which was founded in 1928 and belonged to the KPD, which cooperated with the Soviet avant-garde artist group Oktober. At that time there was no conflict between positions of aesthetic modernism and KPD politics. In 1932 the political and artistic avant-garde in the Soviet Union fell apart, with serious consequences for left-wing artists in Germany. Almost at the same time, the Nazi system broke with all forms of modernity. With his idea of art suddenly doubly isolated within his own party, which followed Stalin's art verdict, [...]

Dec 2, 2020

Biala (1903-2000):
The Rash Acts of Rescue and Escape
Jason Andrew, New York

2021-01-11T06:14:12-05:00December 2nd, 2020|, , |Comments Off on Biala (1903-2000):
The Rash Acts of Rescue and Escape
Jason Andrew, New York

WATCH THE RECORDING OF THIS EVENT HERE. More information about Janice Biala is available HERE. Lecture featuring Jason Andrew Independent Scholar, Curator and Producer in New York Introduced by Rachel Stern Executive Director of the Fritz Ascher Society in New York Biala (1903-2000) was a Polish born American painter whose career stretched over eight decades and spanned two continents. Through it all, she retained an intimacy in her art rooted in Old World Europe—sensibilities that began with memories of her childhood in a Polish village, shaped by School of Paris painters like Bonnard, Matisse and Braque, inspired by Velázquez and the Spanish Masters, and broadened by the community of loft-living artists in Post World War II Downtown New York. Her [...]

Nov 23, 2020

FRITZ ASCHER SOCIETY Newsletter December 2020

2020-12-01T06:51:39-05:00November 23rd, 2020|Newsletter|Comments Off on FRITZ ASCHER SOCIETY Newsletter December 2020

Dear Friends, With Thanksgiving upon us, we announce our last events for 2020:  Kitra Cahana, The Cult of Maria Lionza: Fire, 2009. ©Kitra Cahana "A subject passes through me," explains Kitra Cahana. Here, a man who has taken on an Indian spirit and therefore has the power to touch fire, jumps through a fire pit without even flinching on October 12, 2009 during the Baile en Candela - "The Fire Dance" at the entrance to Sorte mountain in Venezuela. On the eve of the 12th of October every year The Fire Dance takes place on the mountain, wherein Maria Lionza practitioners will dress up as Indians take on [...]

Nov 1, 2020

FRITZ ASCHER SOCIETY Newsletter November 2020

2020-11-23T23:33:37-05:00November 1st, 2020|Newsletter|Comments Off on FRITZ ASCHER SOCIETY Newsletter November 2020

Dear Friends, First of all, IF YOU ARE AN US CITIZEN, PLEASE VOTE! John Heartfield, Krieg und Leichen – Die letzte Hoffnung der Reichen, Montagefotografie für die Arbeiter-Illustrierten-Zeitung, 1932, Nr. 18, Silbergelatineabzug, kaschiert Akademie der Künste, Berlin,  Inv.Nr. JH 1955 © The Heartfield Community of Heirs / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2020 This will be an extremely busy month at FAS, starting on November 4, 2020 at 12:00pm ET with Rosa von der Schulenburg’s lecture “About John Heartfield’s Political Engagement and Private Life in London”, which is part of our monthly zoom series “Fight or Flight. stories of artists under repression,” generously funded by Allianz Partners. (SEE EVENT HERE) John [...]

Oct 14, 2020

FRITZ ASCHER SOCIETY Newsletter #36, October 2020

2020-11-24T20:14:35-05:00October 14th, 2020|Newsletter|Comments Off on FRITZ ASCHER SOCIETY Newsletter #36, October 2020

Dear Friends, On October 17 we celebrate Fritz Ascher’s birthday - this year with the launch of DigiFAS - diverse, innovative digital initiatives that provide new ways of engagement with the art and life of artists persecuted by an authoritarian regime. DigiFAS is generously sponsored by Allianz Partners. This launch includes the Society’s first-ever fully digital exhibition “Fritz Ascher: Themes and Variations.” You can explore the exhibition HERE. We have worked on this for months and can’t wait for your reactions! We also invite you to participate in the 2- week digital engagement project “Send in the Clowns,” which explores the clown as a figure between tragedy and comedy, between self- identification [...]

Sep 30, 2020

Twitterview @Ascher_Society
Giora Seeliger
“Ask A Healthcare Clown!”

2020-11-02T20:09:58-05:00September 30th, 2020|, , |Comments Off on Twitterview @Ascher_Society
Giora Seeliger
“Ask A Healthcare Clown!”

Twitter @Ascher_Society Giora Seeliger, Artistic Director and Founder of Red Noses Clowndoctors International, takes over the FAS Twitter account to answer your burning questions about clowning, the role of a healthcare clown, and anything else that comes to mind! Submit your questions in advance by writing to info@fritzaschersociety.org Part of "Send in the Clowns," an interactive two-week digital initiative, which explores the clown as a figure between tragedy and comedy, between self- identification and stage--a character designed to (literally) mask the performer’s true feelings behind a facade of happiness. “Send in the Clowns” uses the prominence of the “clown” figure in Fritz Ascher’s work as a lens through which to explore the duality of the clown both historically and today. [...]

Sep 30, 2020

“The Hospital Clown: Between Joy and Sadness”
Roundtable featuring
Giora Seeliger, Harry Page, Ed Stephan
Moderated by Elizabeth Berkowitz

2020-10-28T14:24:47-04:00September 30th, 2020|, , |Comments Off on “The Hospital Clown: Between Joy and Sadness”
Roundtable featuring
Giora Seeliger, Harry Page, Ed Stephan
Moderated by Elizabeth Berkowitz

Watch the recording of this event HERE. Roundtable featuring Giora Seeliger Artistic Director and Founder of the Red Noses Clowndoctors International Harry Page “Flash” the Clown Ed Stephan “Dumbbell” the Clown Moderated by Elizabeth Berkowitz Art Historian and Digital Interpretation Manager, The Fritz Ascher Society in New York One of the more appealing aspects of the clown subject to artists like Fritz Ascher was the divide between a public persona committed to joy and happiness, and the pain or sadness that might lurk beneath the real, human surface. Hospital or healthcare clowns straddle this divide every day of their professional lives—working to bring happiness to child patients who are often in circumstances that might otherwise inspire grief or pain. This [...]