Pierrot Archives - Fritz Ascher Society

Mar 1, 2022

FRITZ ASCHER SOCIETY Newsletter March 2022

Rachel Stern2022-03-28T04:56:27-04:00March 1st, 2022|Newsletter|Comments Off on FRITZ ASCHER SOCIETY Newsletter March 2022

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 [...]

Jan 19, 2022

Arnold Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire
and the Role of the Clown
in the Arts

Rachel Stern2022-03-11T08:13:14-05:00January 19th, 2022|Events, Past Events|Comments Off on Arnold Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire
and the Role of the Clown
in the Arts

Pierrot, the famous character from the Italian commedia dell’arte, is set by the composer A. Schoenberg as the moonstruck and fantastical clown, who is a symbol for putting on a mask to hide one’s true feelings or opinions. Forever lovelorn and wistfully contemplating the dying moon, he lurches through the night, hiding his face underneath a thick layer of white paint. The extravagance of emotions, the aesthetic of exaggeration, and the distortion of communication through the mask turn Pierrot into an incredibly fascinating and universal figure. Pre-concert talk Rachel Stern, Director and CEO, The Fritz Ascher Society for Persecuted, Ostracized and Banned Art Stephen Decatur Smith, Stony Brook University, Department of Music Concert [...]

Sep 30, 2020

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

Rachel Stern2020-10-28T14:29:52-04:00September 30th, 2020|Comments Off on Kunstpause
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 30, 2020

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

Rachel Stern2020-10-28T14:58:31-04:00September 30th, 2020|Events, Past Events|Comments Off on Bilder im Gespräch: Bajazzo
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 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, [...]

Apr 24, 2020

“Der Vereinsamte. Clowns in der Kunst Fritz Aschers”
Forum Jacob Pins, Höxter, Germany

Rachel Stern2020-12-14T14:35:07-05:00April 24th, 2020|Past Exhibitions|Comments Off on “Der Vereinsamte. Clowns in der Kunst Fritz Aschers”
Forum Jacob Pins, Höxter, Germany

“The Loner. Clowns in the Art of Fritz Ascher (1893-1970)” Watch the German language video of the opening lecture by Julia Diekmann, Curator at Forum Jacob Pins HERE. Watch a short German language video about the installation of the exhibition HERE. You can order the bilingual (German/English) exhibition catalogue HERE. On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the artist's death, Forum Jacob Pins shows around 40 paintings and works on paper by the Expressionist Fritz Ascher (1893-1970). Persecuted by the National Socialists as a “degenerate” artist and as a born Jew, Ascher lived through two world wars, existential social and political unrest, the persecution by the National Socialists and the development of a divided Germany. The exhibition for the [...]