politics Archives - Fritz Ascher Society

Mar 27, 2024

Bruno Schulz (1892-1942):
An Artist, a Murder, and the Hijacking of History
Benjamin Balint and Ori Z Soltes in Conversation

Rachel Stern2024-04-03T13:56:09-04:00March 27th, 2024|Events, Lectures, Past Events|Comments Off on Bruno Schulz (1892-1942):
An Artist, a Murder, and the Hijacking of History
Benjamin Balint and Ori Z Soltes in Conversation

Benjamin Balint, author of the National Jewish Book Award winning book, and Georgetown University professor Ori Z Soltes in conversation. Bruno Schulz is renowned as a master of twentieth-century imaginative fiction. Isaac Bashevis Singer called him “one of the most remarkable writers who ever lived.” But Schulz was also an exceptionally talented graphic artist whose masochistic drawings would catch the eye of a sadistic Nazi officer. Schulz’s art became the currency in which he bought life. Image above: Bruno Schulz, Mural, 1941-1942. Drohobycz. Discovery Benjamin Geissler, 2001. Drawing on extensive new reporting and archival research, Benjamin Balint chases the inventive murals Schulz painted on the walls of an SS villa—the last traces of his vanished [...]

Mar 6, 2024

The Miraculous San Francisco Discovery of
Ary Arkady Lochakov’s Lost Art
A Talk by Journalist Julie Zigoris, San Francisco

Rachel Stern2024-03-27T13:42:26-04:00March 6th, 2024|Events, Lectures, Past Events|Comments Off on The Miraculous San Francisco Discovery of
Ary Arkady Lochakov’s Lost Art
A Talk by Journalist Julie Zigoris, San Francisco

One sunny May day in 2022—halfway around the world from Paris where the Jewish artist Ary Arkady Lochakov (1892-1941) died of malnutrition in 1941—a miraculous discovery was made. Maintenance staff came upon 48 abandoned artworks in a waterside park, all of them carefully arranged as if they were meant to be discovered. 38 of the 48 artworks all had the same signature: Ary Arkady Lochakov. Port employees researched Lochakov to discover he was a member of the famed École de Paris and was featured in Hersh Fenster's essential book Our Martyred Artists. San Francisco Standard journalist Julie Zigoris was the first (and only) to report the story to the public, following the trail of breadcrumbs to make some incredible [...]

Feb 26, 2024

Traces of a Jewish Artist:
The Lost Life and Work of Rahel Szalit (1888–1942)
A Book Talk by Kerry Wallach, Gettysburg College

Rachel Stern2024-03-07T07:17:49-05:00February 26th, 2024|Events, Lectures, Past Events|Comments Off on Traces of a Jewish Artist:
The Lost Life and Work of Rahel Szalit (1888–1942)
A Book Talk by Kerry Wallach, Gettysburg College

In this presentation, Gettysburg College professor and author Kerry Wallach explores the life and work of Rahel Szalit (1888–1942; also: Szalit-Marcus). Szalit was a sought-after illustrator and painter who was active in 1920s Berlin and 1930s Paris. Image above: Rahel Szalit-Marcus, The Drive to the Rabbi, in Milgroym, 1922. Lithograph. Rahel Szalit was among the best-known Jewish women artists in Weimar Berlin. She painted and drew landscapes, Berlin city scenes, animals, and portraits of women, children, and public figures. She produced numerous lithographs and worked in pen and ink, pencil, pastel, chalk, oil paint, and watercolors. Women figured prominently in many scenes, from small-town Jewish life to snapshots of the metropolis. [...]

Jan 16, 2024

In Hitler’s Munich:
Jews, the Revolution, and the Rise of Nazism
A Book Talk by Michael Brenner, Munich and Washington D.C.

Rachel Stern2024-01-31T18:36:36-05:00January 16th, 2024|Events, Lectures, Past Events|Comments Off on In Hitler’s Munich:
Jews, the Revolution, and the Rise of Nazism
A Book Talk by Michael Brenner, Munich and Washington D.C.

In the aftermath of Germany's defeat in World War I and the failed November Revolution of 1918–19, which was led by many prominent Jewish politicians, the conservative government of Bavaria identified Jews with left-wing radicalism. Munich became a hotbed of right-wing extremism, with synagogues under attack and Jews physically assaulted in the streets. It was here that Adolf Hitler established the Nazi movement and developed his antisemitic ideas. This lecture provides a gripping account of how Bavaria's capital city became the testing ground for Nazism and the Final Solution. Michael Brenner holds the chair of Jewish History and Culture at Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich. He is also Distinguished Professor of History and Seymour and [...]

Dec 26, 2023

The New Man as Man Machine
A Book Talk by Eckhart Gillen, Berlin

Rachel Stern2024-01-24T15:36:23-05:00December 26th, 2023|Events, Lectures, Past Events|Comments Off on The New Man as Man Machine
A Book Talk by Eckhart Gillen, Berlin

Fifteen years after the great financial crisis of 2008, which shook the capitalist economic system in America and Europe to its foundations, the book “The New Man as Man Machine” presents, for the first time, the interrelationship of art and political economy in the Weimar Republic, the Soviet Union, and the United States of America during the interwar period. By taking a look back at the 1920s and 1930s, it attempts to better understand our own era and its well-founded fears with regard to globalization and a new global economic crisis. Image above: Kliment Redko, Aufstand, 1924-25 This project focuses on how artists reacted to the central questions of the political economy in these three [...]

Sep 1, 2023

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

Rachel Stern2023-09-27T14:24:53-04:00September 1st, 2023|Events, Lectures, Past Events|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 [...]

politics

Bruno Schulz (1892-1942): An Artist, a Murder, and the Hijacking of HistoryBenjamin Balint and Ori Z Soltes in Conversation

The Miraculous San Francisco Discovery of Ary Arkady Lochakov’s Lost Art A Talk by Journalist Julie Zigoris, San Francisco

Traces of a Jewish Artist: The Lost Life and Work of Rahel Szalit (1888–1942)A Book Talk by Kerry Wallach, Gettysburg College

In Hitler’s Munich: Jews, the Revolution, and the Rise of Nazism A Book Talk by Michael Brenner, Munich and Washington D.C.

The New Man as Man Machine A Book Talk by Eckhart Gillen, Berlin

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

Bruno Schulz (1892-1942):
An Artist, a Murder, and the Hijacking of History
Benjamin Balint and Ori Z Soltes in Conversation

The Miraculous San Francisco Discovery of
Ary Arkady Lochakov’s Lost Art
A Talk by Journalist Julie Zigoris, San Francisco

Traces of a Jewish Artist:
The Lost Life and Work of Rahel Szalit (1888–1942)
A Book Talk by Kerry Wallach, Gettysburg College

In Hitler’s Munich:
Jews, the Revolution, and the Rise of Nazism
A Book Talk by Michael Brenner, Munich and Washington D.C.

The New Man as Man Machine
A Book Talk by Eckhart Gillen, Berlin

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