Rachel Stern2022-08-25T13:01:20-04:00June 7th, 2022|Events, Lectures, Past Events|
Ludwig Pollak (Prague 1868-1943 Auschwitz) was an extraordinary connoisseur of antiquities--an Austro-Hungarian Jew whose path into academia was impeded by his religion, but who settled in Rome, where he carved out a unique place for himself as an expert in recognizing, understanding, and organizing great works of art. It was he who shaped and articulated the magnificent collections of JP Morgan. Of perhaps even greater consequence, his astute eye saw a sculpted fragment of an arm in a flea market that, he deduced, was the limb missing from the spectacular Hellenistic-Roman sculptural group known as Laocoon. He gifted that arm fragment to the Vatican so that it might complete the work that occupied an important place within [...]
Rachel Stern2020-11-04T15:01:37-05:00September 17th, 2020|Events, Lectures, Past Events|
WATCH THE RECORDING OF THIS EVENT HERE. Lecture featuring Rosa von der Schulenburg, Head of the Art Collection of the Academy of Arts in Berlin Moderated by Rachel Stern, Executive Director of the Fritz Ascher Society in New York John Heartfield (1891-1968) was a German visual artist who pioneered the use of art as a political weapon. This presentation starts with preliminary remarks about John Heartfield’s bequest in the Akademie der Künste in Berlin and shows how it is accessible nowadays. A short introduction of how all began follows, showing the background of the birth of Heartfield’s political photo-montages (World War I, Dada, Communist Party, Willi Münzenberg’s Die Arbeiter-Illustrierte-Zeitung in short AIZ), glances at Heartfield’s first exile stage in Prague and then focuses on [...]
Rachel Stern2018-12-03T17:37:55-05:00February 4th, 2016|Exhibitions, Past Exhibitions|
Fritz Ascher's monumental painting "Golem" from 1916 is part of the exhibition "Golem" at the Jewish Museum Berlin (September 23, 2016 - January 29, 2017).websiteThe myth of the human being that can create new life is the central theme of the large thematic exhibition "Golem" at the Jewish Museum Berlin. Until today the most prominent Jewish legendary figure inspires generations of artists and writers. The exhibition presents the Golem from its Jewish mystical source to popular narratives for film or in artistic and digital media. Formed in clay or dust, a being is brought to life by mystical rituals including Hebrew letter combinations. Created by a human being, the Golem becomes a helper, a companion or the savior of a [...]
