6 minute read
Introduction
Between 1933 and 1945, whether for religious, political or artistic reasons, over 300 painters, sculptors and graphic artists fled into exile or immigrated to Great Britain from Nazi Germany. Following the appointment of Adolf Hitler as German Chancellor in January 1933, the introduction of anti-Semitic legislation and the foundation of the Reichskulturkammer (the Reich Chamber of Culture) – to which all professional artists and designers had to belong – Jews, Communists, Social Democrats and ‘avant-garde’ artists were effectively banned from working in Germany.
This exhibition, ‘Finchleystraße’: German artists in exile in Great Britain and Beyond, 1933–45 brings together paintings, drawings and graphics by a number of primarily German-Jewish artists who made these ‘forced journeys’, mostly to Great Britain, but also further afield – to Australia, China, Palestine and the United States – during this era. There are two notable exceptions: Max Liebermann, the celebrated German Impressionist, who did not leave Germany but was forced to resign as Head of the Prussian Academy. His experience however shows the early consequences of the Nazi regime; and Oskar Kokoschka, Austria’s best-known Expressionist artist, who was neither German nor Jewish, but whose defence of Liebermann first brought him into opposition with the Nazi authorities. As a teacher, Kokoschka had nurtured many other artists’ careers (including that of Hilde Goldschmidt), and was at the heart of the German-speaking émigré network in England during the Second World War.
Other featured refugees include Frank Auerbach and Lucian Freud, among Britain’s most respected and best-known artists today, but the exhibition also includes many lesser-known figures, whose fractured careers and loss of reputation often resulted from their forced migrations, some travelling through more than one country of transit, often leaving art works and family behind.
The exhibits have been drawn principally from the Ben Uri Collection – indeed, Ben Uri’s own exhibiting culture changed profoundly in this period, in response to what Chairman Israel Sieff termed the ‘Nazi philosophy’, with German names dominating exhibitions from the 1930s onwards, and often entering the collection both then and in subsequent decades. These works are supplemented by important external loans from private lenders, supported by archival material and oral testimonies from three generations of German migrants (available on iPads).
The exhibition seeks to unfold a number of exile narratives, arising from both the artists’ own biographies and the work that they produced, mostly post-migration, although Ludwig Meidner’s Expressionistic Portrait of a Girl (1921), and Dodo’s
powerful student graphic, Federn, both showing the freedoms of the Weimar Republic, are notable exceptions. Modernists Martin Bloch, Hans Feibusch, Grete Marks and Ludwig Meidner, are among those who were declared ‘degenerate’ and featured in the infamous Entartete Kunst (‘Degenerate Art’) exhibition, their work suffering derision, suppression and/or destruction. Stripped of their livelihoods in Germany, this forfeiture was compounded by the further loss of homeland, loved-ones, language and culture, endured by all these refugee artists who attempted to (re)establish their careers in a new host country. Yet, despite an exhibition of GermanJewish artists’ work at the Parsons Gallery, London in 1934, and the Twentieth-century German Art exhibition at the Burlington Galleries in 1938 – intended as a riposte to the ‘Degenerate Art’ show (and in which Bloch and Marks were both included) – the knowledge and appreciation of German art in England remained low among the largely Francophile public.
Some women, including Dodo – entered the country on domestic visas, or like Else Meidner found work as domestics during the war. This provided them with an income but inevitably interrupted and impacted their ability to continue their artistic practice. Many future artists, including Eva Aldbrook, Frank Auerbach, Peter Baer, Eva Frankfurther, Lucian Freud, Heinz Koppel and Harry Weinberger, came as children or teenagers: Weinberger was a Kindertransportee rescued by World Jewish Relief; Aldbrook and Auerbach found refuge at Bunce Court school in Kent, itself relocated from Germany; Frankfurther was sent initially to another school in Haslemere, Surrey, Stoatley Rough, set up by a group of refugee teachers for refugee children. All went on to establish their artistic careers postwar.
Following the outbreak of war in September 1939 attitudes towards German-speaking émigrés in Britain hardened. Home Office tribunals re-categorised refugees, and in response to Churchill’s order to ‘collar the lot’, transit and internment camps were established on the mainland, the Isle of Man and across the Commonwealth. Artist internees included Jack Bilbo, Martin Bloch, Herman Fechenbach, Paul Feiler, Erich Kahn, Alfred Lomnitz (‘Lom’), Ludwig Meidner and Klaus Meyer; commonwealth internees included Paul Feiler and Willy Tirr. Their experiences varied – some refugees, among them Kahn and Joe Rose, had already experienced detention in concentration camps prior to migration; Kahn suffered from permanent trauma as a result. Hermann Fechenbach went on hunger strike in protest at his incarceration and conditions; Pamina Liebert-Mahrenholz sculpted in bread while in Holloway Prison. Yet at Hutchinson Camp on the Isle of Man, which held so many artist-internees that it was known as the ‘artists camp’, the internees were encouraged to make work by their enlightened and supportive camp commander and, ever-resourceful with materials, they created enough artwork to hold and document two exhibitions. Ludwig Meidner, finding himself closeted among this Germanspeaking intelligentsia, even petitioned to stay on. In Onchan Camp, Jack Bilbo acted as impresario, organising exhibitions visited by 1500 internees.
Others like Freud, Tirr and Weinberger served in the army, particularly the Pioneer Corps. Others still, such as Julius Rosenbaum (because of his age) and Hans Schleger (naturalised in 1939), because of his important role in propagandist war work for the Ministry of Information, were excused active service but, like many, served as fire-watchers. In addition to the (non-émigré) Artists’ International Association (AIA), many joined émigré network organisations, which provided national solidarity and supported their creative endeavours. These included the Artists’ Refugee Committee (ARC), the Free German League of Culture (FGLC) and the Austrian Centre (AC), which all played important roles.
After the war, fates diverged: many artists also became teachers – some setting up their own small schools, such as husband and wife Adèle Reifenberg and Julius Rosenbaum – or like Auerbach, Bloch, Baer, Feiler, Freud, Koppel, Tirr and Weinberger teaching at noted art schools.
Designers Dodo and Schleger both went on to work for prestigious British firms including John Lewis. Schleger’s poster Hands at Your Service, which pays tribute to the London Transport workers, also signalled that for him uniforms in England implied service, not oppression; he also became celebrated as the designer of the iconic British bus-stop sign. Much design work was also influenced by personal exile narratives: for example, Lom and Meyer show contrasting images of incarceration and freedom.
Following release from internment, many resumed their careers: the irrepressible Bilbo turned gallerist, founded the Modern Art Gallery (1941–48), a haven for refugee artists including Kurt Schwitters. There were few commissions, but artists painted, drew and sculpted, often taking their subjects from their own émigré communities. A few made further journeys postwar beyond Britain – including Joe Rose (Australia), Lehman and Mach (Israel), Heimann (who spent the war in Shanghai, going on to the USA). Ludwig Meidner and Bilbo returned to Germany, the former renewing his reputation (while his wife Else remained behind); the latter opening a bar. Goldschmidt returned to Austria. Ever adaptable as refugees, some found it expedient to embrace new or alternative artistic practices.
Most of the featured artworks were created in England, illustrating the artists’ interaction with the new culture of their adopted homeland, particularly via portraiture. Although many found it difficult to recapture former reputations, often exhibiting primarily within their own émigré circles, they also continued to exhibit with Ben Uri, whose exhibition programme and collection, like the wider British cultural landscape, was greatly enriched by their valuable and significant contribution, which is perhaps only today being fully recognised and acknowledged.
