Martin Bloch

Martin Bloch

(b. 1883 Neisse, Germany/Nysa, Poland – immigrated to Great Britain 1934 – d. 1954 London, England)

House in Varangéville, Normandy, 1939 Oil on canvas 63.5 x 79.7 cm Signed (lower right) ‘Bloch’ Ben Uri Collection Presented by Alexander Margulies 1987

Drawing on his Expressionist roots, Bloch’s work powerfully conveys emotion through colour. Originally trained as an architect, afterwards studying drawing under Lovis Corinth, Bloch exhibited at the Paul Cassirer Gallery and co-founded an art school in Berlin. Arriving in London via Denmark in 1934, he ran The School of Contemporary Painting (1936–39) with Roy de Maistre; his pupils included cousins Heinz Koppel and Harry Weinberger. Bloch exhibited in the 1938 exhibition of Twentieth-century German Art in London, and held a solo London show in 1939. Following internment (1940–41) at Huyton Camp, Liverpool, and Sefton Camp on the Isle of Man, he became an influential teacher at Camberwell School of Art.