Else Meidner

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Else Meidner , b. Meyer (born September 2, 1901 in Berlin ; † May 7, 1987 in London ) was a German graphic artist and painter .

Life

Else Meidner comes from a wealthy Jewish family. Against the resistance of her parents, she decided to study art and showed herself so talented that Käthe Kollwitz and Max Slevogt noticed her and supported her. The painter Ludwig Meidner , already a size in the art scene and twice her age, recognizes her talent and falls in love with her; They married in 1927, with Leo Baeck performing the wedding ceremony .

Initially still standing in the shadow of her husband, Else Meidner soon developed her own characteristic style, which can be attributed to Expressionism , first in her drawings, then also in the paintings, where she also chose landscapes and still lifes as subjects in addition to portraits and self-portraits . In 1933, the Jew was banned from working , and in 1939, a few days before the start of the war, both emigrated to London after having sent their son David . There she found a more colorful style again, but the 137 paintings and over a thousand drawings that she made were largely ignored during her lifetime, with the exception of a few smaller exhibitions.

Her art is only rediscovered years after her death. In 2002 the Jewish Museum Frankfurt presented her work together with those of her husband.

literature

  • Jutta Dick, Marina Sassenberg (ed.): Jewish women in the 19th and 20th centuries . Lexicon to life and work, Reinbek 1993 ISBN 3-499-16344-6
  • Hildegard Reinhardt. “Else Meidner. Painter, graphic artist “, in: Jutta Duck and Marina Sassenberg (eds.). Jewish women in the 19th and 20th centuries . Reinbek near Hamburg 1993.
  • Georg Heuberger (Hrsg.): Ludwig and Else Meidner exhibition catalog. Jewish Museum Frankfurt, Ben Uri Gallery London, Frankfurt 2002
  • Else Meidner 1901-1987 exhibition catalog. Darmstadt Jewish Community, Darmstadt 1999

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