Erich Schmid (artist)

Erich Schmid (born October 14, 1908 in Vienna , † December 30, 1984 in Paris ) was an Austrian painter and graphic artist. He began to paint at the age of 22 and studied in Vienna from 1930 to 1934 at the University of Applied Arts and the School of Applied Arts . In 1938 Schmid had to flee from the National Socialists because of his Jewish origins ; the works he created up to then have almost all been lost. Eight years of flight and persecution in Belgium and France followed. Vichy France put him one after the other in three internment camps for "enemy foreigners". From 1946 until his death, Schmid lived in a poor attic apartment in the 5th arrondissement of Paris. It was there that his now-known oeuvre of diverse cityscapes, still lifes and portraits was created. The art-historical classification of Schmid's work is not easy: Proximity to Austrian Expressionism of the interwar period, to Abstract Expressionism , to the reconciliation of abstraction and figuration, the influence of Kokoschka and Kubin are mentioned, but his independence is also emphasized. His friend since his youth, the writer and essayist Jean Améry , has set a monument for him with his novel essay Lefeu or the Abortion (1974).

Life

Austria

Schmid came from a wealthy Jewish merchant family in Vienna. Nothing is known about his childhood and youth. From 1925 to 1930 he studied psychology at the University of Vienna . At the same time he did a psychoanalysis with Wilhelm Reich . The artist was interested in the psychological methods of Sigmund Freud , Carl Gustav Jungs and Alfred Adlers . Schmid began to paint in 1929. From 1930 to 1934 he studied in Vienna at the University of Applied Arts and at the School of Applied Arts . The artist also lived in Antwerp for two years and studied at the local academy . He also attended the Reimann School in Berlin for a short time . He wrote about his training: “We are all friends. Van Gogh 'who never sold a picture' was our saint ”.

Schmid frequented the intellectual circles of his hometown, where people were open to “the new trends in modernism in Vienna in the interwar period, painting, art, philosophy and psychoanalysis”. He had a remarkable humanistic and scientific education and spoke three languages. In Vienna the artist met Alfred Kubin and Hans Böhler in the 1930s . Between 1931 and 1934, when Oskar Kokoschka was in Vienna, Schmid was also able to meet him and his work. Kokoschka had to emigrate because of the political events in Germany and Austria. The National Socialists defamed him as " degenerate ". The artist was a member of an exile organization. Kubin's works were also described as "degenerate" during National Socialism and were confiscated. Schmid's fruitful encounters and instructive discussions with these artists and his life as a “young, aspiring painter” came to an abrupt end with the “ Anschluss of Austria ” on March 13, 1938.

Like his childhood friend, Hans Maier , who later became essayist and writer Jean Améry, Schmid emigrated from Vienna to Belgium in 1938, following him. His parents and a younger brother were deported to Auschwitz , and the sister was able to flee to England in 1938. He did not find out about his family's fate until 1945. After he fled Austria, he never visited the country again. Schmid's life and being were strained by the “trauma of the displacement and murder of the family”.

exile

The house in rue Rollin no.5 in Paris where Erich Schmid lived (April 2014)

In Belgium he met Hans Maier again. The artist settled first in Antwerp and then in Brussels . On his flight from there to France, he was imprisoned in Paris in 1940 because he was considered an " enemy alien ". He was threatened with deportation to a German concentration camp. He was interned in three French internment camps in the south of France ( Gurs , St. Cyprien , Rivesaltes ). He met Maier again in the Gurs immigration camp. In 1943 Schmid was able to flee from the Rivesaltes camp. In the following years he was forced to change his whereabouts and mostly hid underground in south-east France. He led the life of a clochard for two years , living in the open air and making a living doing odd jobs , and when the opportunity arose he worked on the farms. A few months before the end of the war, Schmid joined the French Resistance from 1944 to 1945 . He took part in the liberation of Lyons. After the liberation of France, Schmid was taken over by the regular army and in 1945 by the French Foreign Legion . During this time he also fought in Italy. Since he spoke German, he was used to question German prisoners of war. Later he said: "Not a nice job [...] It is better not to talk about it ..." Schmid returned to Paris in 1946 penniless.

The end of his escape was a dormitory for Jewish refugees in the 5th arrondissement of Paris , Rue Rollin no. 5. Because of his lack of resources, he received board and lodging there and in return had to look after the community. This activity as a " concierge " earned him his right of residence in the first few years. After a few years, the artist got a lease and also the right of residence. In the first post-war years he met other exiles in artist cafes. It was there that he met the painter Erika Friedmann, a survivor of a concentration camp, who moved in with him in 1947 in the small attic apartment on Rue Rollin. She died in 1954 after a serious illness. In general, however, he preferred the solitude of the studio to cafés and artist parties. Nevertheless he became a Freemason in 1951 in the Paris Lodge Goethe of the Grande Loge de France . Only with his friend from the Viennese years, Hans Maier, was he more connected. Mutual visits between Paris and Brussels, where Hans Maier built up a new literary existence after 1945 - from 1955 as Jean Améry -, an extensive correspondence and Améry's novel essay Lefeu or the Abbruch (1974), in which the “unknown painter ES "Is the protagonist, even suggest a" very close connection ".

Père Lachaise .

Améry provides information about Schmid's living conditions, his attitudes towards art and the art business in a conversation with him:

“We're talking about his work. Will he be exhibiting? Certainly, now and then [...] Would he otherwise sell? Oh yes, occasionally. [...] Is it because he, ES, is not doing anything to sell? [...] He is no longer a young painter, he could not, as he says, 'with the portfolio in his hand, modestly from dealer to dealer ...' There is nothing he can do but work and wait. [...] what does he earn? A number is named that we do not want to reproduce. [...] a person cannot live on it!

But of course he is alive as we can see! It is of course not a happy life. And mysterious: it is a monk's life. The artists of this time, who had no social function (and economic only if they were 'made' in a market-oriented manner), are the monks of our time. They were the only ones who fulfilled the threefold vow: poverty, that goes without saying, chastity to the temptations of the world, obedience to the artistic law! "

The artist died lonely in Paris on December 30, 1984, after his second partner, Gail Singer, had also died a year earlier. He is buried there in the Père Lachaise cemetery.

plant

Objectivity and abstraction

Before he emigrated in 1938, Erich Schmid created a number of works, almost all of which have been lost. He sent only a few pictures to his sister, who was emigrating in England. It is also likely that many of the pictures were destroyed when the National Socialists occupied their parents' apartment. Before his exile he participated in exhibitions at the Vienna Secession until the “Anschluss” of Austria . After the Second World War, there was a cultural battle over the right path for modernity , in which objectivity and abstraction were juxtaposed. Jean Améry wrote about this problem: "The favor of the hour, the favor of fashion belonged to the abstract". The National Socialists called modernity "degenerate" and banned it. In the time after his emigration in 1938 and his final refuge in Paris after the war, Schmid was probably not able to work as an artist. That is why he was shaped by his representational painting even after the war. Like other artists, Schmid had to catch up with the international art development of the time before 1945. “Had he become 'yesterday' after hardly being 'today'?” Asked Jean Améry.

Before the Second World War, Schmid's art was judged to be too unusual by the bourgeoisie. After the war he usually did not break away from the representational. In the 50s and 60s, however, the artist approached abstraction - “... not least because, as he says, because internal and external hardship forced him to flee from reality. Then he suddenly became conscious of the inaccessibility of this path for himself. "

“As a result, I very consciously allowed my originally formalistic tendency, which I had previously strongly rejected, to return to my painting, but as it were via the back stairs. She only deals with the composition of the shapes and the arrangement of the colors. A secondary process connects them to the outside world. So I think my work is a work of reconciliation, and I believe that my best paintings convey a feeling that can be called 'joy within the tribulation' (la joie dans l'adversité). "

Schmid reconciled himself with both art forms; with him they merge. He is one of those artists who were only freed from being “expelled and forgotten” in the 1980s. Unfortunately, he did not receive any recognition beyond professional and friend circles. Expert circles recognized the artist and a. in a catalog entry from the Paris gallery Kriegel from 1972. There it says: “... if Kafka had been a painter, his name would have been Erich Schmid.” Essentially, his artistic quality was only recognized posthumously.

Art historical classification

Erich Schmid had a degree in painting when he had to go into exile in 1938. Schmid had sent some of his works to Kokoschka, the most famous Austrian painter at the time and a great role model for young artists, as well as Kubin, who was also of great importance to Schmid (his shadowy figures are influenced by Kubin), and had received encouraging letters back. They called on him to participate in other exhibitions. Many of Schmid's pictures look as if they were written. Here you can see a reference to Abstract Expressionism . The street lines in the cityscapes are "covered with a web of dots and lines of color". This is reminiscent of Jackson Pollock , who became known for the style of action painting he developed . Structures and rhythms were formed. Schmid may have got to know Abstract Expressionism through his future American partner Gail Singer, who was herself an artist. The fact that she was a member of the CoBrA artists' association was probably also an influence . (The CoBrA was an artists' association, the main phase of which lasted from 1948 to 1951. Their styles were very diverse. They lie between surrealism , abstraction and figuration. The group also dealt with the confrontation between figuration and abstraction.)

Schmid formulated his own position on art - still referring to the early Viennese period - as follows: “In order to advance and survive, an illusion is needed [...] We called ourselves expressionists, cubists or futurists without even understanding anything about these trends . “The closeness to these styles is evident in his imagery and themes. The reference to futurism , including the depiction of the big city, can be seen in his moving brushwork. The speed of time is also expressed in the cityscapes. Austrian Expressionism from the interwar period played an important role in his art . With the choice of subjects and the “intimacy” of his pictures, Schmid is close to this art direction. His works seem to belong to a “different” world. Furthermore, the artist dealt with French impressionism . This is particularly evident in his cityscapes. However, it cannot be described as an epigone of these styles, but rather retains its independence.

Works (selection)

Portraits

Erich Schmid

Clown , 1975

(External link, please note copyrights )

His self-portrait from 1954 shows a melancholy person. The eyes do not make contact with the viewer. Here the loneliness of the artist is also expressed. This painting shows a certain proximity to Kokoschka's psychological portraits. Another self-portrait, the unlucky bird from 1956, one of Schmid's central self-statements, shows the influence of Kubin in his dark mood. Améry said about this painting:

“L'oiseau de malheur. A self-portrait actually transformed into the metaphysical. [...] All in all, it is a pitiful poultry [...] So it flies [...] through a destroyed Paris lit by flames at night. Knocks on a window: [...] I can probably spend the night with you for today? Will not disturb [...] you give me shelter? I agree with everything, crouch down somewhere [...] the papers are okay, even if they are rather disheveled and dirty [...] every police officer has to acknowledge their validity. […] The bad hours were perhaps already mapped out, […] because he is a German bird […]. Or the cattle fluttered in full existential freedom, following the self-designed project, [...] to the misfortune [...]. "

• Self-portrait , 1954, oil on canvas
• The Unlucky Bird , 1956, oil on canvas
• Clown , 1975, wax crayon on paper
• Lady with a little dog , 1983, wax crayon on paper

Cityscapes

Paris , 1959

(External link, please note copyrights )

Schmid created paintings of Paris and other cities. They are indistinct and blurred, “close to the limit of non-representationalism”. The cities seem uninhabited. Only in isolated examples can you see shadowy figures. The homelessness becomes clear in Schmid's pictures. In 1975 the artist commented on the artistic work of the painter Michel Aubert in words that can apply to himself, as Matthias Boeckl thinks: Aubert creates, says Schmid, "... everyday subjects ... into a very abstract, loosely organic tangle of lines." He belongs "to the family of those who write with a brush."

• Hafen , 1958, oil on canvas
• Paris , 1959, oil on canvas
• The flags , 1960, oil on canvas
• Church , 1962, oil on canvas
• The City , 1965, oil on canvas
• The uprising , 1970, oil on canvas
• La Grande Place , Brussels, 1967, oil on canvas
• Nocturne , 1973, oil on canvas
• Inanimate Square , 1973, oil on canvas
• Nocturnal scene , undated, oil on canvas
• Nachtschwärmer , 1982, oil on canvas
• Street in the 15th arrondissement , Paris, undated, oil on canvas
• Paris , undated, oil on canvas

Still life

Canvas and candle , 1956

(External link, please note copyrights )

In addition to the cityscapes, many still lifes were created. Schmid visited butchers' shops, markets, wine shops and flower shops and got ideas for his still lifes there. The mood of his small attic apartment, which was devoid of any comfort, can be found in these works. Here your objects are waiting for the creator. He is alone with these. They also indicate the loneliness of the artist.

• Still life with canvas and candle , 1956, oil on panel
• Sardines , 1975, oil on canvas

Exhibitions (selection)

• 1935–1937: Participation in exhibitions at the Vienna Secession, Vienna
• 1951: Micheline Grandier Gallery, Paris
• 1961: Art Vivant Gallery, Paris
• 1963: Galerie Saint-Georges, Lyon
• 1964: Esperanto Gallery, New York
• 1965: Mendel Art Center, Saskatoon, Canada
• 1965: Galerie Saint-Georges, Lyon
• 1970: Le Creuset Gallery, Brussels
• 1970/1971: Galerie La Drille, Toulouse
• 1975: Galerie Kriegel, Paris
• 1978: Galerie Nathalie Norrabat, Paris
• 1978: Granges de Servette, Douvaine
• 1980: Galerie Le Roi des Aulnes, Paris
• 1982/83: Jean Améry exhibition . On the way to Oudenaarde , Schiller National Museum in Marbach with works by Erich Schmid
• 1983: Galerie Saint-Georges and Galerie K, Lyon
• 1984: Claude Hemery Gallery, Paris
• 2002: Widder art trade, Vienna

Participation in exhibitions at various salons in France and Austria (selection)

• 1985: 58e Salon du Sud-Est, Rétrospective Erich Schmid with 15 paintings
• International art and antiques fair Palais Ferstel-Harrach, Vienna
• 2002: Special exhibition Erich Schmid

literature

• Claudia Widder, Roland Widder (Eds.): Erich Schmid, Vienna 1908 - Paris 1984 . Library of the Province, Weitra 2002. (Currently (2013) the most informative work on Erich Schmid. It is the most important source for this article.)
• Association Les Amis d'Erich Schmid (Ed.): Erich Schmid. Un peintre de l'Europe d'aujoud'hui . Paris 1991 (in French, rich in pictures).
• Irene Heidelberger-Leonhard: Jean Améry. Revolt in resignation. Biography . Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 2004 (therein: Who is Erich Schmid?, P. 274 ff.).
• Ivonn Kappel: “We see our own image in foreign mirrors.” Jean Amérys Lefeu or Der Abbruch (= Epistemata, Würzburg Scientific Writings, Series Literary Studies , Volume 674). Königshausen & Neumann, Würzburg 2009 (in it: Erich Schmid - Amérys »Lefeu« , pp. 131–176).
• Jean Améry: Works . Edited by Irene Heidelberger-Leonhard. Volume 1 (contains Lefeu or the demolition ), Volume 8 (Selected Letters 1945–1978), Volume 9 (Materials), all Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 2007 and 2008 (Volume 9).

Web links

• Schmid's works on the website of the Widder art trade

Remarks

1. ↑ ^{a b} Erich Schmid, La joie dans l'adversité , in: Association Les Amis d'Erich Schmid (ed.), Erich Schmid. Un peintre de l'Europe d'aujoud'hui , Paris 1991, pp. 121-123, here: p. 121; quoted from the translation by Matthias Boeckl, Erich Schmid - Eine Reconstruction , in: Claudia Widder, Roland Widder (Ed.), Erich Schmid, Vienna 1908 - Paris 1984 , Bibliothek der Provinz, Weitra 2002, pp. 19–31, here: P. 22.
2. ↑ ^{a b} Claudia Widder, Biographical Fragments from the Life of the Painter Erich Schmid , in: Claudia Widder, Roland Widder (Ed.), Erich Schmid, Vienna 1908 - Paris 1984 , Library of the Province, Weitra 2002, pp. 11-17, here: p. 13.
3. ^ Matthias Boeckl: Erich Schmid - A reconstruction , in: Claudia Widder, Roland Widder (ed.), Erich Schmid, Vienna 1908 - Paris 1984 , Bibliothek der Provinz, Weitra 2002, pp. 19–31, here: p. 30.
4. ^ Jean Améry, The New Monks. Portraits of (un) famous contemporaries. Unknown painter ES In: Claudia Widder, Roland Widder (Ed.), Erich Schmid, Vienna 1908 - Paris 1984 , Bibliothek der Provinz, Weitra 2002, pp. 32–37, here: p. 35.
5. ↑ Alexander Emanuely : The naysayer - some notes on Erich Schmid . In: Zwischenwelt. Journal for the Culture of Exile and Resistance 4/2012, p. 40.
6. ↑ Claudia Widder, Biographical fragments from the life of the painter Erich Schmid , in: Claudia Widder, Roland Widder (Ed.), Erich Schmid, Vienna 1908 - Paris 1984 , Bibliothek der Provinz, Weitra 2002, pp. 11-19, here: P. 15. Parts of the correspondence are printed in: Jean Améry, Werke , edited by Irene Heidelberger-Leonhard, Volume 8: Selected letters 1945–1978 , ed. by Gerhart Scheit, Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 2007. The novel essay itself - reprinted - as well as extensive documentation on the relationships between its main character and the painter Erich Schmid can be found in: Jean Améry, Werke , ed. by Irene Heidelberger-Leonhard, Volume 1: Die Schiffwüchigen. Lefeu or Der Abbruch , ed. by Irene Heidelberger-Leonhard, Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 2007.
7. ↑ Jean Améry, The New Monks. Portraits of (un) famous contemporaries: Unknown painter ES In: Claudia Widder, Roland Widder (Ed.), Erich Schmid, Vienna 1908 - Paris 1984 , Bibliothek der Provinz, Weitra 2002, pp. 32–37, here: p. 34. This article first appeared in the Sunday edition of the St. Galler Tageblatt on April 5, 1959 , following a reference by Friedrich Pfäfflin in Marbacher Magazin 24/1982, p. 44 .
8. ↑ See Walter Koschatzky, Ein Voreitwort , in: Claudia Widder, Roland Widder (ed.), Erich Schmid, Vienna 1908 - Paris 1984 , Bibliothek der Provinz, Weitra 2002, pp. 7–9, and especially Matthias Boeckl, Erich Schmid - A reconstruction , in: ibid., Pp. 19–31, here: pp. 19, 27.
9. ↑ ^{a b} Jean Améry, Die neue Mönche , in: Claudia Widder, Roland Widder (Ed.), Erich Schmid, Vienna 1908 - Paris 1984 , Bibliothek der Provinz, Weitra 2002, pp. 32–37, here: p. 36.
10. ↑ Cf. Elfriede Baum, Erich Schmid (born Vienna October 14, 1908) , in: Those left us. Austrian painters and sculptors of emigration and persecution , 95th temporary exhibition of the Austrian Gallery , May 28 to July 27, 1980, self-published by the Austrian Gallery, Vienna undated, pp. 177f.
11. ↑ Erich Schmid, La joie dans l'adversité , in: Association Les Amis d'Erich Schmid (ed.), Erich Schmid. Un peintre de l'Europe d'aujoud'hui , Paris 1991, pp. 121–123, here: 123.
12. ↑ Quoted from Ivonn Kappel, “We see our own image in foreign mirrors.” Jean Amérys Lefeu or the demolition , Königshausen & Neumann, Würzburg 2009, p. 170.
13. ↑ Walter Koschatzky, A Preface , in: Claudia Widder, Roland Widder (Ed.), Erich Schmid, Vienna 1908 - Paris 1984 , Bibliothek der Provinz, Weitra 2002, pp. 7–9, here p. 9.
14. ^ Matthias Boeckl, Erich Schmid - A reconstruction , in: Claudia Widder, Roland Widder (eds.), Erich Schmid, Vienna 1908 - Paris 1984 , Library of the Province, Weitra 2002, pp. 19–31, here p. 29.
15. ↑ Cf. COBRA: COpenhagen, BRüssel, Amsterdam , contributions by Troels Andersen u. a., catalog for the exhibition in Lausanne et al., 1997–1998, editing: Jörg Zutter, Hirmer, Munich 1997.
16. ↑ Jean Améry, L'oiseau de malheur - Der Unglücksvogel , in: Claudia Widder, Roland Widder (Ed.), Erich Schmid, Vienna 1908 - Paris 1984 , Bibliothek der Provinz, Weitra 2002, p. 118.
17. ^ Jean Améry, The New Monks. Portraits of (un) famous contemporaries. Unknown painter ES In: Claudia Widder, Roland Widder (Eds.), Erich Schmid, Vienna 1908 - Paris 1984 , Bibliothek der Provinz, Weitra 2002, pp. 32–37, here: p. 33.
18. ^ Galerie Kriegel Paris, exhibition catalog, Credit Commercial de France, Bordeaux, September 25 - October 5, 1975; quoted from Matthias Boeckl, Erich Schmid - Eine reconstruction , in: Claudia Widder, Roland Widder (Ed.), Erich Schmid, Vienna 1908 - Paris 1984 , Bibliothek der Provinz, Weitra 2002, pp. 19–31, here: p. 31 .
19. ↑ Claudia Widder, Biographical fragments from the life of the painter Erich Schmid , in: Claudia Widder, Roland Widder (Ed.), Erich Schmid, Vienna 1908 - Paris 1984 , Bibliothek der Provinz, Weitra 2002, pp. 11-19, here: P. 16.

This article can not be adequately illustrated due to copyright reasons . At the moment there are no or only individual suitable images available, which are sufficiently licensed for further use .
See also the FAQ on images and image rights .