Fritz Ascher

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Alter Friedhof Berlin-Wannsee, Friedenstraße 8, Fritz Ascher and Martha Graßmann, Part 11 W No 15, Photo 1990 © Rachel Stern

Fritz Ascher (born October 17, 1893 in Berlin ; † March 26, 1970 ibid) was a German expressionist whose art is characterized by bold brushwork and expressionistic color choices.

Early years

Fritz Ascher was born as the son of the dentist and industrialist Hugo Ascher (* July 27, 1859 in Neugard / West Prussia; † August 18, 1922 in Berlin) and Minna Luise Ascher, née. Schneider (born January 17, 1867 in Berlin; † October 17, 1938 there) born in Berlin. His sisters Charlotte Hedwig were born on October 8, 1894, and Lilly (Grete) on June 11, 1897. From 1908 the family lived at Niklasstraße 21-23 in Zehlendorf , which at that time did not belong to Berlin, in a villa with a manor house, a farm house, a gardener's house and a garage built by the architect Paul Schultze-Naumburg .

Fritz Ascher's talent showed up early on. At the age of 16 he studied with Max Liebermann , who recommended him to the Academy of Fine Arts in Königsberg with a “ year-old artist” . At the Königsberg Art Academy , which he attended in 1912, Ascher became friends with Eduard Bischoff , who painted a portrait of Fritz Ascher in 1912.

Ascher was back in Berlin by 1913 . He learned in the drawing and painting schools of Lovis Corinth , Adolf Meyer and Kurt Agthe and found his artistic expression in the environment of expressionist artists such as Ludwig Meidner , Jakob Steinhardt and Emil Nolde . He made friends with Franz Domscheit ( Pranas Domšaitis ), with whom he probably traveled to Norway shortly before the start of the First World War and met Edvard Munch in Oslo . In 1919/20 the artist stayed in Munich and Bavaria for a long time . Again it is very likely that Franz Domscheit is with him - Ascher's sketchbook from 1919, in which there is a drawing by Franz Domscheit, is dominated by sketches of Bavarian dressed people and landscapes. He became acquainted with the artists of the Blue Rider and was friends with the artists of the satirical weekly magazine Simplicissimus , including Gustav Meyrink , Alfred Kubin , George Grosz and Käthe Kollwitz . Much of the work of these years, like those of the artists and writers around him, was characterized by emphatic-expressive religiosity, while at the same time he was interested in old myths and legends. Golem (1916) in the collection of the Jewish Museum Berlin and Der Vereinsamte (approx. 1920) show Ascher's powerful expressionist imagery and interest in human condition.

National Socialism

When Hitler came to power , Ascher's life changed dramatically - he was reported to the NSDAP as politically suspicious and could no longer work as a “ degenerate artist ”. After brief imprisonment in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp and the Potsdam police prison , Ascher survived the Nazi tyranny from 1942, hiding in the partly bombed-out Villa Lassenstrasse. 28 in Berlin-Grunewald, looked after by Martha Graßmann, b. Fenske (born January 16, 1881; † January 24, 1971 Berlin), a close friend of his mother. During this time he wrote poetry.

Mature work

Berlin-Grunewald was liberated on April 29, 1945. Fritz Ascher was a changed person. He moved to Martha Graßmann, who had hidden him from 1942 to 1945, in Bismarckallee 26. Ascher's studio was a large semicircular room with an adjacent winter garden. Works on paper - pen drawings, watercolors and gouaches - were created in the winter months when the studio could not be heated. In the early 1950s he had an extremely intensive period of work, working every night until early in the morning. Again and again these work phases were interrupted by periods of extreme depression, self-talk and insomnia.

As an artist, Ascher found his own signature style after 1945. Withdrawn from society, he created an extensive late graphic and painterly work in which he concentrated on landscapes, inspired by the nearby Grunewald. His images have become much simpler and more direct and are strikingly individual and personal. He stayed true to his expressionistic imagery with powerful brushstrokes and expressive colors. Portraits now emerged exclusively from memory, mostly on paper. In addition, haunting sunsets, trees and flowers were created that we can see as a celebration of the survival and persistence of nature. In addition to thick-stemmed old beeches that are deeply rooted, Ascher has thin-stemmed trees exposed to the weather. Individually or in rows, in groups of two or three, these trees become standing figures that confront us, each as unmistakable as each individual.

Trees in Hilly Landscape from 1967 is the last painting by Ascher to be dated. It shows the massive beeches at the Grunewald hunting lodge on the Grunewaldsee , identified by Gudrun Rademacher, former director of the Grunewald Forest Museum. Between the beeches, a light-soaked landscape rising to the right under a churned sky becomes visible.

Death and remembrance

Stumbling block at the house, Niklasstrasse 21/23, in Berlin-Zehlendorf

Fritz Ascher died on March 26, 1970. On February 21, 2018 , a stumbling block was laid in front of his former residence, Berlin-Zehlendorf , Niklasstrasse 21/23, where he had lived until his arrest in 1938 .

Exhibitions

Fritz Ascher was a member of the Professional Association of Visual Artists Berlin (1946–1980).

  • 2019 - In the realm of numbers. Where men have no names / In the Country of Numbers. Where the Men have no Names ". Sachsenhausen Memorial and Museum , Sachsenhausen, January 29 - July 31
  • 2019 - "Fritz Ascher: Expressionist". Gray Art Gallery, New York University , New York, January 9 - April 6
  • 2018–19 - "Contested ways of modernity. Wilhelm Schmid and the November group". Potsdam Museum - Forum for Art and History, Potsdam, September 29, 2018 - January 27, 2019
  • 2017–18 - "Six weeks is almost like a life sentence ..." The Potsdam police prison Priesterstrasse / Bauhofstrasse / "Six weeks is almost like a life sentence ..." The Potsdam police prison in Priesterstrasse / Bauhofstrasse. Lindenstrasse Memorial Foundation , Potsdam, December 13, 2017 - April 29, 2018
  • 2017 - "Beauteous Strivings: Fritz Ascher, Works on Paper." Karen Wilkin curator. New York Studio School, New York, October 26-December 3, 2017
  • 2017 - "Capital City Football". Stadtmuseum Berlin - Ephraim-Palais , Berlin, July 26, 2017 - January 7, 2018
  • 2016–18 - "Life is Glühn. The Expressionist Fritz Ascher" / "To Live is to Glow with Passion. The Expressionist Fritz Ascher". Felix-Nussbaum-Haus , Osnabrück, September 25, 2016 - January 15, 2017; Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz - MUSEUM GUNZENHAUSER, Chemnitz, March 4 - June 18, 2017; Museum Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf, Berlin, December 8, 2017 - March 11, 2018; Potsdam Museum - Forum for Art and History, Potsdam, December 10, 2017 - March 11, 2018; Museum Schlösschen in the Hofgarten , Wertheim, May 13th - September 9th 2018; Kallmann-Museum , Ismaning, September 30 - November 24, 2018
  • 2016/17 - "Golem - The Legend of Man", Jewish Museum , Berlin, September 23, 2016 - January 29, 2017
  • 2015–16 proceedings. "Making Amends" Compensation and Restitution Cases in Divided Berlin, Aktives Museum , Berlin, October 9, 2015 - January 14, 2016; District Court Berlin / District Court Mitte , Berlin, September 29 - November 18, 2016
  • 2014 - "The turning point in 1914. Fritz Ascher and Gert Heinrich Wollheim." Galerie d'Hamé, Mülheim / Ruhr, November 28th -
  • 2013 - "Diversity destroyed. Berlin 1933-1938-1945. A city remembers." Cultural projects Berlin , Frankfurter Tor advertising pillar, Berlin, January 31 - November 10
  • 1996 - Synagogue for the Arts, New York, March 14 - April 12
  • 1993 - International Monetary Fund Art Forum, Washington, DC, March 30-May 12
  • 1980 - Schwarzbach Gallery, Sindelfingen, October
  • 1980 - Kreissparkasse Böblingen, March 21st - April 25th
  • 1979 - Ute Freckmann Gallery, Sindelfingen, July 21-28
  • 1969 - "Fritz Ascher: Pictures after 1945", Galerie Springer, Berlin, Berlin
  • 1947 - "The experience of nature. Landscapes by well-known artists", Wilmersdorf Art Office, Berlin
  • 1946 - "Fritz Ascher: Pictures after 1945", with Bernhard Heiliger , Karl Buchholz Gallery, Berlin
  • 1924 - Jury-free art show, Berlin
  • 1922 - Jury-free art show, Berlin

literature

  • Website of the Fritz Ascher Society
  • Bendt, Vera. "The Golem." Unpublished manuscript. Berlin 1993.
  • Bilski, Emily and Martina Lüdicke (Eds.). Golem. Exhibition catalog. Jewish Museum Berlin 2016. Bielefeld / Berlin: Kerber 2016. 133.
  • “The nature experience. Landscapes by well-known artists. " In the morning. Daily newspaper of the Liberal Democratic Party of Germany. Berlin 240 (October 14, 1947). 3.
  • Budick, Arielle. “Sustained by art through the darkness. Fritz Ascher's work, now on show in New York, reflects his reclusive, obsessive nature and his turbulent life. ” In Financial Times, January 23, 2019, 209. 6.
  • Dupuis-Panther, Ferdinand “'Life is Glühn' - The Expressionist Fritz Ascher (1893 - 1970)." In black and white. The travel magazine, November 2016.
  • Ellerbrock, Wolfgang. “The Ascher family and Niklasstrasse 21/23.” In the yearbook 2019. Zehlendorf. Old and new about people, landscapes and buildings. Heimatverein Zehlendorf Museum and Archive Berlin 2018. 73–77.
  • Freudenheim, Tom L. “Finally Home with the Greats. An exhibition places the under-the-radar Fritz Ascher squarely in the canon of 20th-century German artists. " Wall Street Journal January 9, 2019. A13.
  • "Fritz Ascher." In Dressler's art manual. Berlin 1930, vol. 2. 24.
  • "Fritz Ascher." In Handbook of the Art Market. Art address book for the German Empire. Gdansk and German Austria. Berlin 1926, 283.
  • Götzmann, Jutta and Sabine Witt, “Life is Glühn. The German expressionist Fritz Ascher. December 10, 2017 to March 11, 2018. ” in MuseumsJournal Berlin & Potsdam 1 (January - March 2018). 22-24.
  • Holz, Wiebke. “The Golem is happy about its huge success. Paul Wegener's and Henrik Galeen's film 'The Golem' from 1914 ”. In Berlin past and present. Yearbook of the Berlin State Archives 2017. Ed. Werner Breunig and Uwe Schaper. Berlin: Gebr. Mann Verlag 2017. 111-133.
  • Holz, Wiebke. “Film, football, strolling. The role of Berlin in the oeuvre of the painter Fritz Ascher. " In Expressionism 8 (2018). Ed. Kristin Eichhorn and Johannes S. Lorenzen. Berlin: Neofelis Verlag 2018. 74–89.
  • Holz, Wiebke. "Sleight of hand." In world art, No. 129, May 2017. 120-121.
  • Holz, Wiebke. Fritz Ascher. In Biographisch-Bibliografisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL), vol. 38. Nordhausen: Verlag Traugott Bautz GmbH 2017. 66-71.
  • Holz, Wiebke. Religious? Contextualization of the paintings 'Golgatha' (1915) and 'Der Golem' (1916) by the artist Fritz Ascher (1893-1970) / Religious? Contextualization of the paintings “Golgotha” (1915) and “The Golem” (1916) by the artist Fritz Ascher (1893-1970). MA thesis at Humboldt University Berlin. Berlin 2016.
  • Homann, Iris and Uta Gerlant (Ed.). "Six weeks are almost like life in prison ... The Potsdam police prison Priesterstrasse / Bauhofstrasse." Exhibition catalog. Potsdam, Lindenstrasse Memorial Foundation (2017). Potsdam 2018. 4, 56-59.
  • MH “Fritz Ascher” in General Artist Lexicon, vol. 5, Munich / Leipzig: KG Saur 1992. 385.
  • Schoenemann, Heide. “Paul Wegener. Early modernity in film. " Stuttgart and London 2003. 101 (no. 232 “The Golem”). 136, 142.
  • Soltes, Ori Z. Tradition and Transformation. Three Millenia of Jewish Arts and Architecture, Boulder, CO: Canal Street Studios 2016. 165, 302-303.
  • Stern, Rachel and Ori Z. Soltes, Eds. To Live is to Blaze with Passion: The Expressionist Fritz Ascher / Leben ist Glühn: The Expressionist Fritz Ascher. With contributions by Jörn Barfod, Eckhart Gillen, Wiebke Hölzer, Ingrid Mössinger, Ori Z. Soltes and Rachel Stern. Exhibition catalog. Osnabrück, Felix Nussbaum-Haus (2016); Chemnitz, Chemnitz Art Collections - Museum Gunzenhauser (2017); Berlin, Museum Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf (2017/18), Potsdam, Potsdam Museum (2017/18); Ismaning, Kallmann Museum (2018). Cologne: Wienand 2016.
  • Star, rachel. “Fritz Ascher. Interruption of artistic creation ”. In: Procedure. “Reparation” in divided Berlin. Active Museum of Fascism and Resistance in Berlin eV in cooperation with the German Resistance Memorial Center. Exhibition catalog. Berlin, Active Museum. Berlin: Lukas Verlag 2015. 48–53.
  • van Dülmen, Moritz, Wolf Kühnelt and Bjoern Weigel (Eds.). Destroyed diversity. Berlin 1933-1938-1945. A city remembers. / Diversity Destroyed. Berlin 1933-1938-1945. A City Remembers. Exhibition catalog. Berlin: Kulturprojekte Berlin 2013. 271.
  • Wilkin, Karen. Beauteous Strivings: Fritz Ascher, Works on Paper. Introduction Rachel Stern. Exhibition catalog. New York, New York Studio School. New York 2017.

Web links

Commons : Fritz Ascher  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Martha Graßmann was recognized by Yad Vashem as " Righteous Among the Nations ".
  2. ↑ see Heinz Wyrwich: Forgotten? Oil paintings and gouaches by Fritz Ascher, in: Sindelfinger Zeitung, March 1980
  3. ↑ see Joachim M. Goldstein, "Fritz Ascher becomes a great artist", in the Berliner Allgemeine Wochenzeitung der Juden in Deutschland, June 13, 1969, p. 11
  4. ^ FD, Bunte Overture, in: Telegraf, Berlin, no.39 / 1 of May 26, 1946, p. 5
personal data
SURNAME Ascher, Fritz
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German expressionist painter and poet
DATE OF BIRTH October 17, 1893
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH March 26, 1970
Place of death Berlin