Fritz Ascher: Expressionist

Fritz Ascher: Expressionist presents works by this German Jewish artist, who lived through the Weimar Republic, the Nazi regime, and into the postwar years. After studying with Max Liebermann and Lovis Corinth in Berlin, Fritz Ascher (1893–1970) traveled to Oslo, where he met Edvard Munch, and Munich, where he associated with the artists of the Blue Rider and Simplicissimus groups. His early work is steeped in old myths, spirituality, and reflections on the human condition. From 1933 he was forbidden to produce, exhibit, or sell his art. Briefly interned at the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp in 1938, he survived the Nazi era mostly in hiding, writing poetry. After 1945 he returned to painting, expressing his inner turmoil in colorful, mystical landscapes devoid of human figures. The exhibition comprises 75 paintings and works on paper, ranging from Ascher’s early academic studies to his final landscapes.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website.