
The work of the painter and graphic artist Léo Maillet, who changed his name in exile from the original Leopold Mayer, reflects the numerous upheavals in his biography. In 1932, when his father died suddenly, he was forced to abandon his art studies—he was in Max Beckmann’s master class—and take over the family business. After the Nazis came to power in 1934, he emigrated to England and Belgium, but then returned to Frankfurt.

Maillet emigrated again in 1935, this time via Luxembourg to France, where he got by as a photographer and graphic artist. After his dramatic escape from a deportation train, he lived in the French Cévennes under a false identity from 1942 onwards. In 1943, the Gestapo destroyed more than 100 paintings and 100 printing plates he was forced to leave behind in his Paris apartment. Maillet finally managed to escape to Switzerland in 1944.
On the day he left to find sanctuary in Switzerland, in the midst of all the excitement, Maillet broke his shaving mirror. With just a few lines, he sketched his face in the mirror shards; years later, he produced an etching from the drawing.
The self-portraits Maillet created in exile form the core of this special exhibition; they offer symbolic expression to the persecuted artist’s contradictory and precarious existence.
Vernissage
Opening reception is Thursday, March 20, 2025 at 7 p.m. Please register by email at: eroeffnung.jmf@stadt-frankfurt.de
Event location:
Jewish Museum Frankfurt
Opened today: 10:00 – 18:00
- Museum ticket (permanent exhibition Jewish Museum+Judengasse) normal/reduced12€ / 6 €
- Kombiticket (temporary exhibition+ museum ticket) normal/reduced14€ / 7€
- Temporary Exhibition7€
- Family Card20€
- Frankfurt Pass/Kulturpass1€
- Kids under 18free
- Every last Saturday of the month ("Satourday")free
- Entrance to the building (Life Deli/museum shop/library)free
Reduced entry for:
Students / Trainees (from 18 years)
People with disabilities from 50 % (1 accompanying person free)
People doing military or alternative civilian service / unemployed
Owners of the Frankfurt Card
Free entry for:
Members of the Society of our Friends and Patrons association
Birthday children of all ages
Children and teenagers up to 17 years
Students of the Goethe University / FH / HfMDK
Apprentices from Frankfurt
Refugees
Holders of Museumsufer-Card or Museumsufer-Ticket
Members of ICOM or Museumsbund
Bertha-Pappenheim-Platz 1, 60311 Frankfurt am Main