Jüdisches Museum Frankfurt am Main

News:
Catalogue raisonné of the paintings by Ludwig Meidner
The Jewish Museum Frankfurt, the Ludwig Meidner Society and the Citoyen Foundation are preparing the catalogue raisonné of the paintings by Ludwig Meidner. Author Erik Riedel has already published the catalogue raisonné of Meidner's sketchbooks in 2013.
Owners or former owners of paintings by Ludwig Meidner are kindly asked to contact the Jewish Museum Frankfurt in order to support our research. Of course, also any other information that may help us with the project is highly appreciated.
Press Release (PDF, 160 KB); download images in our Press area (login required)

Ludwig Meidner, An Alfred Mombert (Dedicated to Alfred Mombert), 1912, oil painting, present whereabouts unknown, © Ludwig Meidner-Archiv, Jüdisches Museum der Stadt Frankfurt am Main

Ludwig Meidner, one of the most outstanding artists of urban Expressionism, was forced to leave Berlin in 1935 under the pressure of inreasing anti-Semitism. He became an art teacher at a Jewish school in Cologne, and eventually emigrated with his family to England in August 1939.
After living in exile for fourteen years under poor conditions he was almost forgotten when he returned to Germany in 1953. Only gradually, his work was appreciated and exhibited, until the prices for his paintings finally skyrocketed in the 1990ies.

In September 1996 the Jewish Museum presented a first exhibition with works from Meidner's artistic bequest. The focus of this exhibition (entitled "Apokalypse und Offenbarung") was centred on works with religious subjects. Other presentations from his extensive bequest (156 paintings, 1.204 large-size drawings and numerous prints, sketchbooks, small-size drawings and sketches) followed. The Ludwig Meidner Archive endeavours to collect and document material on Meidner and his artistic work and also holds the copyrights to Meidner's œuvre.

more:
biography of Ludwig Meidner
selected works from Meidner's artistic bequest
exhibitions with Ludwig Meidner (German)
literature on Ludwig Meidner (German)

Kurt Levy fled in April 1933 from Germany to the Netherlands and finally left Europe in 1935 heading for Colombia. His breakthrough as artist came with a solo exhibition at Biblioteca Nacional in Bogotá.

Levy's central artistic topics are landscapes and cityscapes. The contemporary press praised his talent to capture the atmosphere of the South-American cities and countryside. After Levy's return to Germany in 1960 he maintained his ability to discover the tensions within the apparently idyllic scenery.

His artistic bequest was donated to the Jewish Museum by his widow in 1994. It comprises 121 paintings, 348 works on paper (mainly watercolours, gouaches and ink drawings) and 30 sketch books.

In 1998 we presented a retrospective exhibition of Kurt Levy's work entitled "Heimat Exil Heimat". In 2002 this exhibition also travelled to Stadtmuseum Bonn.

H. Henry Gowa was born in Hamburg in 1902. He studied in Munich and became an esteemed stage desiger in Munich, Leipzig und Frankfurt. Here he also had his first solo exhibition at the Galerie Ludwig Schames in 1931.

Gowa emigrated to France in 1933. Later he had good connections to local resistance organisations and could escape deportation hidden in a mountain village in Southern France. After the war he became director of the Saarbrücken art academy and later of the Offenbach Werkkunstschule and a key figure in the cultural exchange between France and Germany.

His art is visibly influenced by the his encounters with Bonnard, Matisse und Picasso in France.  Gowa's post-war work is dominated by abstract compositions exploring more universal ways of expression. His artistic bequest (more than 1.200 works and extensive biographical material) is at the Ludwig Meidner Archive on permanent loan from the Henry Gowa Society.