Fritz Ascher: Expressionist
Grey Art Gallery, NYU
Jan. 9, 2025 - Apr. 6, 2019
Fritz Ascher: Expressionist presents works by this German Jewish artist, who lived through the Weimar Republic, the Nazi regime, and into the postwar years. With the support of prominent Berlin painter Max Liebermann, Fritz Ascher (1893–1970) studied in Berlin before traveling to Oslo, where he met Edvard Munch, and Munich, where he associated with the artists of the Die Brücke 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. 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. Fritz Ascher: Expressionist is organized by the Fritz Ascher Society for Persecuted, Ostracized and Banned Art, Inc., and accompanied by an illustrated catalogue.