One female and four male artists from the Sh’erit ha-Pletah exhibited their works in the Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus in November 1948. As survivors, they wanted to be heard. Their biographies show that, over many years, they had been persecuted by the Nazis and deprived of any possibility to express themselves. Their artworks go beyond any documentary historical account and reveal a remarkable variety of forms of expression.
The protagonists themselves described their situation in post-war Munich in the prologue to the accompanying booklet:
“The Jewish artists in the Sh’erit ha-Pletah have experienced the great tragedy of their own people as the inhabitants of ghettos and as prisoners in concentration camps. [...] [W]ith regard to the artistic, they have the same versatility as shown by other Jewish artists in Europe. This time, it is just a small group of people who have survived and who happened to meet each other in the American Zone, who are presenting their work to the public today.”
Lenbachhaus 1948: A research project
A brochure with the titles of the 165 works of art shown in the exhibition as well as short biographies of the five contributing artists can be found in the archive of the Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus. There are no illustrations in the publication. With the help of contemporary photographs taken by Alex Hochhäuser and the support of numerous archives and museums, the Jewish Museum Munich has been able to locate and identify some of the exhibited works in present-day collections.
The story “Lenbachhaus 1948: Exhibition of Jewish Artists” reconstructs the exhibition and introduces the five artists involved.
To the story: “Lenbachhaus 1948: Exhibition of Jewish Artists”
