Felix Nussbaum (1904-1944)

A COLLECTION OF WORKS BY FELIX NUSSBAUM (1904-1944) Felix Nussbaum was the second child of a Jewish family from Osnabrück. His father, who owned a business in iron-trade, was an amateur painter of merit. He encouraged his son to start a career as an artist in every possible way. At the age of sixteen Felix Nussbaum went to Hamburg to visit the applied arts school. After a one year stay there, he decided to continue his education in Berlin, at that time a well-known centre in the European art scene. In 1927 Nussbaum had his first one-man-exhibition in Berlin. From that period on he participated in several exhibitions and he was recognised as an important artist. In 1932 he got a stipendium for the Villa Massimo, the famous German academy in Rome. Considering his development as a painter Nussbaum wrote: "Was meine Entwicklung als Künstler angeht: Sie ist einfach. Ich begann, wie sicherlich jeder, mit Eifer die Natur zu studieren, bis sich plötzlich persönliche Empfindungen damit vermischten. Damals geschah es, dass ich - als junger Mann - zum Beispiel in fast jedem Bild ein verliebtes Paar unterbrachte. So kam ich zu kleinen Kompositionen, deren geringe Masse den intimen Inhalt nicht zerstören konnten. Ich malte die scheinbar unschuldige Welt, die mich umgab, und legte jedesmal etwas von meinem Gemütszustand hinein. Kurzum, ich stellte in aller Einfalt dar, was mir Freude machte oder mich traurig stimmte. Aber plötzlich vollzog sich in mir eine Wandlung, die mich nach dem grossen Format greifen liess, weil ich meinte, meinen Mitmenschen etwas mitteilen zu müssen, das nicht allein durch das Thema, sondern auch durch die Grösse beeindrucken müsste. /... Ich hatte die Welt der Unschuld verlassen und zielte grössere Sachen an. Grosse Kompositionen entstanden, spottend, anklagend, provozierend zuweilen." (See: Eva Berger, Inge Frankmöller, Peter Junk a.o., Exh.cat. Felix Nussbaum, verfemte Kunst - Exilkunst - Widerstandskunst, Die 100 wichtigsten Werke, Kulturgeschichtlichen Museum Osnabrück 1990, p.275). The political events of the 30's, especially the rise of Nazism, drastically changed Nussbaums life. In December 1932, when he stayed in Rome, his studio in Berlin was set on fire and many of his paintings were destroyed. From that time Nussbaum had to live as a Jewish artist in exile: he never returned to Germany again. From Italy, he fled to Belgium, where he successively stayed in Ostende and in Brussels. More and more he manifested himself as a politically committed artist. During the last ten years of his life he created a lot of paintings which - in an impressive way - show the horrors of Nazism and the terrors and sufferings of its victims. These so called "Bilder des Widerstands" (Eva Berger, a.o., op.cit., p.18) are works of great importance and can be regarded as historical documents. Nussbaum tried to hide these paintings from the Nazis and is reported to have said: "Wenn ich untergehe, lasst meine Bilder nicht sterben, zeigt sie den Menschen." (Eva Berger, a.o., op.cit, p.18). Nussbaum and his wife were arrested in Brussels on the 20th of June 1944. On 31 July - five weeks before Brussels was liberated - they were put on the last transport to Auschwitz. Until recently, the following lots were considered to have been lost. They have probably all belonged to the parents of the artist.

Details

Felix Nussbaum (1904-1944)

Selbstbildnis im Lager

signed and dated lower right Felix Nussbaum 1940, oil on board, unframed
52.5 x 41.5 cm

Literature

Eva Berger, Inge Frankmöller, Peter Junk a.o., exh.cat. Felix Nussbaum, Verfemte Kunst - Exilkunst -Widerstandskunst, Die 100 wichtigsten Werke, Osnabrück 1990, pp.330-331(ill.)

Lot Essay

In May 1940, after the German invasion in Belgium, Nussbaum was transported to Saint-Cyprien, a concentration camp in the Pyrenées-Orientales. He succeeded to fly and returned to Brussels. There he painted this self-portrait: "Nussbaum stellt sich in der Kleidung des Gefangenen dar /... er ist zwar gefangen und kann nicht malen, aber er beobachtet scharf und klar (und das aufgerissene Auge scheint zu zeigen, dass er Erschreckendes sieht). Vor allem aber fixiert der scharfe Blick den Betrachter: er soll der im Bild mittgeteilten Erfahrungen ebensowenig ausweichen wie es der Maler in der Realität konnte."(Eva Berger, a.o., op.cit., p.332).
See colour illustration

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