Else Meidner 1901-1987
‘Hitler émigré’ Else Meidner (née Meyer) was encouraged from an early age by artists including Käthe Kollwitz. She studied under Ludwig Meidner at the Berlin Academy, and they married in 1927, immigrating to England in 1939 to escape Nazi persecution. Postwar, they endured great poverty and grew apart personally and stylistically, despite a joint exhibition at Ben Uri Gallery in 1949, where Else had two later solo shows (1964 and 1972). When Ludwig returned to Germany to renewed acclaim, she remained in London living and painting in increasing isolation. This portrait combines her enduring admiration for Rembrandt with her knowledge of German Expressionism, apparent in the free brushwork and bold red and blue palette.
Provenance
acquired with the assistance of Ethel Solomon 1950Exhibitions
1949 Ludwig Meidner, Drawings 1920-1922 and 1935-49, and Else Meidner, Paintings and Drawings 1935-49, Ben Uri Gallery
1954 Exhibition of Jewish Art, Hove Museum of Art
1964 Else Meidner - Retrospective Exhibition, Ben Uri Art Gallery
1970 Paintings from the Ben Uri Art Gallery, Russell-Cotes Art Gallery and Museum
1972 Else Meidner, Ben Uri Art Gallery
1980 Exhibition of Selected Works from the Permanent Collection of the Ben Uri Art Gallery, Ben Uri Gallery
2009 Forced Journeys: Artists in Exile in Britain, c. 1933-45 Ben Uri Gallery and Museum
2009 Homeless & Hidden 2: World Class Collection Homeless & Hidden Ben Uri Gallery
2010 Forced Journeys: Artists in Exile in Britain, c. 1933-45, touring exhibition Williamson Art Gallery & Museum
2018 Finchleystrasse: German artists in exile in Great Britain and beyond 1933-45, Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany, London (Department of Culture and Education)
2019 Refuge and Renewal: Migration and British Art, Royal West of England Academy
2020 Refuge and Renewal: Touring exhibition, MoMA Machynlleth Galleries
Literature
'Finchleystrasse: German artists in exile in Great Britain and beyond 1933-45' (London: Ben Uri Gallery and Museum in association with the German Embassy London, 2018), p. 37.; Walter Schwabe and Julia Weiner, eds., Jewish Artists: the Ben Uri Collection - Paintings, Drawings, Prints and Sculpture (London: Ben Uri Art Society in association with Lund Humphries Publishers Ltd, 1994), p. 77.Related artists
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