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Artist Index Fritz Ascher (17 October 1893 in Berlin, Germany – 26 March 1970 in Berlin, Germany) was a German painter, who survived the Nazi persecution in hiding. In his work Ascher connects pure expressionism with his commitment to authenticity. Early life and training Fritz Ascher was the son of Hugo Ascher. At the age of 16 Fritz Ascher started studying with Max Liebermann, who later recommended him to the art academy in Königsberg, where he studied with Kurt Agthe (Berlin, 1862–1943) and professor Adolf Mayer. There he befriended the painter Franz Domscheit (since 1938 named Pranas Domšaitis). Back in Berlin around 1913 Ascher developed his expressionistic paintings along with artists like Ludwig Meidner and Christian Rohlfs. Paintings like "The Loner" or "Untitled (On Bended Knee)" (both ca. 1920) show his interest in the human being. With monumental scenes like "Golem" (1916)[1] and "Crucifixion" (1918) he started a promising career. Nazi regime The rise of the Nazi regime put an abrupt end to Fritz Ascher's career. His paintings were classified as "Degenerate Art", and as early as 1933 he was forbidden to work. On November 9, 1938 Ascher was deported to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, but with the help of friends was set free the following year. In 1942 he was warned of the mass deportations and went into hiding in the basement of a ruin in the Berlin borough of Grunewald. Martha Grassman, mother of a friend, cared for him during these years, and continued to care for him afterwards. Late works Having experienced the forced and torturous isolation of hiding for three years, an experience that he only survived by writing poetry, Fritz Ascher continued to live in Berlin after 1945, resuming his work, mainly in solemn solitude. The subject of his paintings shifted from figuration to landscape, but he continued his expressionistic approach, searching for and developing forms suiting his genuine feelings. Ascher created head studies from memory (gouaches and oil paintings) and landscapes, in which sun and light have a special importance. Fritz Ascher died on March 26, 1970 from Parkinson's disease. Exhibitions Fritz Ascher was a member of the Berufsverband Bildender Künstler Berlins (1946–1980). * 1924 Juryfreie Kunstschau, Berlin Footnotes 1. ^ In the collection of the Jewish Museum Berlin References * M.H. in Allgemeines Kuenstlerlexikon, vol. 5, Muenchen/Leipzig 1992
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