This talk reviews the career of Ludwig Meidner, whose work is in all the texts on German Expressionism, but is still little-known. From a working class Jewish family, Meidner developed a personal version of Expressionism. After a period of intense work, abject poverty, military service in WW I and membership in several artistic/leftist collectives, Meidner rejected his earlier work in favor of a new-found religious awakening and painterly realism. His Jewish identity gained more prominence precisely as the noose was tightening on the Jews of Europe in the early years of the Third Reich. In 1939 Meidner took his family to safety in England, only to be interned as an enemy alien and separated from his wife and son. In 1953 Meidner made the decision to return to Germany, where he felt appreciated, despite the Holocaust, and his wife’s refusal to return. He died at the age of 82 in Darmstadt, after a prolific late phase, which has been largely ignored in favor of his earlier, more stylistically innovative work. Robert Bunkin is a painter, curator, art historian and educator, with a BS from CUNY and an MFA from Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University. He has taught art history and studio art in several NYC art schools, universities, colleges and museums.
New York City, NY; NYC