Conrad FelixmüllerGerman, 1897–1977
Starr Figura, German Expressionism: The Graphic Impulse, New York, The Museum of Modern Art, 2011
Printmaker, painter. The youngest of a second generation of Expressionists who emerged in Dresden in the wake of the Brücke artists. By age eighteen, was working as an independent artist and had taught himself the various printmaking techniques. In 1915 began making regular visits to Berlin, where he shared a studio with Ludwig Meidner, frequented Expressionist soirées, and, in 1916, exhibited at the Galerie Der Sturm. In 1917–18 worked as a medical orderly; war, and friendship with socialist publisher Franz Pfemfert, fostered increasingly radical political stance. From 1917 to 1923 published many drawings and woodcuts in Pfemfert’s journal, Die Aktion, as well as other leftist Expressionist periodicals, such as the Dresden-based Menschen (Mankind), which he cofounded in 1918. Also helped found several revolutionary artists’ organizations in Dresden. Favored portraiture, including many loving depictions of his wife and children, as well as images of the working class and their plight.
Printmaking spanned his entire career, from 1913 until 1976, and was source of earliest success. Ultimately made 461 woodcuts, 150 etchings, and 88 lithographs. Signed first contract with Galerie Emil Richter in 1915. Taught etching to Otto Dix in 1919/20.
Former membership in the Communist Party made him a target of the Nazis, who seized 151 works they deemed degenerate, destroying some. Studio in Berlin, where he had lived since 1934, was bombed in 1944, with great loss of work.
Powell, Angelika Schmiegelow, ed. Conrad Felixmüller, 1897–1977: Prints and Drawings from the Collection of Dr. Ernst and Anne Fischer. Exh. cat. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Art Museum, 1979.
Rathke, Christian, ed. Conrad Felixmüller: Gemälde, Aquarelle, Zeichnungen, Druckgraphik, Skulpturen. Exh. cat. Schleswig, Germany: Schleswig-Holsteinisches Landesmuseum, 1990.
Söhn, Gerhart. Conrad Felixmüller: Das graphische Werk, 1912–1977. Düsseldorf: Graphik-Salon Gerhart Söhn, 1987.