An exhibition of prints by the renowned photomontage artist John Heartfield. A pioneer of German agitprop and an early member of the Berlin Dada group, Heartfield is known as the inventor of political photomontage. 33 of Heartfield’s scathingly satirical artworks against war, fascism and the Third Reich will be on display.
This ‘Show and Tell’ event celebrates the halfway mark of a major project – generously funded by the Marie-Louise von Motesiczky Charitable Trust – to catalogue and digitise three such émigré collections. They comprise the extensive papers of art historian, J. P. Hodin, the sketchbooks of artist Jankel Adler and the family papers of curator and publisher, David Mayor. A short talk will be given by Archive Curator Peter Eaves, and a range of material displayed from these and other collections.
The aim of this event is to explore the experiences, impact and significance of those art dealers who fled Nazi Europe and set up in the UK before or during the Second World War. In line with other aspects of culture and enquiry at this time, this experience of dislocation changed the art world significantly as well as the status of particular artists and artistic movements, opening up channels for the dissemination of the new trends of the 1920s and 1930s. Celebrating the 50th anniversary of the foundation of Sotheby’s Institute of Art, this event will combine short papers by experts in the field and a panel discussion which will contextualize the experiences and achievements of those who lived through these dramatic times.
This will be a special extended tour with a talk by Graham Whitham on Erich Mendelsohn’s life and legacy. A refugee from Hitler’s Germany, Erich Mendelsohn had already established an international reputation when he won the commission led by the 9th Earl De La Warr to design a new Pavilion for Bexhill.
More than 70 years after the Holocaust, children of survivors and refugees will explore together how it has affected their lives. This workshop will be led by Gaby Glassman, a psychologist and psychotherapist who has facilitated second generation and intergenerational groups in the UK and abroad since the 1980s.
Based on documents found in Berlin archives, Four Parts of a Folding Screen explores exclusion, statelessness and the legalised theft and sale of everyday family possessions by the National Socialist regime. We’re pleased to welcome Anthea Kennedy and Ian Wiblin to present their film alongside Peter Todd’s a spoon, and Martin Brady will be in conversation with the filmmakers following the screening.
The conference aims to reappraise and – where appropriate – to challenge the received narrative about the history of art history in Britain. It will seek to re-evaluate just how ‘German’ British art history became between 1920 and 1970, and to explore the interactions with neighboring disciplines, such as Medieval History and Classics.
These images convey the comfortable settled life of middle-class Jewry in Germany and the gradual feeling of unease, separation and persecution that overcame them.
For this concert, Ensemble ÉMIGRÉ will work with the community at the New North London Synagogue to celebrate the contribution of refugees from Nazi Europe to British culture through music.
Based on Murray Forbes’ story of the same title, the film follows John Muller (Paul Henreid) on his escape from mobsters out of the frying pan into the fire. The protagonist’s cynical view of human blindness provides for quite an ironic and surprising ending to this true noir.
Lecture given by member of the Research Centre for German and Austrian Exile Studies, based at the Institute for Modern Languages Research, University of London
This talk by Dr Ines Schlenker will explore their days at the Slade and traces Cosman’s post-war career in London that led to a co-operation with Williams on an arts programme for ITV and the creation of each other’s portraits in the early 1960s.
Delving into a suitcase full of sketches, songs and letters, the theatre group brings to life the little-known story of the Laterndl Theatre in Hampstead, established by a group of exiled actors and writers from Nazi-occupied Austria during the Second World War. Rekindling the Viennese tradition of political cabaret, they reflect on their new surroundings and hopes for the future and bring a beacon of light to the 30,000-strong traumatised refugee community.
The first major exhibition for many years to trace the complex life journey of Polish-Jewish artist Josef Herman (1911-2000), from his escape from Nazi-occupied Europe in 1940 through his time spent in Glasgow, South Wales, London and Suffolk.
Discover some of Highgate’s twentieth century housing developments in this historic walk through Highgate.
An imagined immersive ‘singspiel’ recreating this much-loved café in Finchley Road, in St Peter’s Church Hall, Belsize Park. Based on selected memories and stories from the Cosmo research group and translated into lyrics by the Cosmo writers group.
An imagined immersive ‘singspiel’ recreating this much-loved café in Finchley Road, in St Peter’s Church Hall, Belsize Park. Based on selected memories and stories from the Cosmo research group and translated into lyrics by the Cosmo writers group.
Experts discuss the massive contribution to British photography by two Hungarians in the 1930s: Stefan Lorant and Andor Kraszna-Krausz.
Based on Murray Forbes’ story of the same title, the film follows John Muller (Paul Henreid) on his escape from mobsters out of the frying pan into the fire. The protagonist’s cynical view of human blindness provides for quite an ironic and surprising ending to this true noir.
Edith Tudor-Hart was a documentary photographer who chronicled working class life in Britain in the 1930s. Based at her darkroom in Belsize Park she was also a KGB recruiter who talent spotted Kim Philby and other spies. Cambridge spy Anthony Blunt later confessed to MI5 that ’she was the grandmother of us all’.
The dramatic and fascinating story of two former Lawn Road Flats residents, brought to life by their biographer, Ursula Prokop.
Summit Dance Theatre and choreographer Alison Curtis‑Jones give two works by Rudolf Laban a contemporary twist and new lease of life. Curtis-Jones re-imagines Laban’s work to create a new living archive, reinvigorating Laban’s principles and archeo-choreological research.
Insiders/Outsiders: Do you have views and images you would like to express visually and/or verbally around this topic? Then come and join us!
Janet Haig is a Hampstead-based ceramicist, whose unique hand-crafted vessels and stoneware torsos have been shown in many galleries and featured in boutiques and magazines.