After a busy month of offerings in June, July and August will be a rather quieter period for Insiders/Outsiders. There is still plenty to whet the interest, however…
On Sunday 3 July at 3pm, in a hybrid event at the Jewish Museum London, cultural historian Daniel Snowman, author of The Hitler Emigrés and one of the trustees of the Insiders/Outsiders Arts Foundation, will be talking about his life and times, as described in his recent book, Just Passing Through: Interactions with the World 1938-2021.
To book, click here.
Image: bookcover (detail)
6 July sees the opening of Lucian Freud: The Painter and His Family at the Freud Museum London. The exhibition runs until 29 January 2023, and will be accompanied by a lively events programme. Independently, Insiders/Outsiders in partnership with Jewish Renaissance magazine will be marking the centenary of the artist’s birth by organising a series of four weekly events – two gallery visits and two online talks – running from 6-27 October. Details will follow in the autumn.
Image: Lucian (left) with his father Ernst Freud and brothers Clement and Stephen Gabriel, c. 1930, © Freud Museum London
Sunday 10th and Monday 11th July will mark World Jewish Relief’s Global Refugees online fundraising campaign, which Insiders/Outsiders is delighted to support. In the WJR’s own words, “We were founded in 1933 to help refugees because they were Jewish, today we support refugees because we are Jewish. There are 100 million refugees displaced today. Together we can give them a future.” More details will be circulated on those dates.
On Thursday 21 July at 6.30pm, at a hybrid event organised by the Wiener Holocaust Library in partnership with Insiders/Outsiders and the Association of Jewish Refugees, Deborah Cadbury will talk about her moving new book about Bunce Court, The School That Escaped the Nazis. It is hoped that several former pupils of the school and/or their descendants will also be present.
To book, click here.
Image: bookcover (detail)
14 July will mark the publication by Bloomsbury of The Art of Making Theatre: An Arsenal of Dreams in 12 Scenes, a new ‘graphic memoir’ by scenographer Pamela Howard, creator for Insiders/Outsiders of the wonderful Ballad of the Cosmo Café.
Later in the year, on 23 November at 6pm, there will be an ‘in conversation’ between Pamela and her collaborator Pavel Drábek, about her new book. And between 6 October and 4 November, an exhibition devoted to her work will be held at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff. Further details to follow.
Image: bookcover (detail)
New Books
This summer will also see the publication of The Distanced Observer by Second Generation painter and film maker Barbara Loftus. This is a beautifully-produced limited edition artist’s book in two volumes, the product of 25 years researching the lost world of her German-Jewish inheritance. The first is entitled Interior Lives – Keithstrasse 14. Berlin W62, 1920-1942: Paintings against Forgetting; the second German Landscape with Wandervogel: Speculations on Wandering and Exile.
For further details and to order the book, please visit Barbara’s website and email her directly.
Image: The Distanced Observer, two volumes in slipcase
New Online Exhibition
An online version of My Name is Sara, an exhibition of the powerful and poignant mixed-media work of Second Generation visual artist Sara Davidmann held at Four Corners, London, in 2021, has just been launched. This can be accessed here.
Image: Sara Davidmann, Prayer for the Dead and the Living (detail), burnt pigment print photo-fragments, stones, hair, wire and thread, 2021.
Last but not least…
The Hampstead and Heath Society have just installed one of their distinctive black oval plaques at no.6 Chesterford Gardens in Hampstead on the façade of the house the Austrian-born Expressionist painter Marie-Louise von Motesiczky lived in for many years, and where her some-time lover, the Nobel Prise winning émigré writer Elias Canetti also resided.
Image: Plaque, no.6 Chesterford Gardens
Looking Ahead
The last few months of 2022 will see a rich array of events on topics relevant to Insiders/Outsiders. We can already confirm the following:
On 15 September at 6.30pm there will be a launch event for a recent publication called Émigré Voices at the Wiener Holocaust Library, in partnership with Insiders/Outsiders and the Research Centre for German and Austrian Exile Studies.
Image: bookcover (detail)
On Monday 24 and Monday 31 October at 6pm, US-based psychotherapist Irit Felsen will give two related talks on the vital function of art in the lives both of Holocaust survivors and of members of the Second Generation. These two events will be held in partnership with the AJR.
Image: Irit Felson
On 10 November at 6pm, John Hilary will give a talk about the Messel family during both world wars, prompted by the recent publication of his book, From Refugees to Royalty.
Image: bookcover (detail)
Further details of these will be provided in our autumn newsletter.
Other events in the pipeline include the following:
A talk by Bethan Bide, lecturer in design and cultural theory at the University of Leeds and Lucie Whitmore, fashion curator at Museum of London about the contribution of the ‘Hitler Émigrés’ to the British fashion world.
A joint presentation by Lesley Urbach on Josiah Wedgwood MP and by Susan Cohen on Eleanor Rathbone MP, two notable supporters of the 1930s refugees.
A talk by Marjorie Downward entitled ‘Schools on the Move’, which will examine three pioneering educational projects – Gordonstoun and Camphill, both in Scotland, and Bunce Court in Kent – all of them initiated by refugees from Nazi Europe, namely, Kurt Hahn, Karl Koenig and Anna Essinger, respectively. (This was originally scheduled for last April, but had to be postponed.)
Image: Gordonstoun School, founded by Kurt Hahn, © Anne Burgess
A video recital of two new pieces, Rozsa’s Wish and The Angel of Chomutov by Second Generation composer Marilyn Herman (originally scheduled for June).
Image: The Angel of Chomutov
An event marking the 150th anniversary of Ralph Vaughan Williams’s birth and focussing on a little-known aspect of the composer’s career – namely, his support of refugee musicians in the 1930s.
A talk by Ian McLaren about the émigré graphic designers – notably Romek Marber and Germano Facetti – who contributed so greatly to the success of Penguin Books.
A talk by Tim Wilcox about German-born ceramic artist Hans Coper.
A talk by Rebecca Moden to mark the publication of her new book on the relationship between German-born painter Harry Weinberger and writer Iris Murdoch.
Image: Iris Murdoch and Harry Weinberger
Starting in early November, a series of talks and discussions to mark the centenary this autumn of the BBC, in partnership with Jewish Renaissance and the Lyons Learning Project.
Recordings on YouTube
Recordings of all our June events are now accessible on the Insiders/Outsiders YouTube channel as are recordings of most of our other past events. So why not use the summer lull to catch up with or revisit some of them?