Fritz Ascher

German Expressionist, whose artwork is characterized by bold brushstrokes and expressionist colours combined with a strong commitment to authenticity. Fritz Ascher’s talent showed early. At the age of 16 he studied with Max Liebermann, who gave him the "Künstlereinjährige," an art diploma, and recommended him to the art academy Königsberg. There the artist befriended among others Eduard Bischoff, who painted a portrait of him in 1912. Ascher met the artists of the Blue Rider and befriended the artists of the satirical German weekly magazine Simplicissimus, among others Gustav Meyrink, Alfred Kubin, George Grosz and Käthe Kollwitz. Like those of the artists and writers surrounding him, many of his works from these years have an emphatic-expressive religiosity. When Hitler came to power, Ascher’s life changed dramatically. He was reported to the NSDAP (Nazi Party) as politically suspect, his paintings were classified as "Degenerate Art," and as early as 1933 he was not able to work. After brief imprisonment in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp and the Potsdam prison, Ascher survived the Nazi regime hiding for three years in the partly bombed villa Lassenstr. 28 in Berlin-Grunewald, cared for by Martha Grassmann, a close friend of his mother. During these years he wrote poems. He died on 26 March 1970 in Berlin, Germany. Link to Wikipedia biography