Mateo Cristiani

German expressionist painter of Italian descent, also an ex-librist and writer. Mateo Cristiani studied in Frankfurt at the Städelschule and then in Munich at the Debschitz School. In Munich, he met his future wife the artisan Hanna Cristiani (née Johanna Stern). After graduation they shared a studio, and later he had his own studio. Like Lino Salini, Mateo Cristiani painted members of the public, but unlike Salini, he did not make quick portraits but more elaborate watercolours. Both corresponded with Georg Mahr. In 1931 he became chairman of the Frankfurt artist society. Even when he was defamed by the Nazis as a "degenerate" artist, he refused to part with his Jewish wife. Due to her emigration to Switzerland, he was not arrested, but was not allowed to paint or exhibit until 1945. After the war, he was again very well known in Frankfurt. In the Frankfurter Kunstverein he exhibited in the 1950s together with Friedrich Kaltwasser, Richard Schoenfeld, Heinz Wolcke and Hanny Franke. He had a studio at Neumannstraße 6 in Frankfurt's Eschersheim district. Mateo Cristiani died on 24 September 1962, aged 71. Link to Wikipedia biography (German)