Josef Block (27 November 1863 – 20 December 1943) was a German painter.

Life and career

Block was born in Bernstadt an der Weide (Bierutów) in

Prussian Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an e ...

Silesia Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. Silesia is split ...

. He was a scholar of the Breslau (Wrocław) Art Academy, where his lifelong friendship with German dramatist

Gerhart Hauptmann Gerhart Johann Robert Hauptmann (; 15 November 1862 – 6 June 1946) was a German dramatist and novelist. He is counted among the most important promoters of literary naturalism, though he integrated other styles into his work as well. He rece ...

was established. He continued his studies at the

Munich Academy of Fine Arts The Academy of Fine Arts, Munich (german: Akademie der Bildenden Künste München, also known as Munich Academy) is one of the oldest and most significant art academies in Germany. It is located in the Maxvorstadt district of Munich, in Bavaria, ...

; in the studio of his tutor Professor Bruno Piglhein, Block was involved in painting Piglhein's Jerusalem Panorama.The Panorama, History of a mass medium
at www.prof-bruno-piglhein.de On 29 February 1892, the Society of Visual Artists of Munich was founded in his studio at Munich's Theresienstrasse, which was to be the basis of the

Munich Secession The Munich Secession was an association of visual artists who broke away from the mainstream Munich Artists' Association in 1892, to promote and defend their art in the face of what they considered official paternalism and its conservative polic ...

, a movement of artists who felt that art was not sufficiently contemporary and open. This happened in preparation for the

World Columbian Exposition The World's Columbian Exposition (also known as the Chicago World's Fair) was a world's fair held in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. The centerpiece of the Fair, hel ...

1893 in

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, where Block won a medal for his painting 'Twilight'. In 1895 Block married Else Oppenheim, the daughter of banker and councilor of commerce Hugo Otto Oppenheim and a descendant of banker

Joseph Mendelssohn Joseph Mendelssohn (11 August 1770 – 24 November 1848) was a German Jewish banker. He was the oldest son of the influential philosopher Moses Mendelssohn. In 1795, he founded his own banking house. In 1804, his younger brother, Abraham Mendel ...

. After living in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

until 1896 he moved to

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

. He continued painting biblical histories, realistic genre paintings, portraits and still lifes, selling paintings in Germany and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. Further expositions include the Grand Berlin Art Exposition and

Paul Cassirer Paul Cassirer (21 February 1871, in Görlitz – 7 January 1926, in Berlin) was a German art dealer and editor who played a significant role in the promotion of the work of artists of the Berlin Secession and of French Impressionists and Post-Im ...

's parlor. Block was also a co-founder of the

Berlin Secession The Berlin Secession was an art movement established in Germany on May 2, 1898. Formed in reaction to the Association of Berlin Artists, and the restrictions on contemporary art imposed by Kaiser Wilhelm II, 65 artists "seceded," demonstrating ag ...

, a movement similar to the Munich Secession. Other members of the Berlin Secession include

Lovis Corinth Lovis Corinth (21 July 1858 – 17 July 1925) was a German artist and writer whose mature work as a painter and printmaker realized a synthesis of impressionism and expressionism. Corinth studied in Paris and Munich, joined the Berlin Sec ...

Max Liebermann Max Liebermann (20 July 1847 – 8 February 1935) was a German painter and printmaker, and one of the leading proponents of Impressionism in Germany and continental Europe. In addition to his activity as an artist, he also assembled an important ...

, and Edvard Munch. Block liked traveling and was a passionate photographer. Block was persecuted by the

Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in N ...

in 1933, due to his Jewish ancestry, and forced to sell paintings from his collection. His apartment at Derfflinger Str. 16 in Berlin was seized by the Generalbauinspektor under Albert Speer. He died in Berlin in 1943.

Selected works

* ''Christ and the Samaritan'' (1887) * ''The last ray of sun'' (1888) * ''Bathseba'' (1889) * ''The lost son'' (1890 in Munich, 1891 golden medal in Berlin) * ''Twilight'' (realistic interieur, 1893 medal in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

) * ''The new master'' (Munich Secession 1894) * ''Adulteress'' (1897) * ''Saul and David'' (1899) * ''Pietà'' (1902) * ''Judith'' (1904-1905) * ''South Italian Scene'' (around 1930) * ''The scientist'' (1942)

Notes

Sources

* Lorenz, Detlef: Zur Biographie des schlesischen Malers Josef Block. In: Jahrbuch der Schlesischen Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität zu Breslau 42-44 (2001-2003)

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709-714. * Tschörtner, Heinz Dieter: Gerhart Hauptmanns letzter Jugendfreund Josef Block aus Bernstadt (1863-1943). In: Jahrbuch der Schlesischen Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität zu Breslau 38/39 (1997/1998)

998 Year 998 ( CMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * Spring – Otto III retakes Rome and restores power in the papal city. Crescenti ...

773-781. {{DEFAULTSORT:Block, Josef 19th-century German painters 19th-century German male artists 20th-century German painters 20th-century German male artists People from Bierutów People from the Province of Silesia 19th-century German Jews German male painters Jewish painters 1863 births 1943 deaths Mendelssohn family Academy of Fine Arts, Munich alumni

Life and career

Selected works

See also

Notes

Sources