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Paula Gans (9 May 1883 – 7 November 1941) was a
(in German) Gans's landscapes, nudes and still lifes show a strong influence by the French
As a Jew, life in Hamburg became more and more difficult for Gans. For example, her assets were frozen. The ''Hamburgische Künstlerschaft'' (''Hamburg Artists'') was brought into line by the
Artworks by Paula Gans
Czech
Czech may refer to:
* Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe
** Czech language
** Czechs, the people of the area
** Czech culture
** Czech cuisine
* One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus'
Places
*Czech, ...
painter of still lifes
A still life (plural: still lifes) is a work of art depicting mostly inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which are either natural (food, flowers, dead animals, plants, rocks, shells, etc.) or man-made (drinking glasses, boo ...
, portraits
A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expressions are predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, personality, and even the mood of the person. For this re ...
and nudes.
Biography
Paula Gans was born the daughter of Ignaz Gans and his wife Johanna inHronov
Hronov () is a town in Náchod District in the Hradec Králové Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 6,000 inhabitants. It is known as the birthplace of writer Alois Jirásek.
Administrative parts
Villages of Malá Čermná, Rokytník, Velk ...
, Bohemia
Bohemia ( ; cs, Čechy ; ; hsb, Čěska; szl, Czechy) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. Bohemia can also refer to a wider area consisting of the historical Lands of the Bohemian Crown ruled by the Bohem ...
on 9 May 1883. Nothing is known about her childhood and youth. Gans passed the state examination for ''English languages'' in Vienna
en, Viennese
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. In 1920 she emigrated
Emigration is the act of leaving a resident country or place of residence with the intent to settle elsewhere (to permanently leave a country). Conversely, immigration describes the movement of people into one country from another (to permanentl ...
to Hamburg
(male), (female) en, Hamburger(s),
Hamburgian(s)
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with her older brother Richard. The siblings lived together in a house that Richard had bought before. Soon after her arrival she became friends with the painter Hertha Spielberg and shared a studio with her in the Curiohaus in Rothenbaumchaussee 15. Through Spielberg, Gans got to know other Hamburg artists, including the painter Gertrud Schaeffer and the photographer Charlotte Rudolf; both temporarily worked in the studio in Rothenbaumchaussee.
In 1932 Gans and Spielberg travelled together to Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
and southern France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
. Gans was also active as a portraitist at the beginning of the 1930s. Among others she portrayed the pianist Wilhelm Barg and the artist Gertrud Schaeffer.Biography(in German) Gans's landscapes, nudes and still lifes show a strong influence by the French
Impressionists
Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating ...
. Her most important work, ''In prayer at Sukkot'', was created in 1920. It is the only reference to her Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
origin in her artistic work. Today the painting is exhibited in the Hamburg Museum
The Museum for Hamburg History () is a history museum located in the city of Hamburg in northern Germany. The museum was established in 1908 and opened at its current location in 1922, although its parent organization was founded in 1839. The muse ...
.
Persecution
As a Jew, life in Hamburg became more and more difficult for Gans. For example, her assets were frozen. The ''Hamburgische Künstlerschaft'' (''Hamburg Artists'') was brought into line by the National Socialists
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 Na ...
and Paula Gans was expelled in April 1933. Gans was still a Czechoslovak citizen, but with the establishment of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia
The Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia; cs, Protektorát Čechy a Morava; its territory was called by the Nazis ("the rest of Czechia"). was a partially annexed territory of Nazi Germany established on 16 March 1939 following the German oc ...
, this could no longer protect her.
In November 1941, Paula and Richard Gans received the order to be deported
Deportation is the expulsion of a person or group of people from a place or country. The term ''expulsion'' is often used as a synonym for deportation, though expulsion is more often used in the context of international law, while deportation ...
to the Minsk Ghetto
The Minsk Ghetto was created soon after the German invasion of the Soviet Union. It was one of the largest in Belorussian SSR, and the largest in the German-occupied territory of the Soviet Union.Donald L. Niewyk, Francis R. Nicosia, ''The Colum ...
, scheduled for 8 November. The day before, on 7 November 1941, Paula Gans took her own life.Jürgen Sielemann, Paul Flamme: ''Hamburger jüdische Opfer des Nationalsozialismus: Gedenkbuch (Hamburg Jewish Victims of National Socialism: Memorial Book)''. Staatsarchiv Hamburg 1995, , p. 12 Her brother was killed in Minsk in the same year. As a memento, two Stolpersteine were laid in front of their former home.
Most of her works were only discovered in 1977 in the estate of Hertha Spielberg.
Literature
* Arno Herzig, Saskia Rohde: ''Die Juden in Hamburg 1590 bis 1990: wissenschaftliche Beiträge der Universität Hamburg zur Ausstellung „Vierhundert Jahre Juden in Hamburg“'' (The Jews in Hamburg from 1590 to 1990: scientific contributions of the University of Hamburg to the exhibition "Four Hundred Years of Jews in Hamburg".). Dölling & Galitz, Hamburg 1991, , p. 357 * Maike Bruhns: ''Kunst in der Krise'' (''Art in crisis''), Vol. 2. Dölling & Galitz, Hamburg 2001, . p. 148External links
Artworks by Paula Gans
References