The Union des Artistes Allemands Libres was a federation of exiled German artists living in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, 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), ma ...

, France, after the collapse of the

Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic (german: link=no, Weimarer Republik ), officially named the German Reich, was the government of Germany from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional federal republic for the first time in history; hence it is ...

and the establishment of the

Third Reich Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

after the Nazis seized power. It was founded in autumn 1937 as the Union of Artistes Allemands (Union of German Artists, or ''Freier Künstlerbund'' in German) and adding the French word for "free", was later called the Union des Artistes Libres Allemands and then the Union des Artistes Allemands Libres. In spring 1938, it became the Union des Artistes Libres. Some of the Union's members were defamed in the Nazis'

Entartete Kunst Degenerate art (german: Entartete Kunst was a term adopted in the 1920s by the Nazi Party in Germany to describe modern art. During the dictatorship of Adolf Hitler, German modernist art, including many works of internationally renowned artists, ...

exhibit. In 1938, the Union organized an exhibit called ''Cinq Ans de Dictateure Hitlerienne'' ("Five Years of Hitler Dictatorship") that was held in a

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ...

building. Josef Breitenbach participated in the show. Members of the Union included

Max Ernst Max Ernst (2 April 1891 – 1 April 1976) was a German (naturalised American in 1948 and French in 1958) painter, sculptor, printmaker, graphic artist, and poet. A prolific artist, Ernst was a primary pioneer of the Dada movement and Surrealis ...

Otto Freundlich Otto Freundlich (10 July 1878 – 9 March 1943) was a German painter and sculptor of Jewish origin. A part of the first generation of abstract painters in Western art, Freundlich was a great admirer of cubism. Life Freundlich was born in ...

Hans Hartung Hans Hartung (21 September 1904 – 7 December 1989) was a German-French painter, known for his gestural abstract style. He was also a decorated World War II veteran of the Legion d'honneur. Life Hartung was born in Leipzig, Germany into an ar ...

Heinz Kiwitz Heinz Kiwitz (September 4, 1910 – 1938) was a German artist. His woodcuts were in the German Expressionist style. An anti-fascist, he was arrested following the Nazis' seizure of power. He survived imprisonment in Kemna and Börgermoor concent ...

and

Gert Wollheim Gert Heinrich Wollheim (11 September 1894 – 22 April 1974) was a German expressionist painter later associated with the New Objectivity, who fled nazi Germany and worked in the United States after 1947. Life and work Gert Heinrich Wollheim wa ...

, who was a co-founder. The Union published ''Freie Kunst und Literatur'', a newsletter that was later taken over by the Cartel Cultural Allemand, also founded in Paris.Palmier, Fernbach (2006
p. 218
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References

External links

* Hélène Roussel
"Les Peintres Allemands Émigrés en France et L'Union des Artistes Libres"
in: Gilbert Badia, Jean Baptiste Joly, Jean Philippe Mathieu, Jacque Omnes, Jean Michel Palmier, Hélène Roussel: ''Les Bannis de Hitler''. Études et Documentation Internationales / Presses Universitaires de Vincennes, Paris (1984), p. 287ff. (EDI), 2-90 3981-19-1 (PUV). Retrieved February 27, 2012 {{in lang, fr Exile organizations