Eric Isenburger

Eric Isenburger (born Erich Jacob Isenburger,[1] May 17, 1902, Frankfurt am Main; died March 26, 1994, New York[2]) was a German–Jewish artist who lived in France from 1933[1] and in the United States from 1941.[3]

Life

Erich Isenburger was born to a comfortably off family of bankers in Frankfurt am Main.[4] He attended the Musterschule (a secondary school focusing on science and modern languages) in Frankfurt from about 1912 to 1920. In 1920, he began studying art at the Städelschule (Frankfurt Art Academy); at the same time, he was enrolled at the Frankfurt Kunstgewerbeschule (school of applied arts) and was a student in the graphic arts class of Franz Karl Delavilla. Isenburger completed his studies at the Kunstgewerbeschule in 1925,[4] after an extensive trip to Italy, including Rome. From 1925 to 1927 he was at Barcelona,[4] where he had his own studio for the first time and studied at the Real Academia Catalana de Bellas Artes.

In December 1927, Isenburger married Jula Elenbogen (1908–2000) in Warsaw.[1]

Erich's parents disapproved of the marriage and reduced his allowance. As the cost of living was less in Vienna,[5] in 1928, the couple moved there, renting a studio apartment on Spittelauer Platz.[6] During this time, Isenburger worked as a freelance artist and stage designer. In 1929, he traveled to southern France.

The suicide of Isenburger's mother in 1931 or 1932 resulted in an inheritance for her son, financing a move to Berlin, then a center for the arts.[5] The couple had their own studio built at Paulsbornerstraße 77 in Berlin-Halensee.[6][5][7] They then traveled to the Italian Riviera. Between January and March 1933, after smaller group exhibitions, Isenburger had his first solo exhibition, at the Wolfgang Gurlitt Gallery,[8] an exhibition that "rocketed Isenburger to short-lived stardom".[7] But after the Reichstag fire and a defamatory review by the painter and SA Sturmbannführer Otto Andreas Schreiber[7] in a Nazi magazine of Isenburger's "degenerate, Jewish art", Gurlitt advised the Isenburgers to leave Germany and go to Paris for the time being.[9]

The couple fled to Paris on 31 March 1933.[7] In the years 1933 to 1934, Isenburger experienced a creative crisis. He experimented with abstraction and surrealism and worked primarily on paper and parchment. One of his paintings was exhibited in the 1933 Salon des Tuileries; and, thanks to the Comité français pour la Protection des Intellectuels juifs persécutés, two in the Salon d'Automne later the same year.[7][a]

In June 1934, he participated in the émigré exhibition at Parsons' Galleries in London.[7][b] In 1934 and 1936, Isenburger had exhibitions at the Galerie Moderne in Stockholm.[6] The first exhibition brought mixed reviews, but Gregory Hahn and Karolina Hyży single out a perceptive and appreciative review by Gustaf Näsström as "[standing] out from all the rest".[7]

The Isenburgers returned to France in 1936. They moved to Nice and in 1939 to Grasse.[6] While in France "the couple more or less managed to sustain themselves": Eric by group exhibitions, Jula by dancing. They were much photographed by Anna Riwkin-Brick. By this time in many of Isenburger's paintings "The paint is applied very thinly, with several transparent layers on top of each other and details ... engraved into the surface as though into a printing plate."[11]

Erich Isenburger was interned as a German and thus an enemy alien in Antibes, Les Milles and later in Saint-Nicolas near Nîmes. (Jula was interned in Gurs.)[1] Many artists and intellectuals were interned at Les Milles;[12] during his time there, Erich created numerous drawings of his fellow prisoners and their French guards.[9][5] Thanks to a combination of bribery and a faked pulmonary disorder, he first was hospitalized and then fled to Nice (where Jula joined him after escaping from Gurs), hidden in a pension.[5]

In 1941, Isenburger met Pierre Bonnard in Cagnes-sur-Mer; the couple were granted entry permits for the USA although they lacked them for Spain.[9] Helped by the Emergency Rescue Committee led by Varian Fry,[10]: 25 [c] they fled via Spain to Lisbon, from where they had arranged a passage to the United States. However, the ship had already departed and the Isenburgers had to ask distant relatives to fund replacement tickets for a later ship.[9][d] S.S. Ciudad de Sevilla took them to Ellis Island, where Erich changed his name to Eric.[6]

In the same year, Isenburger staged a successful solo exhibition in New York at the Knoedler Gallery (selling ten of the 23 paintings exhibited);[3] this would be followed by eight more exhibitions there.[6]

Isenburger's Girl with a Cat appeared in the Museum of Modern Art's show Recent Acquisitions late in 1942. Edward Alden Jewell, the New York Times' art critic, wrote that the painting, "fresh in its handling of decorative rhythms, may be thought to reveal, in a general way, the influence of Matisse."[14] Isenburger seems to have been quickly accepted into New York's art circles, for example appearing with such artists as Chagall and O'Keeffe in an "Artists' Evening" in December 1943.[e]

Jewell described the work that Isenburger exhibited at Knoedler's in 1947:

Retained in full force is the brush-stroke texture that in some mysterious fashion resembles silk or velvet. But the forms that emerge through this strange faintly blurring web are now more firmly defined, and the prevailing color key is quite a bit higher than before.

His expressionism is purely decorative, never "social". This work is decorative in the sense that Matisse's also is, though there the resemblance ends.

Isenburger makes always telling use of accents, with respect both to color and to design. Thus a singingly inventive interior or piece of still-life becomes, in its own right, dramatic.[16]

Both the Isenburgers became U.S. citizens in 1949.[3]

A New York Times review of a 1953 show at Knoedler's said:

Nature, that is plant forms and flowers, inspire most of Eric Isenburger's new oils and pastels at Knoedler's. This artist has abandoned his furry style of painting for a more or less straightforward account of what strikes his fancy.... Isenburger is a fresh and attractive colorist and the results are vivid. There is, however, an inscrutability to his work, which comes from an inability to order visual facts into an over-all design.[17]

In 1956, Isenburger was admitted as an Associate Member ("ANA") of the National Academy of Design in New York, and was elected a full member a year later.[18]

In June 1962, Isenburger had another solo exhibition in Munich, in the Wolfgang Gurlitt Gallery.[3][19]

Between the 1950s and 1980s, he created sketches, drawings, and pastels on numerous trips, especially to southern Europe, which often later served as studies for oil paintings.

Jürgen Kaumkötter contrasts Isenburger's work of 1933 with his work as an American. The former, he says, was innovative, with incised surfaces. But in New York (during the era of Rothko and Pollock), the one time avant-gardiste limited himself to the conventional and safe.[20]

Isenburger died in New York City in 1994.[21]

The German National Library possesses an archive of thousands of items related to Isenburger.[22]

Exhibitions

This list is selective.[f]

  • Solo exhibitions. Galerie Moderne, Stockholm. December 1934 – January 1935;[23] 1936.[6]
  • Eric Isenburger. Exhibition of Paintings. Knoedler Gallery, New York. September–October 1941.[24] Also, later solo exhibitions at the Knoedler Gallery.[g]
  • Paintings by Eric Isenburger and Sculptures by Henry Rox. Museum of Fine Arts (Springfield, Massachusetts), November 1945.[35]
  • Solo exhibition, Country Gallery, Westbury, New York, June–July 1954.[37]
  • Eric Isenburger. New York. Galerie Wolfgang Gurlitt, Munich, June 1962.[3][19]
  • Eric Isenburger 1902–1994. Ausgewählte Werke. Städtische Galerie im Rathausfletz, Neuburg an der Donau. May–June 1999.[38]
  • Dreams and Nightmares. Montanelli Museum, Prague. March–May 2012. Paintings from the Center for Persecuted Arts.[39]
  • Der Angriff der Gegenwart auf die übrige Zeit. Künstlerische Zeugnisse von Krieg und Repression = The Assault of the Present on the Rest of Time: Artistic Testimonies of War and Repression. Brücke-Museum, Berlin. September 2023 – February 2024.[43][44] Three paintings.[11]
  • Wolf's Gallery, Cleveland, Ohio.[21]

Awards

This list is selective.[h]

  • Prize of $1,000, 120th annual exhibition of the National Academy of Design, 1945. For the painting Still Life.[45]
  • "Painting in the United States, 1947", Carnegie Institute. Third prize ($700). 1947; for the painting Playing the Banjo.[46]
  • Medal of honor of the National Academy of Design, late 1940s.[3]
  • Corcoran Gold Medal and $2000 (Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.), 1949; for the painting Romantic Figure.[47]
  • William A. Clark Award (Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.), late 1940s[3]

Collections

This list is probably incomplete.

Further reading

  • Martin Meisiek. Exilerfahrung in der Malerei des Expressiven Realismus. In: Anke Köth, Kai Krauskopf, Andreas Schwarting (ed.): Building America – Migration der Bilder. Vol. 2. Dresden: Thelem, 2007. ISBN 978-3-939888-18-5. Pages 325–343.

Notes

  1. ^ Other German Jewish artists exhibited in the Salon d'Automne 1933 were Edith Auerbach, Eugenie Fuchs, Peter Lipman-Wulf, Käthe Münzer, Wolfgang Schülein, and Gert Wollheim.[10]: 17 
  2. ^ "[T]his precarious London exhibition held in the Oxford Street showrooms of a commercial paint manufacturer (5–20 June 1934) ... is rightful claimant to the distinction of having been the first presentation of modern German art in Great Britain".[7]
  3. ^ According to another account, "In 1941 [Isenburger's] release from the detention camp and passage to New York were negotiated in part by Alfred H. Barr". But the writer, the unnamed editor/annotator of a letter sent in January 1937 by Charlotte Weidler, also says that the "detention camp near Marseilles" where Isenburger "ended up" was not French but Nazi.[13]: 28, n. 48 
  4. ^ According to another account, Erich's elder brother Herbert paid for this.[5]
  5. ^ "The Iranian Institute, 9 East Eighty-ninth Street, will hold an 'Artists' Evening' of informal discussion tomorrow at 8 P. M. Among those who will participate are Marc Chagall, Leon Dabo, Eric Isenburger, Nicolai Cikovsky, Georgia O'Keeffe, Mané-Katz, Arbit Blatas, Ossip Zadkine, James Lechay, Kurt Seligmann, Fernand Leger, Eugene Higgins, Milton Avery, Wallace Putnam and Wanda Gag."[15]
  6. ^ For more solo and group exhibitions, see the "Timeline" on the Isenburger website.[6]
  7. ^ October 1943;[25] March 1945;[26] March 1947;[27] September–October 1948;[28] 1950;[29] 1953.[30]
  8. ^ For more awards, see the "Timeline" on the Isenburger website.[6]
  9. ^ MoMA later disposed of one painting ("sold to benefit its acquisitions program").[34] As of June 2026 its website shows nothing by Isenburger in its collection.
  10. ^ One painting, previously at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington DC.[48][51]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Gregory Hahn and Karolina Hyży. "Frankfurt Refugee Artist Eric Isenburger". Provenance International. Accessed May 10, 2026.
  2. ^ "Isenburger, Eric: 1902–1994 | Dt.-amerikan. Maler", lobid-gnd. Retrieved June 10, 2026.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Franziska Niedermeier. "Eric Isenburger in the USA: A Frenchman in New York". (Alternative link. Excerpted from Aspekte des malerischen Werkes Eric Isenburgers [Aspects of Eric Isenburger's painterly oeuvre], master's thesis, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, 2011. The Isenburger Collection Online. Retrieved June 9, 2026.
  4. ^ a b c Martin Meisiek. "Studies on the work of the painter Eric Isenburger [summary]". (Alternative link. From Studies on the work of the painter Eric Isenburger [1902–1994], exam thesis (summary), University of Regensburg, 2003.) The Isenburger Collection Online. Retrieved June 9, 2026.
  5. ^ a b c d e f Sheila Low-Beer. "Bio". The Isenburger Collection Online. 2016. Retrieved June 10, 2026. (Alternative link.)
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Sheila Low-Beer. "Timeline". The Isenburger Collection Online. 2016. Retrieved June 10, 2026. (Alternative link.)
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h Gregory Hahn, Karolina Hyży. "Hiding the Works 1933: Eric Isenburger's Salzburg". The Journey of the Paintings: Hitler's cultural politics, art trade and storage during the NS era in the Salzkammergut. Linz: Lentos Art Museum. Pages 122–128. ("The text is an English translation of the original text 'Versteckte Kunst 1933. Eric Isenburgers Gemälde Salzburg' written in German language for the catalog of the exhibition Die Reise der Bilder ['The Journey of the Paintings'] pp. 271–280. Translation by the authors.")
  8. ^ Michael Hierholzer. "Maler und Tänzerin" [Painter and dancer]. Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung. November 5, 2017, p. R5.
  9. ^ a b c d Sabine Kammerl. "Moments of decision". (Alternative link. English translation of Eric Isenburger 1902–1994. Ausgewählte Werke. Städtische Galerie im Rathausfletz, Neuburg an der Donau 2. Mai – 13.Juni 1999 [Schrobenhausen: Bickel 1999]. ISBN 978-3-922803-31-7. Pp 17–18.) The Isenburger Collection Online. Retrieved June 9, 2026.
  10. ^ a b Hélène Roussel. "German-speaking artists in Parisian exile: Their routes to the French capital, activities there, and final flight – a short introduction". Ines Rotermund-Reynard, ed. Echoes of Exile: Moscow Archives and the Arts in Paris 1933–1945. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2015. ISBN 978-3-11-029058-5. Pages 1–26.
  11. ^ a b Vanessa Arndt. "Eric Isenburger". The Assault of the Present on the Rest of Time: Artistic Testimonies of War and Repression. Berlin: Brücke-Museum and Schinkel Pavillon, 2023. Via Schinkel Pavillon. Retrieved 11 June 2026.
  12. ^ "Créer pour résister: Bellmer, Max Ernst, Sprinter, Wols, des artistes au Camp des Milles". Camp des Milles. 2013.
  13. ^ "Letters from Germany, 1933–1938". Archives of American Art Journal. Vol. 25, nos. 1/2 (1985), pp. 3–28. JSTOR 1557458.
  14. ^ Edward Alden Jewell. "Modern Museum opens new show". New York Times. September 30, 1942. Page 28. ProQuest 106313520.
  15. ^ "Artists' discussion at Iranian Institute: Lantern slides also will be shown tomorrow night". New York Times. December 3, 1943. Page 20. ProQuest 106743407
  16. ^ Edward Alden Jewell. "Both old and new: Contemporary sculpture at the Whitney – Notable Corots – Rouault – Others". New York Times. March 16, 1947. Page X7. ProQuest 107785169.
  17. ^ S. P. "Diversity in styles marks art shows". New York Times. January 10, 1953. Page 15. ProQuest 112682203.
  18. ^ "Eric Isenburger". National Academy of Design, 2021. Retrieved June 8, 2026.
  19. ^ a b OCLC 313953253.
  20. ^ Jürgen Kaumkötter (in conversation with Norbert Reichel). "'Der Tod hat nicht das letzte Wort': Kunst und Künstler*innen in und nach Auschwitz". Demokratischer Salon. November 2022.
  21. ^ a b Eric Isenburger, German, 1902–1994 Wolfs Gallery. (At the foot of the Wolfs Gallery page: "Biography Source: the artist's website http://www.isenburger.org/".)
  22. ^ Catalog entry for Isenburger's partial estate. German National Library Catalog.
  23. ^ OCLC 187183359.
  24. ^ OCLC 58760627.
  25. ^ OCLC 24090666.
  26. ^ OCLC 1185150896.
  27. ^ OCLC 1185308458.
  28. ^ OCLC 58760626.
  29. ^ OCLC 249886765.
  30. ^ OCLC 77760700.
  31. ^ OCLC 79314664.
  32. ^ "New acquisitions in painting and sculpture announced by Museum of Modern Art" (press release). Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1942.
  33. ^ "Eric Isenburger: American, born Germany. 1902–1994". Museum of Modern Art, New York.
  34. ^ a b "Eric Isenburger: Girl with a Cat". Sotheby's, 2024. Retrieved June 12, 2026.
  35. ^ OCLC 80842227.
  36. ^ OCLC 84106502.
  37. ^ OCLC 81431824.
  38. ^ Dieter Distl (ed.). Eric Isenburger 1902–1994. Ausgewählte Werke. Städtische Galerie im Rathausfletz, Neuburg an der Donau 2. Mai – 13.Juni 1999 Schrobenhausen: Bickel 1999. ISBN 978-3-922803-31-7.
  39. ^ a b "Dreams and Nightmares". Montanelli Museum. Retrieved June 13, 2026.
  40. ^ Retrospective Exhibition for Eric and Jula Isenburger. Museum Giersch, Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, 2017.
  41. ^ "Weitermachen, Jula malen". Frankfurter Rundschau. January 5, 2019.
  42. ^ "Von Frankfurt nach New York – Eric und Jula Isenburger". Kunstmuseum Bayreuth.
  43. ^ "The Assault of the Present on the Rest of Time. Artistic Testimonies of War and Repression". Brücke-Museum, 2023. Retrieved 11 June 2026.
  44. ^ "The Assault of the Present on the Rest of Time". Schinkel Pavillon, 2023. Retrieved 11 June 2026.
  45. ^ "National Academy awards". Oakland Tribune. December 30, 1945. Page 2–C. Via NewspaperArchive.
  46. ^ "3 artists win major prizes from Carnegie". Altoona Mirror (Altoona, Pennsylvania). October 10, 1947. Page 24. Via NewspaperArchive.
  47. ^ "2,000 attend opening of Corcoran Gallery's biennial exhibition". The Sunday Star (Washington DC). March 27, 1949. Page A–8. Via NewspaperArchive.
  48. ^ a b c d e "Eric Isenburger, painter, 1902–". John M. Spalek and Sandra H. Hawrylchak. Guide to the Archival Materials of the German-speaking Emigration to the United States after 1933. Berlin: De Gruyter, 1992. Vol. 2. ISBN 9783110971736.
  49. ^ "Central Park in Winter, Eric Isenburger". Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.
  50. ^ Objects Distributed from the Corcoran Gallery of Art. National Gallery of Art. March 2025. Retrieved June 10, 2026.
  51. ^ Dorothy W. Phillips. A Catalog of the Collection of American Paintings in the Corcoran Gallery of Art, vol. 2. Washington DC: Corcoran Gallery of Art, 1973. p. 170. Via the National Gallery of Art.
  52. ^ "Permanent exhibition". Center for Persecuted Arts. Retrieved June 13, 2026.
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