Lecture by Inka Bertz: „Ludwig Meidner and Jakob Steinhardt: Two Jewish Artists in the Nationalgalerie Collection“

In her lecture, Inka Bertz, Curator of Art at the Jewish Museum Berlin, takes a look at both the presence of Jewish culture in the exhibition and the gaps. The starting point is a painting by the Jewish artist Ludwig Meidner, painted on both sides, which visualizes the utopia of a communist overthrow on the one hand and the dystopia of an apocalyptic landscape on the other. Together with Jakob Steinhardt, who is also represented with a work in the exhibition, Meidner founded the artist group „Die Pathetiker“ in Berlin in 1912. In their artistic confrontation with Judaism, Meidner and Steinhardt subsequently took different paths, yet remained in constant contact. After 1933 Meidner was only allowed to work and exhibit in Jewish institutions and finally found refuge in London in 1938. Here he created, among other things, a cycle of paintings on the persecution of the Jews, but Meidner was unable to gain an artistic foothold in exile – as was his wife Else Meidner. He returned to Germany in 1953. Steinhardt fled to Palestine as early as 1933 and from 1949 headed the graphics department of the Bezalel Art School in Jerusalem. He visited Germany several times since the 1960s. The development of Meidner's and Steinhardt's work, which is closely linked to their life stories, is traced in dialogue with the Nationalgalerie Collection. Deprivation, confiscation, and destruction during the Nazi era are addressed, as are the restitution and reception of their works after the war. 

The events will take place as part of a lecture series from September 2022 to June 2023, on the first Wednesday of each month at 7 pm. Unless otherwise noted, the events will be held in German.
Afterwards, the exhibition can be visited until 10 pm.

Participation in the lecture and admission to the exhibition are free of charge. 
Online booking required.

The event series is made possible by the Ferdinand-Möller-Stiftung, Berlin.