Heinz Koppel: Ein Künstler zwischen Berlin und Wales

New: Every Sunday from 15th November until 13th December 2009, the Centrum Judaicum is offering
a guided tour – “Who is Heinz Koppel?” – with Anna Canby Monk, Head of the ‘Heinz Koppel’
exhibitions office.
The tour is in German. English-language tours can be booked in advance. For more information or
to make a booking please contact: Koppel-exh@centrumjudaicum.de

Despite the fact that the works of this German-Jewish artist
(b.1919) are represented in many public collections in his
adopted home in Wales as well as in the world-renowned
Tate Gallery in London, Heinz Koppel has been almost
completely forgotten.
In 1933 the 14-year old Koppel emigrated from Berlin to
Prague and from there to Britain. Together with other young
Jewish painters who succeeded in escaping Nazi-Germany
and settled in Britain, he brought with him the “continental”
Expressionist and Surrealist-oriented tendencies of the
1920s and thereby exerted a significant influence on the
British art scene. Koppel was to win recognition at the end of
the 1950s when his works were shown in three solo
exhibitions at the Beaux Art Gallery – one of the most
important Galleries in post-war London. Nevertheless, and
despite continuing to lecture in painting at the Liverpool
College of Art, Koppel increasingly eschewed the art world
before withdrawing completely in 1974 to a farm in North
Wales, where he worked in seclusion until his death in 1980.
Now, for the first time, an exhibition dedicated to the work of
this near-forgotten artist is being held in Berlin. The
exhibition catalogue traces the biography of the painter and
presents the artist’s works in the most comprehensive
continuum to date.
Dr. Chana Schütz is an Art Historian and as curator for the
Foundation New Synagogue Berlin – Centrum Judaicum is
responsible for numerous exhibitions on German-Jewish Art
and history.
Dr. Hermann Simon is an Historian and, since 1988,
Director of the Foundation New Synagogue Berlin –
Centrum Judaicum, where he has personally guided
numerous publications and exhibitions including works on
the history of Jews in Germany. In 1968 he met the artist
Heinz Koppel personally in Berlin.

• < Previous Event

Add a Comment