Paul Kleinschmidt1922 German Expressionist Figurative Train Tunnel Etching Paul Kleinschmidt, 1922

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Paul Kleinschmidt, (1883–1949)
"Tunnel" Etching
1922
Frame: 17" X 21"
Image: 10.5" X 13.5"
Rare Artist's Proof edition 1 of … Read more Paul Kleinschmidt, (1883–1949)
"Tunnel" Etching
1922
Frame: 17" X 21"
Image: 10.5" X 13.5"
Rare Artist's Proof edition 1 of 4
An architectural study of a bridge and train tunnel
Provenance: bears labels from ACA Galleries and Richard A. Cohn LTD.


Paul Kleinschmidt, (1883–1949) was a Polish born German Expressionist painter. Known for both Impressionism and Expressionism.
Kleinschmidt was born in Bublitz, Pomerania, German Empire (modern Bobolice, Poland). As a student of art at the Berlin Akademie Kleinschmidt's greatest influence was Anton von Werner, who was at the time Kleinschmidt's history art teacher.
During his time as a student Kleinschmidt met Lovis Corinth who became an informative and strongly educational individual for the young student. Kleinschmidt continued his studies in 1904 under Peter Halm's direction, as well as Heinrich von Zügel at the Akademie in Munich. It was in Munich that he learned the techniques of lithography and engraving.
Eventually finding his way to Berlin to work as a painter and graphic artist, Kleinschmidt exhibited at the 'Sezession' shows in 1908 and 1911.
Many important artists were active or joined, Max Beckmann, Ernst Barlach, Wassily Kandinsky, Kathe Kollwitz, Emil Orlík, Lyonel Feininger, Hans Meid, Edvard Munch, Max Pechstein, Max Liebermann, Emil Nolde were all Berlin Secessionists. In 1915, Kleinschmidt began teaching drawing while also taking the role of a technical draughtsman, during which time a great majority of his most remarkable lithographs and engravings were created. Offering these pieces in his first solo exhibition, organized by the Euphorion publishing company in 1923, Kleinschmidt's work would next see light in 1925 at Fritz Gurlitt in Berlin, thereafter graduating to a painting oriented focus. Kleinschmidt was first introduced to a New York City art collector by the name of Erich Cohn in 1927. A man who later became his sponsor. Kleinschmidt made several rapid moves from Berlin throughout Southern Germany in 1932 ending up in Ulm and within a year's time, Ay near Senden. Shortly thereafter, he and his family found a great struggle in the midst of a political repression. Finally finding a path of emigration to the Netherlands in 1936, Kleinschmidt relieved himself and family of such political angst, from there to France in 1938.
Kleinschmidt's pictorial world is mostly dominated by dazzling, exuberant and sensual women, whom he portrayed as modern monuments of femininity. Oil painting Inspired by the Berlin nightlife of the 1920s as well as by his childhood spent in a traveling circus, he uses expressive painting techniques to locate barmaids, waitresses, prostitutes, dancers and circus riders draped with erotic accessories or cake buffets in the milieu around bars, cafés and variety shows. The National Socialists took offence at such depictions and ostracized Kleinschmidt's art. They confiscated some of the works and showed some of them at the Munich exhibition Entartete Kunst, "Degenerate Art" in 1937 along with the best of German Expressionism. In addition, he was banned from painting, but this could not dissuade him from continuing his work. He was taken prisoner in February 1940 throughout several camps for a short span but released again post-French capitulation. George Grosz has written of Kleinschmidt as one of the great German Expressionist artists. "Kleinschmidt occupies a special position in German art and is a master in his own right. His place is between Lovis Corinth and the Expressionists." Kleinschmidt was forced to stop painting in 1943 under direction of the Nazis during his final years in Bensheim. In 1945, the entirety of his possessions were lost to an air raid. Kleinschmidt died on August 2, 1949, as result of a severe angina pectoris diagnosed in 1940.

Paul Kleinschmidt has been in four exhibitions at MoMA, NYC
German Painting and Sculpture April 1931 with Paul Klee, George Grosz, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Max Beckmann and others.
Summer Exhibition: Painting and Sculpture, October 1932
with Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Paul Klee and Fernand Léger etc.
Recent Acquisitions, 1968–1973 September 1973
with Henri Matisse, Joan Miró, Georges Braque and Jasper Johns etc.
The Expressionist Idiom, December 1985 withPablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Paul Klee and Georges Rouault, among others, were invol See less