Georges Kars

Georges Kars
Born Kralupy, Tchecoslovaquia
Died 5 February 1945(1945-02-05) (aged 63)
Geneva, Switzerland
Nationality Czech

Georges Kars ('Georges Karpeles or Georg Karpeles - Jiri Karpeles) (1882 Kralupy - 1945[1] Genève) was a Czech painter known for his landscapes and nude paintings.

Life

Georges Kars was born to a German Jewish family. He studied art in Munich from 1899 with Heinrich Knirr and Franz von Stuck. From 1905 he travelled to Madrid where he met Juan Gris and immersed himself in the painting style of Velasquez and Goya. In 1908, Kars arrived in Paris and settled in Montmartre at the time of the Cubist revolution, which also had an influence on his work,[2] he met Suzanne Valadon and Maurice Utrillo [3][4] well connected to the artist community. He renewed his friendship with Pascin and frequented Chagall, Apollinaire, Max Jacob, the art critic Maurice Raynal and the Greek painter Demetrius Galanis. His work was interrupted by the First World War which he spent on the Galician Front and in Russian captivity.

In 1928, an exhibition of his work takes place at the Berthe Weill gallery.[5]

In 1939, he took refuge in Lyon where is started to draw children with a sad expression.[6] In 1942 he moved to the safety of his sister's home in Switzerland.[7] He committed suicide in 1945 most likely after receiving news of the deaths of relatives.

When his wife Nora died in 1966, the contents of his atelier were auctioned at the Palais Galleria in Paris. Pierre Levy, a French industrialist and art collector, and Oscar Ghez acquired an important part of the artworks. In 1983, Modern Art Museum of Troyes staged the first Kars retrospective.

References

  1. ↑ Hersh Fenster, Nos artistes martyrs. Paris 1951, p. 200
  2. ↑ http://www.jewishmuseum.cz/program-and-education/georges-kars-1880-1945-early-works/82/
  3. ↑ Suzanne Valadon By Jeanne Champion
  4. ↑ Mistress of Montmartre: a life of Suzanne Valadon by June Rose
  5. ↑ http://www.bertheweill.fr/artistes
  6. ↑ Au nom de l'art, 1933-1945: Exils, solidarités et engagements
  7. ↑ Studies in Contemporary Jewry : Volume VI: Art and Its Uses: The Visual
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