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Jankel Adler

1895–1949

Orphans 1941

Biography

Jankel Adler (born Jankiel Jakub Adler; 26 July 1895 – 25 April 1949) was a Polish-Jewish avant-garde painter and printmaker active primarily in Germany, France and England. He began his career as an engraver in Belgrade before studying arts in Germany. Co-founding the Yung-yidish group in Łódź, he later became involved with the Cologne Progressives and the Union of Progressive International Artists in Germany. He began teaching at Kunstakademie Düsseldorf and was a student of the Swiss abstract painter Paul Klee who had an important influence on Adler's work.

Facing Nazi persecution, Adler fled to Paris in 1933, where he actively opposed fascism. His works were targeted by the Nazis, with several displayed in the Degenerate Art Exhibition. Adler volunteered for the Polish army during World War II but was later discharged for health reasons, eventually settling in Scotland and then Aldbourne, England. He later discovered that none of his siblings survived the Holocaust. Adler died in Aldbourne in 1949.

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Artworks

  • No Man’s Land

    Jankel Adler
    1943
  • Woman with Hat

    Jankel Adler
    1940
  • The Mutilated

    Jankel Adler
    1942–3
  • Orphans

    Jankel Adler
    1941

Artist as subject

  • Orphans

    Jankel Adler
    1941

Film and audio

  • Interview

    Jankel Adler's Sketchbooks – 'His life was one long journey'

Features

  • Tate Etc

    In Focus: Émigré Artists

    Monica Bohm-Duchen

Sketches, letters, etc.

  • Sketchbook 3

    Jankel Adler
    [c.1939–June 1940]
  • Sketchbook 8

    Jankel Adler
    ڳ.1943–4
  • Sketchbook 11

    Jankel Adler
    ڳ.1943–9
  • Sketchbook 16

    Jankel Adler
    ڳ.1946–9
Artwork
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