Samson Schames
Fritz Siegfried Samson Schames (* December 31, 1898 in Frankfurt am Main; † 1967 in New York) was a German-American visual artist.
Samson Schames came from one of the oldest Jewish families in Frankfurt, Germany. He was a many-faceted artist, who worked as a graphic, set and textile designer and painter. He was trained in the Staedelschule.
Schames began his art studies at the Offenbacher Kunstgewerbeschule, but his studies were interrupted by his conscription for service in the First World War. After the war, he continued his studies at the Frankfurter Kunstgewerbeschule. After 1928 he devoted him self intensively to painting.
After the rise of the Nazis to power in 1933, he was only able to exhibit his works in exhibitions of the Jüdischer Kulturbund or in his own studio. In 1937, at least seven of his works were confiscate from public collections as part of Nazi campaign against "Degenerate Art" .[1]
Due to the increasing persecution of Jews by the Nazis, Schames left Germany with his wife in 1939 and went to London, where he was active the the "Free German League of Culture in Great Britain." In 1948, he moved with his wife to New York where he died in 1967 verstarb.[2]
Works
Works confiscated from public collections as part of the 1937 campaign against "Degenerate Art"
- Landschaft (Watercolor; Kunstsammelstelle Frankfurt; destroyed)
- Florenz (Watercolor; Kunstsammelstelle Frankfurt; vernichtet)
- Straße (Print; Kunstsammelstelle Frankfurt; included in the 1937/1938 propaganda exhibition "The Eternal Jew" in Munich. whereabouts unknown.)
- Rückenakt (Print; Kunstsammelstelle Frankfurt; included in the 1937/1938 propaganda exhibition "The Eternal Jew" in Munich. whereabouts unknown.)
- Landschaft (Print; Kunstsammelstelle Frankfurt; included in the 1937/1938 propaganda exhibition "The Eternal Jew" in Munich. whereabouts unknown.)
- Bärtiger Kopf (Drawing; Kunstsammelstelle Frankfurt; destroyed)
- Sizilianische Küste (Watercolor; Städelsches Kunstinstitut Frankfurt/Main; destroyed)
- ^ Database of confiscations under the "Degenerate Art" Campaign, Forschungsstelle "Entartete Kunst", FU Berlin
- ^ Emigrantenschicksal: Arbeiten von Samson Schames, http://www.faz.net/aktuell/rhein-main/kultur/historisches-museum-emigrantenschicksal-arbeiten-von-samson-schames-1178785.html, accessed on September 26, 2015.
Further Resources
- Video by the Jewish Museum Frankfurt about Samson Schames.
- Samson (Fritz) Schames (1898-1967): Frankfurter Exilkünstler. Biographical entry by the Jewish Museum Frankfurt.