Arnold, Christian

1889 Fürth - 1960 Bremen

1905-08, trains as sculptor at the School of Applied Arts in Fürth. Journeys via Erlangen, Würzburg and Köln to Bremen, where he settles in 1908 as a sculptor in wood. 1914, military service. Disabled in the left hand by a war wound he gives up sculpture. 1917, briefly studies painting at the Bremen School of Applied Arts. From 1918 on is mainly self-taught as painter and draughtsman. Until 1924 technical draughtsman at the Bremen Electrical Works. Then independent painter and draughtsman. Member of the Bremen Artists Federation. Early works tend towards the expressionism of the Brücke artists and in the 1920s towards “Neue Sachlichkeit”. 1925, one-man exhibition at the “Franz Schmitz Buch und Kunstkabinett”. Founder member of the „Vereinigung für Junge Kunst“ [Association for Young Art]. Exhibits with Felixmüller and Davringhausen in the Kunsthalle Bremen. 1933, expelled from the Artists Federation and forbidden to exhibit. Works as shipbuilding draughtsman in Bremen. 1942-1945, twice imprisoned for insulting Hitler. 1944, 2000 works destroyed in the bombing of Bremen. Arnold dies in Bremen on 4 April 1960.