Kleinschmidt, Paul

1883 Bublitz/Pomerania - 1949 Bensheim/Bergstrasse

From 1902, trains at the Berlin Academy under Anton von Werner, modelling himself on Adolf von Menzel. 1904-05, studies in Munich under Heinrich von Zügel. Friendship with Lovis Corinth. From 1905, painter and draughtsman in Berlin, exhibiting in 1908, 1911, and 1919 with the “Berliner Sezession”. 1914-15, war service. Discharged after gas poisoning. From 1915, variously engaged in Berlin, including work as technical draughtsman and drawing teacher. Important engravings and lithographs date from this time. 1923, first one-man exhibition with the publishers Euphorion. 1925, exhibits at the Galerie Gurlitt in Berlin. Friendship with Julius Meier-Graefe, who promotes him. After 1925, increased painting in oils. 1927, first contact with New York collector Erich Cohn, who becomes his patron. 1928, one-man exhibition in the gallery of Alfred Flechtheim. Late 1920s, one-man exhibition in the United States (Chicago and Philadelphia). 1935, destruction of pictures by the Gestapo. 1936, emigrates to Holland via Switzerland. 1937, represented in the exhibition “Degenerate Art” in Munich. 1938, moves to La Varenne near Paris. 1940, onset of heart disease. 1940-44, interned in various camps, family has to flee repeatedly, 1943, forced repatriation and move to Bensheim. Forbidden to paint. 1945, all his possessions are destroyed in a bombing raid. Kleinschmidt dies on 2 August 1949.