German-British artist Frank Auerbach, who fled the Nazis as a child, dies at 93
Born in Berlin, Auerbach was sent to England by his parents in 1939 and went on to become one of the major artists of the 20th century
LONDON, England — Frank Auerbach, who fled Nazi Germany for Britain as a child and became one of the major modern artists of the 20th century, has died aged 93.
Auerbach’s gallery, Frankie Rossi Art Projects, said on Tuesday the artist died at his home in London the day before.
Born in Berlin to Jewish parents in 1931, Auerbach was sent to England in 1939 under the Kindertransport scheme to spare him from Nazi persecution. British writer and philanthropist Iris Origo sponsored his passage, and that of five other children.
His parents, Max Auerbach and Charlotte Nora Borchardt, remained behind and were killed in Auschwitz.
Once in England, Auerbach was sent to Bunce Court School, a German boarding school that was relocated to England in 1933 following the Nazi rise to power.
In an interview with The Standard in 2013, he recalled learning that his parents were dead when he was just 10 years old.
“During the war there were Red Cross letters which had just 25 words, so all you got was a very brief message, but then these letters ceased coming to me in 1943. It marked an end but I can’t even remember someone saying your parents are no longer alive,” he said. “It was just gradually leaked to me.”
In the years following the war, Auerbach attended the Borough Polytechnic Institute, where he was taught by British-Jewish artist David Bomberg.
He went on to attend St. Martin’s School of Art from 1948 to 1952, and then the Royal College of Art in London between 1952 to 1955, according to his artist biography published by the Tate Britain.
Auerbach devoted some seven decades of his life to painting, living and working in the same north London studio from 1954 until his death. The Frankie Rossi Art Projects, with whom he closely worked, wrote in an obituary that Auerbach was known for “dedicating himself to his work 364 days a year.”
Along with the other “School of London” post-war artists including Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud and Leon Kossoff, he focused on figurative painting regardless of changing artistic fashions, often slathering canvasses in thick layers of paint to produce near-abstract but recognizable landscapes.
Auerbach held his first solo show in 1956 at the Beaux Arts Gallery in London, at the invitation of art dealer Helen Lessore. His work, while criticized by some for his heavy-handed application of paint, was praised by critic David Sylvester, who said the exhibition was “the most exciting and impressive first one-man show by an English painter since Francis Bacon in 1949.”
He represented Britain at the 1986 Venice Biennale, winning the Golden Lion top prize. Three years later, in 1989, he held a solo exhibition at the Rijksmuseum Vincent Van Gogh in Amsterdam.
His most recent exhibition, Frank Auerbach: The Charcoal Heads, opened at London’s Courtauld Gallery in February.
In later life, his work commanded high prices. In 2023, “Mornington Crescent” – one of many inspired by the urban streets near his home – sold at Sotheby’s for $7.1 million, a record for the artist. But it wasn’t always that way.
“Until I was 50 I never had a bank account, always lived from hand to mouth,” he told The Standard in the same 2013 interview. “I used to lie awake at night wondering if I’d be able to go on with my paintings or whether the paint would run out.”
One of Auerbach’s seminal works, “Head of Gerda Boehm,” was owned by David Bowie. Upon Bowie’s death, the piece was sold at auction for $4.7 million.”
Several of his works are also owned by the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.
Geoffrey Parton, director of Frankie Rossi Art Projects said of Auerbach’s death that the gallery has “lost a dear friend and remarkable artist but take comfort knowing his voice will resonate for generations to come,” said Geoffrey Parton, director of Frankie Rossi Art Projects.
Auerbach is survived by his son, Jacob Auerbach.
