Malva Schalek
Encyclopedia
Malva Schalek, aka Malvina Schalková (18 February 1882 — 1944), was an Czech-Jewish painter
.
, to a German-speaking Jewish intellectual family active in the Czech national movement. She went to school in Prague, Vrchlabi (Hohenelbe), and began to study art, first at the Frauenakademie in Munich
and then privately in Vienna
. She earned her living as a painter in Vienna, in her studio above the Theater an der Wien
, until July 1938, when she was forced to flee from the Nazis, leaving her paintings behind. Only some 30 works from this period have been recovered; two were found in the Historisches Museum Wien. One of these, a nearly life-sized oil portrait of the actor Max Pallenberg
, is currently being returned to the family by the restitution authority.
Schalek (aka Malvina Schalková) was deported to Terezin (Theresienstadt) ghetto
in February, 1942, where she produced more than 100 drawing
s and watercolors
portraying fellow inmates and their life there. Because of her refusal to portray a collaborationist doctor, she was deported to Auschwitz on 18 May 1944, where she perished.
in 1978 as "perhaps the finest and most complete artistic oeuvre to survive the Holocaust." Miraculously recovered after the liberation, most are now in the Art Collection of the Ghetto Fighters' House
museum at Kibbutz
Lohamei HaGeta'ot in Israel
.
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
.
Life
Malva Schalek was born in PraguePrague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
, to a German-speaking Jewish intellectual family active in the Czech national movement. She went to school in Prague, Vrchlabi (Hohenelbe), and began to study art, first at the Frauenakademie in Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
and then privately in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
. She earned her living as a painter in Vienna, in her studio above the Theater an der Wien
Theater an der Wien
The Theater an der Wien is a historic theatre on the Left Wienzeile in the Mariahilf district of Vienna. Completed in 1801, it has seen the premieres of many celebrated works of theatre, opera, and symphonic music...
, until July 1938, when she was forced to flee from the Nazis, leaving her paintings behind. Only some 30 works from this period have been recovered; two were found in the Historisches Museum Wien. One of these, a nearly life-sized oil portrait of the actor Max Pallenberg
Max Pallenberg
Max Pallenberg was an Austrian singer, actor and comedian.Although Pallenberg's career started in 1904 it wasn't until 1909 that he joined Theater an der Wien and Vienna's Deutsches Volkstheater. However, it was at Berlin's Deutsches Theater where he left a lasting mark on German theatrical...
, is currently being returned to the family by the restitution authority.
Schalek (aka Malvina Schalková) was deported to Terezin (Theresienstadt) ghetto
Theresienstadt concentration camp
Theresienstadt concentration camp was a Nazi German ghetto during World War II. It was established by the Gestapo in the fortress and garrison city of Terezín , located in what is now the Czech Republic.-History:The fortress of Terezín was constructed between the years 1780 and 1790 by the orders...
in February, 1942, where she produced more than 100 drawing
Drawing
Drawing is a form of visual art that makes use of any number of drawing instruments to mark a two-dimensional medium. Common instruments include graphite pencils, pen and ink, inked brushes, wax color pencils, crayons, charcoal, chalk, pastels, markers, styluses, and various metals .An artist who...
s and watercolors
Watercolor painting
Watercolor or watercolour , also aquarelle from French, is a painting method. A watercolor is the medium or the resulting artwork in which the paints are made of pigments suspended in a water-soluble vehicle...
portraying fellow inmates and their life there. Because of her refusal to portray a collaborationist doctor, she was deported to Auschwitz on 18 May 1944, where she perished.
Work
Her work, especially her drawings of the camp at Theresienstadt, is characterized by a sober realism. These drawings have been described by Tom L. Freudenheim, Director of the Baltimore Museum of ArtBaltimore Museum of Art
The Baltimore Museum of Art in Baltimore, Maryland, United States, was founded in 1914. Built in the Roman Temple style, the Museum is home to an internationally renowned collection of 19th-century, modern, and contemporary art. Founded in 1914 with a single painting, the BMA today has 90,000 works...
in 1978 as "perhaps the finest and most complete artistic oeuvre to survive the Holocaust." Miraculously recovered after the liberation, most are now in the Art Collection of the Ghetto Fighters' House
Ghetto Fighters' House
The Ghetto Fighters' House , full name, Itzhak Katzenelson Holocaust and Jewish Resistance Heritage Museum and Study Center, was founded in 1949 by members of Kibbutz Lohamei Hagetaot, a community of Holocaust survivors, among them fighters of the ghetto undergrounds and partisan units...
museum at Kibbutz
Kibbutz
A kibbutz is a collective community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economic branches, including industrial plants and high-tech enterprises. Kibbutzim began as utopian communities, a combination of socialism and Zionism...
Lohamei HaGeta'ot in Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
.
Sources
- Spiritual Resistance: Art from Concentration Camps, 1940-1945: a Selection of Drawings and Paintings from the Collection of Kibbutz Lohamei Haghetaot, Israel, with essays by Miriam Novitch, Lucy S. Dawidowicz, and Tom L. Freudenheim. Union of American Hebrew Congregations, Jewish Publication Society of AmericaJewish Publication Society of AmericaThe Jewish Publication Society , originally known as the Jewish Publication Society of America, is the oldest nonprofit, nondenominational publisher of Jewish works in English...
, Baltimore Museum of ArtBaltimore Museum of ArtThe Baltimore Museum of Art in Baltimore, Maryland, United States, was founded in 1914. Built in the Roman Temple style, the Museum is home to an internationally renowned collection of 19th-century, modern, and contemporary art. Founded in 1914 with a single painting, the BMA today has 90,000 works...
, 1981 ISBN 0807401579, 9780807401576 - Heinrich Fuchs, Die österreichischen Maler der Geburtsjahrgänge 1881-1900. Heinrich Fuchs, Selbstverl., 1977
- Pnina Rosenberg, Images and Reflections: Women in the Art of the Holocaust (exhibition catalogue) Israel: Beit Lohamei Haghetaot, Spring 2002