Alfred Fuchs: Zyklus „Kinderleben“ (Child Life)
Drawings, here: Unknown, 73 x 64 cm
Two little girls, with their backs to the viewer, immersed in their puppet show. They are exemplary for most of Alfred Fuchs' works shown at the academy - children from baby age to teenager, in the case of little ones often in connection with a loving mother. The subjects and expression of these more than 30 drawings, created between 1967 and 1989, derive from the fate of the Fuchs family (see below).
Beate Reifenscheid writes:
"If you take a closer look at Alfred Fuchs’ works, it immediately becomes clear that cheerful serenity and colorful naivety determine his world of painting. They always depict little, rather inconspicuous episodes of everyday life or, if you like, the little sensations that are often thought and felt from the children's point of view. Often it is children and their mothers whom he shows as symbols for protection and love, but also for an unjust vulnerability to the mercy of global political powers. (...) Alfred Fuchs contrasts violence and oppression with his drawings, maternal embrace and security. (...) Almost everything stands before us in powerful, bright colors. Colors that sometimes collide in stark contrast or attract our attention with daring sweetness. (...) It is a search for traces of the memories of a happy, carefree childhood. A childhood, which once began in Saarbrücken and which abruptly ended with the Second World War and the persecution of the Jews." (from: "Unter der Kerze ist Schatten - Das Leben des Malers Alfred Fuchs", ed. Arno Krause and Roswitha Jungfleisch, Gollenstein Verlag Blieskastel 2005, pp. 185 - 187). In addition to the series "Children's Lives", the academy displays works from two other series by Alfred Fuchs: "Anti-War Drawings" and "Landscapes, Towns and Villages".
Alfred Fuchs (*1925 in Saarbrücken, today Germany, †2003 in Prague, Czech Republic) was born the second of three children of a Jewish father and a Christian mother. In October 1935 the family moved from Saarbrücken to Prague. Their hopes of escaping Nazi terror were not fulfilled. Although the family survived, they were deeply affected by the experiences of flight, social ostracism, separation and imprisonment.
Alfred Fuchs can be assigned to contemporary figurative painting, but also works with elements of the Impressionists. His art takes an unambiguous stand against war and oppression and calls for humanity (series of anti-war drawings). The viewer is also touched by his "Mother and Child" drawings - albeit in a completely different way. Alfred Fuchs deals with his longing for a carefree childhood as well as the loss of his little sister Adele. She arrived in Scotland on one of the Kindertransports (Literally: Child transports, Refugee Children's Movement), which allowed Jewish children to leave the German Reich for the UK in 1938/1939. There she found a new home, but after the war she remained a stranger to her original family. She had survived, but the Fuchs family had nevertheless lost their daughter.
In 1993, Alfred Fuchs exhibited together with Jaroslav Vaček, a Czech sculptor and friend of his, who is also represented with several works at the academy. Fuchs has always remained closely associated with the Europäische Akademie Otzenhausen, donated 39 paintings and has been its only honorary member since 1998.
Sabine Graf’s book "Unter der Kerze ist Schatten" about Alfred Fuchs' life, which the Academy published in 2005, is available here.