HEUSER, HEINRICH (1887-1967)

"Balinesische Mutter Mit Ihren Zwei Kindern" (1936)
Pastel
78 x 57cm
Signed lower left
*private collection, Sydney
 
Heuser was a prominent German Expressionist, set & costume designer, Berlin Secessionist and Degenerate Artist. He was also the father of noted Experimental Argentine Filmmaker Narcisa Hirsch.He studied art under Angelo Jank at the Munich Academy, then he became a master student in the class of Fritz Mackensen. In 1911, he went to Berlin where he exhibited at the Berlin Secession in 1912, alongside the likes of Max Beckmann Lovis Corinth, Lionel Feininger, Ferdinand Hodler & Max Liebermann. He regularly exhibited at the Berlin Secession. His work was exhibited in the Galerie Hans Golz, along with such other notables as Paul Klee, Gustav Klimt & Wassily Kandinsky. In Berlin he was a regular at the renowned Romanisches Café, where he liased with influential artists like Otto Dix & George Grosz. However, with the rise of the Nazi Party, Heuser's work was branded as "Entartete Kunst" (Degenerate Art) by Hitler, and many of his works were stolen and destroyed. Today, his works are very RARE, but he is represented in museums in Mannheim, Dortmund and Szczecin. The publication of a book of photographs of the unspoiled beauty of Bali in 1922 by Gregor Kraus and Karl With caused a huge sensation in Germany; Heuser, among many other artists, including the filmmaker Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau, went to Bali and produced a series of paintings there. His work on "Der Steinerne Reiter" shows his strong Expressionist style in its set and costume design. This beautiful original pastel was completed on one of his working trips to Indonesia.