1901 –
Birth of Justus Nussbaum, the artist’s older brother.
1904 – Birth
of Felix Nussbaum (11 Dec.) in Osnabrück (Lower Saxony, west Germany) son of
Philipp Nussbaum prosperous hardware shop owner and amateur artist and
collector, and of Rahel van Dyk.
1910 – Felix
attends the local Jewish primary school.
1913-14 –
Studies at the gymnasium.
1914-18 – His
father is mobilized during WWI, serves in cavalry.
1920 – First
preserved drawing executed in Art Nouveau style for a cousin’s bar-mitsvah.
1921 – Meets
Fritz Steinfeld his best friend, doctor and biographer.
1922 –
Encouraged by his father leaves for Hamburg to study at the school of
decorative arts.
1923 – Moves
to Berlin where he studies under the Expressionist painter Willy Jaeckel
(1888-1944) member of the Prussian academy of art.
1924 – Meets
his future wife Felka Platek (born 1899 in Warsaw) studying art n Berlin under
Ludwig Meidner with whom Nussbaum will discuss at length the relation between
art and religion. Admitted into the National School of free and applied art
where he studies under César Klein (1876-1954), member of the Novembergruppe,
an Expressionist and socialist artistic avant garde.
1925 – First
self-portrait. His early work is much inspired by his love for Van Gogh. Spends
his summer holidays on Nordeney island in the North sea with his family.
1926 – His
style is affected by more modern currents, notably the “naive” French styles of
Douanier Rousseau and Maurice Utrillo shown in Berlin at the Alfred Flechtheim
gallery.
1927 – First
solo show at the Jaques Casper gallery in Berlin. Receives his art school
diploma.
1928 – Studies
under Hans Meid (1883-1957) but is much influenced by the dark Realism of the
painter Karl Hofer (1878-1955). Participates in several young artists’
exhibitions in Berlin galleries.
1929 –
Exhibits in Osnabrück, Düsseldorf, Hamburg and Cassel. Second solo show in
Casper gallery in Berlin. Moves in with Felka into a shared studio in Berlin.
Exhibits “Embryos” in the “Women in distress” exhibition organized to protest
anti-abortion legislation.
1930 – Exhibits
at the Wertheim gallery in Berlin.
1931 – Shows
a humorous painting, outlining the conflicts between young and old artistic
generations (“The Mad Square”) at the Berlin Secession. This introduces a new
satirical vein in his work.
1932 – The
Prussian Academy of Art awards him with a residence at the German academy in
Rome in the villa Massimo. He finds Rome unreal and ridiculously antique.
Almost his entire artistic production (150 works) is destroyed in a studio fire
back in Berlin.
1933 –
Receives an indemnity from insurance to buy new artistic materials. Adolf
Hitler is named chancellor of the Reich on 30 January. Nussbaum’s residence in
Rome is extended. A political argument with a fellow pupil leads to a violent
fight and to the expulsion of both artists from the academy, which will shut
shortly afterwards. Nussbaum decides not to return to Germany, he settles in
Alassio. He visits Paris and Monte Carlo where he meets his friend Ftitz
Steinfled who will emigrate to Palestine.
1934 – His
parents also leave Germany for Switzerland, eventually joining him and Felka in
Rapallo.
1935 – His
parents who are homesick decide to return to Germany. They sell the Osnabrück
shop and settle in Cologne. Justus, the older brother stays in Osnabrück where
he runs a spare car part business. Felix and Felka move to Paris but unable to
obtain a visa, move on to Belgium where they settle in Ostende. There, Felix
meets and will be influenced by the work of James Ensor (1860-1949). The couple
obtains the precious foreign residency permits for Belgium, which will be
extended from year to year. Felix exhibits in Cologne and the Dietrich gallery
in Brussels.
1936 –
Nussmaum illustrates an advertising film script for a London producer.
1937 –
Nussbaum has a solo show in The Hague organized by his friend the Belgian
sculptor Dolf Ledel. Justus flees to Amsterdam with his family and sets up an
industrial business. Felix and Felka move to Brussels where they marry. Belgian
nationality is refused to both though they fulfill the legal requirements for
it. Nussbaum works as illustrator of Flemish school books. He has his older
paintings, left by his father in Cologne, sent to him.
1938 – He participates
in the exhibition “Free German Art” held in Paris to counter the “Degenerate
Art” exhibition organized in 1937 in Munich by the Nazi regime. 9-10 November
is Kristallnacht in Germany. In Osnabrück the
synagogue is destroyed, Jewish houses and shops are looted and most of the
Jewish men under 55 are sent to Buchenwald concentration camp.
1939 – Solo
show at the socialist club in Brussels organized with the help of Ledel. His
and Felka’s residency permit is extended until 16 May 1940 but their financial
situation is increasingly precarious. Nussbaum’s parents join Justus in
Amsterdam. In September Britain and France declare war on Gemany after the
German invasion of Poland.
1940 – On 10
May Germany invades Belgium. Nussbaum is arrested as enemy alien and deported
to the St Cyprien concentration camp in southern France near the Pyrenees.
Felka remains in Brussels. In Amsterdam Justus’ company with its Jewish workers
is placed under German protection because of its industrial value.
In
August Nussbaum is transferred to Bordeaux where he manages to escape and make
his way back to Brussels.
In
December he is registered on the list of Jewish residents of Brussels and lives
precariously by doing illustrations and painting ceramics.
1941 – He
paints his famous concentration camp scenes. Felka looses her Geman nationality
obtained upon her marriage. Nussbaum will cease painting between December 1941
and March 1942.
1942 – He
has his most important works photographed and stores all his works with a friend,
the dentist Dr Grosfils and with one of the dentist’s friends, Dr Lefèvre. The
yellow star badge becomes obligatory for Jews on 7 July. The couple is
denounced by a pretending friend, Kern, who turns out be a Gestapo spy. They
flee to the house of the sculptor Ledel.
1943 – The
Ledels decide to leave for the country and propose that the Nusbaums come with
them. Probably because of Felka’s weak health the Nussbaums decide to remain in
Brussels and hide in a garret in the house of their original landowners.
Nussbaum arranges a studio in a neighbor’s basement. His brother, his parents
and their Jewish colleagues in Amsterdam are arrested and transferred to the
Westerbrook camp.
1944 –
Nussbaum’s parents and brother are transferred to Auschwitz where they will die
at different dates. Nussbaum’s last work, “The Triumph of Death” is dated 18
April 1944. On 20 June the Nussbaums are denounced and arrested by the German
authorities. On 31 July they are transferred to Auschwitz on the last detainee
train to leave Belgium. Their train arrives in Auschwitz on 2 July.
