Biography of Konrad Felixmüller
Konrad Felixmüller was a German expressionist painter and printmaker and one of the youngest members of the New Objectivity movement along with artists such as Otto Dix. He is best known for his colorful landscapes and portraits that focused on the social realities of the Weimar Republic.
Born in Dresden in 1897, Konrad Felixmüller studied at the Dresden Academy of Art before working in the studio of fellow expressionist artist Ludwig Meidner. While living in Dresden he became affiliated with a number of political and artistic groups, including the “Expressionist Working Community” and the German Communist Party. In 1919 he became a founding member of the Dresden Expressionist group “Dresden New Secession” and also the 1919 “Novembergruppe” which was founded by Max Pechstein.
In 1931 Konrad Felixmüller moved to Berlin with his wife. During the 1930s many of works were seized and declared degenerate art by the Nazis. This, as well as a 1944 air raid that destroyed his Berlin studio, means that today a lot of his works are lost. While his earlier works are expressionistic in style, his later pieces became increasingly realistic, depicting scenes of working class life.
Konrad Felixmüller’s works are in the collections of museums around the world including the Art Institute of Chicago, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Courtauld Institute of Art in London, the and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Exhibitions of his work have been held at the New Wall Museum in Leicester as well as at the Courtauld Institute of Art in London
