Fritz Schwarz-Waldegg

Fritz Schwarz-Waldegg, originally Friedrich Schwarz (1 March 1889, Vienna - 14 October 1943, Sobibor) was an Austrian Expressionist and Cubist painter of Jewish ancestry. He was murdered in the Holocaust.

Biography

His father was a magistrate's clerk. He showed an early interest in art and his parents were supportive. At the age of seventeen, he began attending the private art school of David Kohn (1861-1922), a portrait and genre painter. He received further training at the Academy of Fine Arts under Christian Griepenkerl and Rudolf Bacher. After completing his tour of duty, he traveled extensively; staying briefly in Copenhagen, Rome and Paris.

When he returned to Vienna, he made the acquaintance of Egon Schiele and Oskar Kokoschka. As a result, he joined the Hagenbund, a liberal artists' association. From 1925 to 1927, he served as its President. although earlier sources believe he was transported to Maly Trostinez and murdered upon arrival on 4 September 1942.

His surviving works remained in the care of his sister, who escaped death by virtue of being married to an "Aryan". They have since been widely scattered. In 2009, the Jüdisches Museum Wien gathered together 25 oil paintings and 70 watercolor drawings for a major retrospective.