Linocut 'Douglas 1940'
Date made: 1940
Description: A linocut print on fine 'tissue' paper by Hermann Fechenbach, entitled 'Douglas 1940' and signed in pencil and initialled in the print. The linocut is of a view from Hutchinson Internment Camp looking over the barbed wire fence and the roof tops out towards Douglas Bay with the Tower of Refuge and Douglas Head. The sky is full of clouds and the rays of the sun are shown as a series of spirals, a very dramatic sun rise which is full of movement.
The linocut is a striking example of Second World War internee artwork. The print was purchased by the vendor from eBay and was being sold by the son (Peter Rose) of an ex-internee who acquired the print directly from the artist, whilst being interned in Hutchinson Camp in 1940. Peter Rose's father was Julius Rosenbaum who was interned in Hutchinson Camp, Douglas in July and released at the end of November 1940.
Herman Fechenbach (1897-1986), was a painter and graphic artist born into a Jewish family in Württemberg, Germany. He fought and was severely wounded in the First World War. He studied in Stuttgart, Munich and Florence then travelled widely before settling in Stuttgart in 1924–5. He produced a number of wood engravings on Old Testament subjects and was forbidden to exhibit by the Nazis in 1933 and fled to Palestine in 1938. Fechenbach arrived in Britain in 1939, where he worked as a painter and wood engraver to raise funds to help his remaining family escape from Germany. He was interned at Hutchinson Camp on the Isle of Man, and went on hunger strike in protest. He produced a series of linocuts entitled 'My Impressions as Refugee'.
Measurements: artwork: 21 cm x 24 cm; overall: 32.8 cm x 35 cm
Materials: paper
Object name: print
Collection: Art Collection
ID number: 2009-0149
Subject tags : #WW2INTERNMENTMUSEUMCOLLECTIONS #mm100artcollection
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