Carl Johann Rabus (May 30, 1898 – July 28, 1983) was a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

expressionist Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...

artist and painter who was persecuted by the

Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hit ...

Biography

Rabus was born in

Kempten Kempten (, (Swabian German: )) is the largest town of Allgäu, in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany. The population was about 68,000 in 2016. The area was possibly settled originally by Celts, but was later taken over by the Romans, who called the town '' ...

, and studied under

Angelo Jank Angelo Jank (30 October 1868 in Munich – 9 October 1940 in Munich) was a German animal painter, illustrator and member of the Munich Secession. He was the son of the German painter Christian Jank and specialized in scenes with horses and r ...

at the academy in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

. After various art exhibitions organized by

Hans Goltz Hans Goltz (11 August 1873 in Elbing (Elbląg), Prussia, Germany - 21 October 1927 in Baden-Baden) was a German art dealer, known as a pioneer of modernism Modernism is both a philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad tra ...

in Munich and by

Der Sturm ''Der Sturm'' () was a German List of avant-garde magazines, avant-garde art and literary magazine founded by Herwarth Walden, covering Expressionism, Cubism, Dada and Surrealism, among other artistic movements. It was published between 1910 an ...

Berlin Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...

Rabus worked as a book- and art illustrator in Berlin from 1923 till 1927. His works were published by several magazines like ''Eulenspiegel'', '' Der Orchideengarten'' and '' Jugend''.Carl Rabus biography (German)
/ref> Along with contemporaries including

Jacob Steinhardt Jacob Steinhardt (1887–1968) ( he, יעקב שטיינהרדט) was a German-born Israeli painter and woodcut artist. Biography Jacob Steinhardt was born in Zerkow, German Empire (now Żerków, Poland). He attended the School of Art in Berl ...

, , Heinrich Richter-Berlin, and

Conrad Felixmüller Conrad Felixmüller (21 May 1897 – 24 March 1977) was a German expressionist painter and printmaker. Born in Dresden as Conrad Felix Müller, he chose Felixmüller as his '' nom d'artiste''. Early life and career He attended drawing classes ...

, Rabus "revived the techniques of

woodcut Woodcut is a relief printing technique in printmaking Printmaking is the process of creating artworks by printing, normally on paper, but also on fabric, wood, metal, and other surfaces. "Traditional printmaking" normally covers only t ...

and

wood-engraving Wood engraving is a printmaking technique, in which an artist works an image or ''matrix'' of images into a block of wood. Functionally a variety of woodcut, it uses relief printing, where the artist applies ink to the face of the block and pr ...

synonymous with the ''Die Brücke'' circle of artists and German Expressionism".Glenn Sujo, ''Legacies of Silence: The Visual Arts and Holocaust Memory'' (2001), p. 27. Upon the Nazi takeover in Germany in 1933, Rabus moved to

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, Austria, where he met his wife-to-be, Jewish photographer Erna Adler. However, they soon had to leave the country because of the imminent annexation to the

Third Reich Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

. They fled to

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

but in 1940 they were arrested in Belgium after the invasion of the German Army. Erna Adler was released but Rabus was incarcerated at the detention camp Saint-Cyprien in Southern France.Carl Rabus biography by the Schlossmuseum Murnau (German)
/ref> In 1941 he was able to escape from the camp and he returned to Brussels. There he was arrested again in 1943 on a charge of

Rassenschande ''Rassenschande'' (, "racial shame") or ''Blutschande'' ( "blood disgrace") was an anti- miscegenation concept in Nazi German racial policy, pertaining to sexual relations between Aryans and non-Aryans. It was put into practice by policies li ...

. Rabus was deported and had to spend some time in the Vienna City Prison. In 1944 he married Erna Adler and after the war they lived in Essen, Munich and Brussels. Eventually they settled down in

Murnau am Staffelsee Murnau am Staffelsee is a market town in the district of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, in the Oberbayern region of Bavaria, Germany. The market originated in the 12th century around Murnau Castle. Murnau is on the edge of the Bavarian Alps, about sou ...

in 1974 where Carl Rabus died on July 28, 1983. He was survived by his wife, Erna.

Biography

References

Further reading