Fritz Wilhelm Faiss (March 6, 1905 – October 1, 1981) was a

German-American German Americans (, ) are Americans who have full or partial German ancestry. According to the United States Census Bureau's figures from 2022, German Americans make up roughly 41 million people in the US, which is approximately 12% of the pop ...

abstract expressionist Abstract expressionism in the United States emerged as a distinct art movement in the aftermath of World War II and gained mainstream acceptance in the 1950s, a shift from the American social realism of the 1930s influenced by the Great Depressi ...

artist.

Early life and education

Faiss was born on March 6, 1905, in the town of

Furtwangen Furtwangen im Schwarzwald (; Low Alemannic: ''Furtwange im Schwarzwald'') is a small city located in the Black Forest region of southwestern Germany. Together with Villingen-Schwenningen, Furtwangen is part of the district (German: Kreis) of Sch ...

, a town in the

Black Forest The Black Forest ( ) is a large forested mountain range in the States of Germany, state of Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany, bounded by the Rhine Valley to the west and south and close to the borders with France and Switzerland. It is th ...

section of Germany. He studied at the

Bauhaus The Staatliches Bauhaus (), commonly known as the , was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined Decorative arts, crafts and the fine arts.Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., ...

, where he was influenced by various artists including

Paul Klee Paul Klee (; 18 December 1879 – 29 June 1940) was a Swiss-born German artist. His highly individual style was influenced by movements in art that included expressionism, cubism, and surrealism. Klee was a natural draftsman who experimented wi ...

and

Wassily Kandinsky Wassily Wassilyevich Kandinsky ( – 13 December 1944) was a Russian painter and art theorist. Kandinsky is generally credited as one of the pioneers of abstract art, abstraction in western art. Born in Moscow, he spent his childhood in ...

, as well as the Stuttgart Academy of Fine Arts. He also had training as a medical doctor.

Career

Faiss flourished in his art and teaching until the Nazis took power, and thereafter he was viewed by the German government as a degenerate artist. He was harassed by the

Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...

and forbidden to work as an artist, and much of his artwork was destroyed. Eventually he was sent by the Nazis to a forced labor camp, where he spent about a year and became very sick. After the war, he returned to his art and teaching. In 1951, he emigrated to the United States, where he settled in

Pasadena Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial d ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. He became renowned for his hot wax artwork known as

encaustic painting Encaustic painting, also known as hot wax painting, is a form of painting that involves a heated wax medium to which colored pigments have been added. The molten mix is applied to a surface—usually prepared wood, though canvas and other mate ...

, but he also became an expert painter using many other methods including monotypes, water colors,

tempera Tempera (), also known as egg tempera, is a permanent, fast-drying painting medium consisting of pigments mixed with a water-soluble binder medium, usually glutinous material such as egg yolk. ''Tempera'' also refers to the paintings done in ...

lithography Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the miscibility, immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by ...

woodcuts Woodcut is a relief printing technique in printmaking. An artist carves an image into the surface of a block of wood—typically with Chisel#Gouge, gouges—leaving the printing parts level with the surface while removing the non-printing parts ...

stained glass Stained glass refers to coloured glass as a material or art and architectural works created from it. Although it is traditionally made in flat panels and used as windows, the creations of modern stained glass artists also include three-dimensio ...

, and line drawings. Much of his art has biblical, mythological, and mystical themes. He taught at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

and

Otis Art Institute Otis College of Art and Design is a Private university, private Art school, art and design school in Los Angeles, California, United States. Established in 1918, it was the city's first independent professional school of art. The main campus is l ...

and eventually became a tenured professor of art at

California State University, Northridge California State University, Northridge (CSUN or Cal State Northridge), is a public university in the Northridge neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States. With a total enrollment of 36,848 students (as of Fall 2024), it has the ...

, where he retired as professor emeritus in 1973. His artwork has been installed and exhibited throughout the world, including France, Italy, Germany, England, and the United States.

Personal life and death

Faiss was married to Janet Wullner until his death in 1981 at the age of 76.

Publications

*Faiss, Fritz. ''Lenticle: two interviews with Fritz Faiss.'' Valencia Hills (Saugus, Calif.) : Green Hut Press, 1972. *Faiss, Fritz. ''Hackney jade and the war-horse.'' Valencia Hills, Calif. : Green Hut Press, 1977. *Faiss, Fritz. ''The blue glass Napoleon.'' Northridge, Calif. : Art Dept. Gallery, San Fernando Valley State College, 1964. *Faiss, Fritz. ''Concerning the way of color : an artist's approach.'' Valencia Hills, Calif. : Green Hut Press, 1977. *Faiss, Fritz. ''Out of loneliness.'' Saugus, Calif. : Green Hut Press, 1972. *Faiss, Fritz. ''Fritz Wilhelm Faiss : artist file : study photographs and reproductions of works of art with accompanying documentation 1920-2000.'' Frick Art Reference Library, 2000. *Faiss, Fritz. ''Modern art and man's search for the self.'' Saugus, Calif. : Green Hut Press, 1974. *Faiss, Fritz. ''Fritz Faiss, retrospective exhibition featuring the Big Sur and Cambria Pines Series : Palm Springs Desert Museum : 23 March 1963.'' Palm Springs, Calf. : Palm Springs Desert Museum, 1963. *Faiss, Fritz, and Hilldebrandt, Hans. ''Fritz Faiss, Gesamtschau 1947 : Pforzheim, vom 3. Juni-2. Juli, in den Räumen der Militärregierung. Pforzheim : 1947.

Awards

*1935: Prix de Rome *1952: Huntington Hartford Foundation Fellowship

External links

Interview with Fritz Faiss in 1978 at California State University, Northridge

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Faiss, Fritz 1905 births 1981 deaths Abstract expressionist artists American contemporary painters California State University, Northridge faculty Modern artists 20th-century American painters American male painters Emigrants from West Germany to the United States 20th-century American male artists State Academy of Fine Arts Stuttgart alumni