The Union des Artistes Allemands Libres was a federation of exiled German artists living in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, France, after the collapse of the

Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic, officially known as the German Reich, was the German Reich, German state from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional republic for the first time in history; hence it is also referred to, and unofficially proclai ...

and the establishment of the

Third Reich Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictat ...

after the Nazis seized power. It was founded in autumn 1937 as the Union of Artistes Allemands (Union of German Artists, or ''Freier Künstlerbund'' in German) and adding the French word for "free", was later called the Union des Artistes Libres Allemands and then the Union des Artistes Allemands Libres. In spring 1938, it became the Union des Artistes Libres. Some of the Union's members were defamed in the Nazis' Entartete Kunst exhibit. In 1938, the Union organized an exhibit called ''Cinq Ans de Dictateure Hitlerienne'' ("Five Years of Hitler Dictatorship") that was held in a

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

building.

Josef Breitenbach Josef Breitenbach (April 3, 1896 in Munich, Germany – October 7, 1984 in New York City) was a photographer whose manipulated images and stark photographs were part of the Surrealistic movement. Early life Josef Breitenbach was born into ...

participated in the show. Members of the Union included

Max Ernst Max Ernst (; 2 April 1891 – 1 April 1976) was a German-born painter, sculptor, printmaker, graphic artist, and poet. A prolific artist, Ernst was a primary pioneer of the Dada movement and surrealism in Europe. He had no formal artistic trai ...

Otto Freundlich Otto Freundlich (10 July 1878 – 9 March 1943) was a German painter and sculptor of Jewish origin. A part of the first generation of abstract painters in Western art, Freundlich was a great admirer of cubism. He was murdered at Majdanek con ...

Hans Hartung Hans Hartung (21 September 1904 – 7 December 1989) was a German-French painter, known for his gestural abstract style. He was also a decorated World War II veteran of the Legion d'honneur. Life Hartung was born in Leipzig, Germany, into an ...

Heinz Kiwitz Heinz Kiwitz (September 4, 1910 – 1938) was a German artist. His woodcuts were in the German Expressionist style. An anti-fascist, he was arrested following the Nazis' seizure of power. He survived imprisonment in Kemna and Börgermoor concent ...

and

Gert Wollheim Gert Heinrich Wollheim (11 September 1894 – 22 April 1974) was a German expressionism, expressionist painter later associated with the New Objectivity, who fled Nazi Germany and worked in the United States after 1947. Life and work Gert Heinr ...

, who was a co-founder. The Union published ''Freie Kunst und Literatur'', a newsletter that was later taken over by the Cartel Cultural Allemand, also founded in Paris.Palmier, Fernbach (2006
p. 218
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References

External links

* Hélène Roussel
"Les Peintres Allemands Émigrés en France et L'Union des Artistes Libres"
in: Gilbert Badia, Jean Baptiste Joly, Jean Philippe Mathieu, Jacque Omnes, Jean Michel Palmier, Hélène Roussel: ''Les Bannis de Hitler''. Études et Documentation Internationales / Presses Universitaires de Vincennes, Paris (1984), p. 287ff. (EDI), 2-90 3981-19-1 (PUV). Retrieved February 27, 2012 {{in lang, fr Exile organizations