Presentation by Monica Sidhu, followed by a conversation with the late Klaus’ wife Julie Friedeberger and British Museum curator Stephen Coppel, London.
Born in Berlin in 1922, the artist Klaus Friedeberger escaped Nazi Germany in 1937. After studying at the Quaker School in Holland, he arrived in London as a refugee in 1939. Classified as an ‘enemy alien,’ he was interned and subsequently deported to Australia on the transport ship Dunera. He spent two years in internment camps at Hay in New South Wales. Released in 1942, he joined the Australian Army Labor Corps, and after demobilization, he studied art at East Sydney Technical College. After ten years in Australia, Friedeberger returned to Europe and settled in London, where he lived and worked until his death in 2019.
The journey Klaus Friedeberger took from Berlin to Australia via Holland and London shaped his early life. The ten years he spent in Australia in Internment, in the Army and at Art College shaped his artistic career.
Friedeberger’s works were exhibited in solo and group exhibitions from his early days as a student until today.
Monica Sidhu trained as an art historian in the History of Art Department at University College London graduating in 1998. She has undertaken various projects at the British Museum working with Stephen Coppel, Assistant Keeper and other curators in the Department of Prints and Drawings. She has catalogued the extensive archive of paintings, drawings, monotypes and papers left by Klaus Friedeberger in his studio after his death and is currently researching and writing a monograph on his career.
Julie Friedeberger was born in New York City in 1935. She met Klaus Friedeberger on 17 September 1960, in Florence, Italy. They married in 1962 and lived together in London until his death in 2019.
Stephen Coppel is Assistant Keeper and curator of modern prints and drawings at the British Museum.
The event is part of the series “Flight or Fight. stories of artists under repression,” which is organized by The Fritz Ascher Society for Persecuted, Ostracized and Banned Art, New York. https://fritzaschersociety.org.
Welcome to K Claus friedberger Journey around the world in our series flight or fight stories of artists are no regression I’m Rachel Stern executive director of the fasha Society for persecuted ostracized and b art based in New York we research discuss publish and exhibit artists whose life and work were
Affected by the German Nazi regime between 1933 and 1945 today I’m honored to introduce three speakers Monica situ trained as an art historian in the history of art department at University College London graduating in 1998 she has undertaken various projects at the British museum working with Steven Corel assistant keeper and other
Cators in the Departments of Prince and drawings she has cataloged the extensive Archive of paintings drawings mon types and papers left by Claus friedberger in his Studio after his death and is currently researching and writing a monograph on his career Julie Freda Burger was born in New York City in
1935 she met Claus friedberger on September 17 1960 in Florence Italy they married in 1962 and lived together in London until his death in n in 2019 Steven copper is assistant keeper and creator of modern prints and drawings at the British museum he has intimate knowledge of freed Burger’s
Work has written about it and exhibited it welcome um Monica situ will start today’s event with a lecture after the talk Julie friedberger and Steven copel will join for the Q&A please post your questions in the chat Monica the floor is yours thank you very much Rachel and
First of all um I’d like to thank the TR SAS Society for inviting me to talk and giving me this opportunity to uh introduce you to the works of CLA for the burer of course I want to thank Stephen and Julie for joining me today for questions and answers and a brief
Thank you to Francis k for introducing me to the society um and um introducing me to this St um I’d like to share my screen now with you can you all see it can you hear me and can you see it we can hear you we can’t see the screen yet
You can’t see the screen just a second um oh okay is it happening can you see it nope no oh dear did you press the share screen I did I did press the share screen uh let me go yes here we are can you see yes yes okay just a
Second oh can you see it perfect very good okay apologies about this um well um the title of my lecture today Journey around the world is taken from a poster Claus furger design when he was in inter in 1941 the journey it represents was not strictly around the world but halfway
Through Australia and then back again and today we’re going to retrace that journey and to look at what happened in the life of CLA reberger along the way first of all let me introduce you to CLA and um here we have CLA F the burger in front of his uh one of his
Paintings and here is much younger CLA F the bger with his parents and as a young boy with um slightly more hair as you can see but with still the very warm and engaging personality Fred Burger had a very good sense of humor and um it was always up for a
Laugh CL the burger was born in Berlin in August 1922 he was the only child of Paul friedberger and another cousin Stein the frieders were a secular middle class Jewish Family they lived in wilmersdorf a district just on the outskirt of Berlin City Center they were part of a
Cultured an intellectual liberal German community Paul feder bger graduated in law and economics uh in a practice law he joined the family publishing business Adolf alstein berin D Ada came from a very well established business family trading imp passionable Goods she was very artistic and very creative and eventually established her
Own handmade children’s and ladies underwe clothing business FR bger attended the local Primary School the vul Schuler Berlin Wilmer dorf and from 1932 to 1937 frequented the uh French gymnasium in Berlin furger did not really thrive in this particular School environment he never really fitted in he however did very
Well in his art subjects he was encouraged to follow his artistic interests in 1930 when he was only 8 years old his parents separated and divorced officially in 1931 frer Burger had to divide his time and also his loyalties between the two different households which caused quite a few emotional
Tensions a sense of stability at this time was offered by the family of Leopold Tria and Annie Tria and the two daughters Stephy and renat the triers became a kind of surrogate family for Claus he spent time at their home he went on holiday with them and the triers also played a very
Important and major role later in Claus’s life Paul freeder Burger remarried in 1933 and by 1936 as the unstable political situation greatly also ped his business and security he immigrated with with his new wife to Brazil the trius also escaped and moved to London in 1936 other friedberger and clous remained in
Berlin but by the end of 1937 with the increasing anti the mitic climate threatening their safety CLA was sent to the Quaker School at erder situated in Omen in Holland here the Young fredburger found a very different School environment from the German gymnasium in 1993 this is how he described his time
Of the school for me my relatively brief experience of urder remains the most important and happiest I’m aware of in my 71 years at the school Fred bger developed into a very confident young man he established very strong and longlasting friendships and found encouraging and supporting teachers Max warberg son of Abby Abby
Warberg the famous art historian was a faculty member he encourage CLA to draw from life and he stimulated his interest in his history of art with even slide lectures an important aspect of the education at erder were theatrical performances which acquired quite a legendary status in these two slides we can see FR
Burger with his newly found confidence performing micking the monkey in a production of rinika fooks prb was also involved not only in acting but in the creation of the backdrops the advertising designs for the play paying particular attention to typography he wrote for the school magazine and as an older student he was
Also a member of the self governing committees at the school in this group photograph we can see a roped figure and a hunging noose these also appear in a Lineo cut PR Burger made which was experimenting with printing there are also the L lat images they refer to the passage of time such
As this one with a clock or longdistance roads these are rather haunting images and art was a way by which F Burger externalized the anxious feelings created by the historical situation the correspondent with his mother at the time also reveals the worries Fred Burger had regarding the future in
General in December 1938 he wrote to his mother alog together I would really like at least once a week a long letter so that I know what is really going on and what is happening to you and all the people we know but only if you have time
I’m also especially interested in your business situation and what your financially situation is like these are not certainly the worries of a normal teenager by April 1939 Leopold Tria aware of all the dangers secured a safe passage for CLA to England by obtaining a training contract for him the gouache you can see
Here on the left might well have been one of the designs R bger had to provide as an example to the kind of work he was able to do after his arrival in England in May 19 um in 1939 fredburger moved to um the design Department of ccope in
Southampton on the coast airm that specialized in illuminated design and what he was to take up Place uh with his training contract fredburger found lodgings with the British family and you can see in this uh watercolor very typical English interior this was his room perhaps the uh exception was the refugee suitcase on
Top the Wardrobe marking his itinerant status his journey already started by October 1939 the British home office has set up 120 special tribunals to screen foreign Nationals all enemy aliens had to be placed in one of three categories according to the danger they POS for the country in category
A individual were posing placed individual posing high risk therefore they were to be detained in category B were placed individuals with dubious political sympathies that could possibly pose a security risk some restriction were placed on them with regards to movement curfew possessional radius and so on in category
C were all placed all individuals that did not POS a race and most of this group comprise a subject uh subject of Oppression and refugees they could remain at liberties with no particular restrictions uh the letter on the left uh sorry on the right of the screen uh
Was a letter Freda burer received that summoned him on the 9th of October to the juvenile court in the Civic Center of Southampton here he was also classified ified he was placed in category C he was obviously an enemy Lan but he was a refugee from Nazi oppression as a foreign National it
Could no longer be employer ccope when Southampton became uh a protected Zone CLA had to relocate to slau here he lived and worked with a relative Mr Eric loaning who offered him employment in his firm Bell color The Firm specialized in photogra and color photography and this is when F Burger
Sort of started his love affair with photography he became a very accomplished photographer later in life he submitted his photograph to competition and also won prizes Fred bger mother’s mother Ada had also SC Lane in 1939 she had found through the help of Mr trius employment as domestic help in in
England she had been unwell throughout the year and in December 1939 she passed away living CLA totally alone as CLA also became a protected area Claus moved back with a trius to London and in July 1940 as the fear of invasion increased so did the fear of foreigners a Relentless campaign by the
Press about the fifth column pressurized the government into action a series of arrest and through all male foreign Nationals between the ages of 16 and 66 were rounded up in an action that became known color the lot the words that Winston churches church will use when he sanctioned the
Arrests Cloud the bger was arrested and taken to temporary holding facility at kton Park race course he subsequently was transferred to heighton near Liverpool in what was effectively a council state still under construction it was surrounded by bar wire and utilized as a temporary interment Camp struggling to find a suitable
Location were to house all the all this large number of aliens the government sought the help of his Commonwealth Nation and Territories Canada offered to received around 7,000 men Australia about 6,000 and by July already several ships had left to Canada transporting almost 9,000 men one of the ships the arandora
Star carrying about 1,200 passengers well prisoners rather was torpedo and 444 men only survived on July the 10th at Liverpool docks another Journey started for PR Burger the 17 years old was forced to board the higher military trans transport ship to NRA incredibly overcrowded with about 2,500 over men plus
Crew um this number made up almost double the supposed capacity of the ship the juner offered very little Comfort the treatment of the prisoners were was appalling rough searches random act of vient pilfering or valuable was of daily occurrence the living conditions aboard the ship were equally scandalous men were sleeping wherever a
Small place was available mainly on tables of floors the portals were nail shut no air or natural light was available and sanitary condition consisted mainly of buckets slushing around floors at night and just a dozen up latrines available during the day food was scarce inadequate and provided very little
Nutrition on board this is the Duna um and as you can see it’s a large ship but it was really overcrowded on board Fred Burger recorded the suffering of these crme conditions The Emptiness and also the bordedom of is spellow passengers and The desolation um materials were hardly
Available so he utilized um this uh on the left is a a tiny sheet of toilet paper which would have been a luxury item on the dun particularly um you precious toilet paper was only issued uh um daily occasionally um one couple of sheets so
Um he actually managed to save one to to some drawings he had a little notebook that he um hid in an air vent where he actually uh recorded the little pleasures of the juner such as sleeping hammocks he was lucky enough to secure a hammock for his transport and he
Describes sleeping in a hammock at Sea as a wonderful way of traveling he also enjoyed the S water showers despite the right rat like living conditions aboard the ship there was also plenty of intellectual stimulation which was provided by impromptu talks and organized activities FR Bergen was beid memory on
The juner where of talks and performances given by other passengers or prisoners Duna was the artist gusta kusman in he was better known actually as hin hangis hangis was an already well established sculpture who had um exhibited his work already in States in France in Italy in England he had met
Bza pound branoy Mark nnest and feder was very much impressed by the talk hangers G gave about his work um he also Illustrated uh this talk with photographs somehow he managed to say other activities on board consisted in performances debates of politics philosophy religion Bridge playing and even driving
Lessons after eight weeks at C the janira finally doed in Australia but Fred BG’s Journey was not yet over a long 19-hour train journey through the Australia Countryside took this unfortunate travelers to Hay a small town in New South Wales offering harsh weather conditions extreme heat intense dust storms and heavy
Rains with little time to prepare for the influx of so many internes the Australian government has struggled to build sufficient accommodation hey comprise two camps Camp seven and Camp eight each holding 1,000 men and for a for a few weeks uh until construction was completed the two camps were shared eventually through the
Buret was assigned to h 23 in Camp 7 in this water colum we can we can gain an idea of what camps were like wooden huts watchtowers and a triple buob wi R Burger eventually brought back as more section of the W uh Bab wi that surrounded the camps um later in
Tatura so how did FR burer spend time in captivity well he had just turned 18 in August aboard the ship to n and was amongst one of the youngest of the interes a win Fabian a fellow Berliner an academy train artist became very quickly a good friend the two despite the seven-year
Difference in age share many interests and a very similar sense of humor these images by iring Fabian captured a very young Fred Burger during his interment who had by now suffered already displacements from three different countries he had lost his mother his father was on the other side
Of the world he had left behind all his friends and he had endured the hardships of the Juna yet that Fred Burger because of his youth threw himself totally in the environment of the camps very quickly the internes organized Camp life setting up self-governing bodies for the smoth
Running of the community and for the younger internes education was cated by a variety of courses taught by the older professional and skilled men Engineers mathematicians historians chemists doctor designers economists but also gardeners Carpenters electricians mechanics and Cooks the range of occupations covered all Fields including three individuals who listed their profession as
Gentlemen freder Burger eager to earn naturally gravitated towards the more artistic practices offered in Camp as he had so far had no particular um training uh educ ation uh FR bger first instinct was to become a graphic designer and a commercial artist and for this reason he was particularly interested in the work
Of George teler the 37-year-old teler was a bow house trained graphic artist who had designed coins for the Austrian caring system and at ha he was in charge of Designing the C currency FR bger was very impressed at how tare produced these Flawless designs in very limited C
Conditions he was also intrigued by the design itself the notes you can probably barely see at the top uh left hand corner around the um the um edge of the um of the of the note you can see a subverse subersive message embedded in the
BWI it’s is a amen that says we’re here because we’re here because we’re here and in the Woolen coat of the sheep there are embedded the names of the inter pred burger also followed art history classes France Philip and Ern Kissinger B both very eminent scholars in renissance and medieval and Anglo
Saxon Fields were teaching uh history classes he also continued to pstu his interesting photography attending Theory class is cameras were not actually allowed in camps but what most of us most shaped freed Burger early artistic path were the art lessons provided by hin heet heit was an already uh well um
Renounced sural painter a stage and costume designer and as Fred burer described him he was a born teacher here on the left he is accurate in Oriental style drawing and on the right is Fred BG’s attempt at ulating his master in making these images red Burger recalled how hecd moved around the paper
As a dancer moved around the stage was obviously very theatrical he was a man with a strong booming voice and a particularly good sense of humor too quite appealing to the young CLA he’s teaching method was was very simple was very relaxed and yet very effective and very disciplined the students were first
Encouraged to practice using just monochrome gray wash after a while they moved on with introduction of warm and cold color combinations and as they grew in confidence the final efforts would be the production of an image in using a full range colors obviously the subjects
As you can see see our camp scenes and the material what was found in uh the campsite Cloud’s efforts were praised by the boomerang the CL the camp magazine following an art exhibition of Art in in I think is one of the laundry rooms though not every picture of Mr
Class R the burger is of such rare Beauty as his leaves and flowers it certainly has a great feeling for abstract ornamental design and these closely observed plants uh we can see how it managed to conjure up a forest art practice also uh included pitor with fellow inter sitting
Patiently as models and simple supplies arrange on crates transform into still life the native Wildlife provided subject to Nature about nature studies FR Burger Al alternated this this um student works with graphic contributions for posters and leaflets for theatrical and musical Productions the poster that opened this
Lecture was made for the Musical review Journey around the world and Steven Copple exhibiting his work in the out of Australian exhibition in 2011 wrote The Following description Fred’s poster ironically defers to the junir experience as the three men aboard a flying carpet of corrugated iron are
Carried by The Winds of Fate to the accompaniment of a honky Tong piano one interne studies a map TR tracing the journey around the world from Europe to Australia a second peers through a telescope for a first hint of new land while a third sits at the back looking
At the world they left behind fredberg fredburger Journey continued when the intern were moved from hay to the more mild mild um condition of Camp uh orange and tatura here fredburger came into contact with the B house artist musician and educator ludvic h m from whom he learned Theory lesson something FR Burger
Continued to explore throughout his career as we can see here some of these pain samples were found in his studio with the admission by Churchill of the deplorable and regrettable mistake of interment several ways to Freedom were offered to the prisoners after difficulties in securing visas and a passage to Brazil to join
His father PR Burger eventually joined the non-combat a employment um company of the Australian Army here he is in his uniform this new Journey took him to token Val and Melbourne he continued to practice art with newly available materials such as oils he came into contact with Australian artists and
Their art scene and started to produce monotypes prints learning this technique from irwing Fabia he also exhibited his work with the Contemporary Art Society sistic he adopted a more surrealist style a style he had seen Fabian and heot and hangis um use in in their words the watercolor and gach black rock
Is a sensual and erotic depiction of a popular bit Resort that Claus visited with his then girlfriend Maran roard when he wasn’t Rel from the Army Marion had been an nder student and the two became romantically involved once they reconnected in Melbourne the mobed after four years CLA
Moved to Sydney continuing his journey in 1947 here he enrolled in these at East Sydney Technical College uh through the help of the Commonwealth reconstruction ction training scheme which offered training and education to ex servicemen drawing from life was the fundamental principle of the college and color theory was uh lectures given by
Jimmy Cook one particularly a um good teacher CLA remember fondly but for frit bger the most enduring Legacy of e Sydney Technical College was the influence of his fellow students here he met Tony tuxon guy Warren Olive Richmond Elizabeth Rooney Fitz shach who also had been a Duna um
Prisoner and others they were all his um real teachers in his words FR burer collaborated with Tony taxon on murals for the ship manura replacing um uh replacing third in the Sir John Suman sulman price in 1949 for their work FR bger also undertook uh a another
Very long journey this time with his uh fellow college friend guy Warren both a hied around Australian covering 6,000 miles the two artists spent time waiting quite a long time for Libs but painted draw through and really had a good time we can see some images here from their
Respective sketch books um CLA uh recording a sleeping guy and U that time on the Pelican one of the boat that transported them to different Islands from the sketches that uh were done on that Journey fredburger took inspiration for his painties m Ali Springs he submitted his work to the mosman
Prize and he won the first prize James gleon R reviewing the entries for the price wrote the approach is intellectual yet the mood is quietly lyrical its Faults Are The Faults of a young painter’s inexperience and his excellencies justifying the award suggest that Mr fr bger may become become one of our most
Interesting painters in the next few years the price money allowed for the burger to travel to Europe to study the Old Masters and to broaden his Horizons he returned to Europe this time out of his own free will on the suent traveling with fellow fellow student Fritz
Schar he arrived in London at the end of 19 50s his intention was actually to return to Australia but he settled and he finally got used to the weather he supported him himself with work as a graphic designer and teaching at the Central School of Art and Design and London College of
Printing most importantly he continued to paint he exhibited successfully with other Australian artists at the Imperial Institute during the late 1950s he designed the posters for the 1953 exhibitions um once traveling around Italy in September 1960 FR Burger met the New Yorker Julie Clan they married in
1962 and after years of a peretic life the loss of his friends and family the prarion leaving accommodation in camps students and bed seats FR Burger finally found some stabilities we’re lucky here today to have Julie who will actually tell us a bit more during the 1950s and 1960s
Pitburger developed a series of paintings with a CH with children as subjects and here we can see Claus in his studio in Glee place where he was surrounded here by all his canvases in his early work done was still in Australia he used a more figurative style and slightly more
Surrealist uh he rendered um this paintings with a much more subdued color plette but by the 1960s the were become strong and powerful images children playing the largest of preder Burger work was selected for a major traveling exhibition Australian painting and sculpture in Europe today the canvases become large the figures are most
Stylized these Works elicit mix reactions on one hand the vibrant colors are attractive and appealing on the other hand images of children mostly engaging fights and rough play are unsettling fredburger had successful major and group Solo exhibitions with favorable reviews after the solo Exhibition at the an Judas in
1963 the art CR critic Charles Spencers noted the word of children serious cruel aggressive and self-centered is to him not only a reflection of life itself but because of his uninhibitedness a trer insight into human behavior Cloud’s exploration of color and determination to find a high pitch meant that all intermediate colors were
Excised and just not strong enough to achieve a particularly high intensity was looking for the lesson in color theory that he learned in cson at College are are by this stage fully internalized developed Revisited and advanced through personal experience in the 90s and 50s um also produce Trace monotypes frider Burger during interment
Had often watched his render when Fabian had work on the technique eventually learning and practicing with him whilst in the Army monotype and in particularly tra monotype is a very simple printing technique where a drawing is made on a sheet of paper that rests on uh on a
Smooth surface coated in ink the pressure of drawing lets the ink transfer onto the paper producing the image by further rubbing and manipulating the back of the paper tones are achieved on the surface in montiz produced in Australia clouds depicted his experiences and his surrounding here we have the interior on
The on the of the tent with a a ring Fabian and a tra station in Sydney the monotypes produced in London in the 60s were were preman concerned with the subject of children at play some were used as mean to test compositions for paintings other are Standalone images functioning as independent
Work as you can see um inspiration came at times from his own photographs here we go we have this dog and the prominent umbrella picked up in some of these uh monotypes as well as a pring maker pritter Burger was also a successful graphic designer he originally found work as a
Designer in the late 40s for the fashionable store Georges in Melbourne he designed for a current affairs bulletin published by the Commonwealth Office of Education in Sydney in London from 1952 to 1957 he was also director at osor and peacock where with Harry ban he created an unmistakable identity for the shop Harvey
Nichols for over 20 years he also designed all the advertising for the fashionable shop the general Trading Company an exhibition titled image of a shop to celebrate his graphic work for the company was held in 1978 at the London College of printing friedberger also designed book covers for Faber and
Fab again this inspiration came from his journeys and experiences the Australian Outback or the architectural de details of um Melbourne um balconies at the end of 196s there is shift um changing Cloud working methods his Styles and also his objectives his trademark color slowly disappears was become more uh chromatic
Eventually totally devoid of color the figurative forms they still recognizable transmute more into abstract designs the subject is concentrated at the center of the canvas in previous works it took the whole space as Cloud careers graphic designer flourished his life as a painter continued at a slightly slower Pace
However he successfully reemerged as an exhibiting artist in 1986 with a selection of works for the war art trust white black and a rich variety of Grays fills these canvases with a show statements compositions are dictated by the medium his tactile qualities and his complex varieties
With a with with a very limited range paint itself becomes the subject and there is no other narrative the personal dialogue with the canvas and the page continues for 20 years or so the nuances of white black and gray Shades is finally tuned complex brush marks and impasto fashion and illusion of
Form they also emanate life they generate movement and they pulsate with energy Fred burger also finds time to introduce metallic pains and color revisiting compositions and transforming them into new and contrasty works throughout this time fredburger is included in exhibitions in London and Australia a retrospective exhibition is held in London in
1992 Australia includes surrealist Works in major shows in 93 and 2003 he has also show solo shows exhibit a solar show exhibition in England and Co in 2007 and abis School of Art in 2009 during a protective phase between 2009 and 2015 FR Burger Works on a series of
Caces which cause blacks space painting and these were included in the solo Exhibition at the LA hunti Gallery in 2015 they total 26 Works predominantly Square in format they different in size but have a common denominator a back black background these group of canvases belong with each other they express a cumly journey towards a mature and accomplished achievement the black flat surface forces the viewer to take notice
To focus on the painting and the Eternal changes the color and the forms it also tells us the story of Fred the burger in his admiration for all Masters the subtitle of this work is Artesia giving us a clue to the inspiration that lay behind it this body of work created towards the
End of his career displays the Mastery cloud of quired over time it shows the Relentless pursuit to understand paint and all fermentation the total understanding of H forms and value like it depicted in his poster fredburger took a long journey from Germany to Holland London to Australia and back to
Europe it was indeed a painful and forced Journey during which the young fridberger suffered the loss of his mother the distance of his father the displacement from country and friends but it was also a journey of discovering of new and strong friendships and of learning how to be an artist he learned
From eminent teachers and from his close friends and most of all from himself his constant and meticulous investigating into properties of paint and color distinguished him as a painter his particular style of graphic work work distinguished him as a designer is interest in photography provided inspiration and his love of art history
Imb’s later’s work CLA rbg’s Journey was indeed a remarkable Journey thank you thank you so very much Monica um I now uh welcome Julie friedberger and Steven coell so maybe we we start with Julie um her uh Claus’s wife of many many years um Julie how did you how did
You meet the two of you well we were both traveling uh klous was on holiday from London uh and he was in Florence Italy I was at the tail end of a six-month bicycle trip around Europe my own Journey around the world and we met in the branchi chapel which
Is a beautiful Chapel in the Church of the Santa Maria Del carine uh where the wonderful massace Fresco are and I had been there once before so I knew that if you paid the attendant one l 50 L to turn on the light bulb um he would turn it on and
That would improve the view of the paintings uh so that’s what I did the moment I came in Claus was already there he looked appreciatively over at me and I settled myself FL who look at the frescos and half an hour later he came over to me holding his opera glasses out
His little binoculars and he said try they’ll help you see the paintings better and I thanked him and I did see the paintings better and one thing led to another and he helped me to see better for the rest of his life it was through him that I look look
At paintings and I spent the most interesting and wonderful life possible with him as he went on the journey that Monica has described to you that’s a beautiful story so you never went back to New York or um you went back and then came to
London well I did go back to New York for a year during which time we corresponded and decided that we wanted to be together um and I came back to England the following year we lived together for a year and then we got married wonderful so at this point I
Should remind everyone please uh we all welcome your questions um uh we have uh gotten a lot of lot of information and I’m sure people are really full of questions so please put them in the chat or in the Q&A section and um then we’ll try to answer as many as
Possible uh so Stephen um how did how did you meet Claus what is your story my story is uh well I I work as a cur worked as a curator at the British museum in the department of prints and drawings and um A call came through to the the study room um
And and the question was put through to me um is there anyone here who knows anything about Australian art uh and being Australian it this this call came to me and it was clarus friedberger who um asked whether I would be interested in not interestingly he didn’t mention his own work he mentioned
The work of a fellow artist a student that Monica has mentioned Elizabeth Rooney who was a student with Claus at the East Sydney Technical College in Sydney and whether uh the British museum would be interested in seeing some of these works because he had in all the
Years that he’d been in London receiving every year some works by his his friend Elizabeth Rooney so I went out uh to um the other side of the river um to Black Eve and visited uh a Claus I met him for the first time and um I Julie looked at
These works that were very interesting and selected at a group for the museum and then we got talking about his own work I discovered that he had been interned in Australia um and uh we talked about that and one thing led to another he showed me some of his work from from that
Period as well as his more recent paintings and um on the back of what I saw uh I acquired for the museum a large gouache called Camp which was uh after he had been released from the internment camps he was as Monica mentioned a a a in a labor core non-combatant Labor Corp
Called the eighth employment company and he was based at a very remote place called to tokom wall and he said at the time that that the conditions really were not that much different from being an internment um they were very basic um and any rate and on the back of that we
Developed a a very close uh friendship and we’d regularly go and visit Claus and Julie um and a number of Works subsequently came to the museum first in 2007 with a group that um poster um Journey around the world was acquired from the England and Co exhibition in
2007 and a couple of other works as well and then uh after K Claus died um Julie very kindly offered me the opportunity to view the whole of the material that Monica was then cataloging and with that uh we acquired some o over 30 um works on paper gaches
Drawing sketches as well as the monotypes covering the period from before he was interned so from the late from the 30s right through to the early 60s that’s amazing um uh so uh Linda is asking did he ever see his father again what uh what was uh
What was the story regarding the father son relationship I don’t know yeah father home when Claus was eight years old um he and later married his um secretary who was Arian um they were in a very dangerous position because what they had done was illegal so as quickly as they could they
Immigrated to Brazil um and spent the next oh 30 years in Brazil eventually his father came back to Europe and made contact with clous and they did meet um several times and I met his father and we spent some time with him um you know every couple
Of years we would go and visit um until his father died in 1978 I think um I think clous always uh always felt a bit of a distance from his father um he like many boys of his age when when his parents parted he took his mother’s he took his
Father’s side um and always felt guilty about that and afterwards um didn’t really want to develop a close relationship with him but they did have a relationship of sorts I mean they did they did meet they talked they saw each other I got so yeah um I gather it’s quite hard because
You basically grew up without parents right for uh most of his youth not his childhood but his his youth so uh to to build a relationship as an adult then and um uh it’s it’s not easy definitely not even on on even in perfect conditions not an easy easy uh task I think
So well I think the his father leaving was very painful for him um it wasn’t that much um later that he lost his country his language his mother his Liberty yeah so all these terrible things happen to him by the time he was 17 years old
Um that um had a lot to do with his response to the experience of interment which in fact was you know most people think how awful you intered you were put on a boat and sent to Australia you were put behind Bob wire I think for him all the really terrible
Really traumatic things had already happened um and he he just went with the experience as it happened when he was in um it it became a wonderful learning experience for him because as Monica has explained there were a good many serious experien uh already established artists in the
Camp uh and everybody who had something to teach came forward and taught it so classes were established he was immediately exposed to exactly the the kind of knowledge and experience that he wanted because he already knew that he wanted to be an artist um he just drank
It all in it was his university yeah and say oh what a terrible experience internment must have been for you he said no it wasn’t really you know it was we we were safe we were much safer than we would have been we remained in Europe
Um and although Bob wi uh we were free to develop our our interests and our talents M that’s a positive way of it’s I I I’ve learned since when I first met him um and he told me that he had been interned I didn’t even know
What that meant uh and when I asked him he said put behind Bob wire and I thought how terrible but in fact I I came to know him better um and learned how he really felt about it I realized that it had been in so many ways a good
Learning formative experience for him it was his s yeah so so Stephen in your experience or in your your knowledge do you uh um uh Claus was in three different internment camps right um and the and they were were they all um so um inspiring in terms of learning experience
Um or yes I think I think so because um you know the group went the first Camp was a place called Hay which was in the midst of uh just a flat treeless plane uh and there it was as Julie says a kind of university for him in that the there
Were um so many talented people who had been interned you know whether it was was the the the couple Meister at nurburg un um in nurburg Cathedral or um a leading mathematician like Felix Baron or helmet gim who taught him the rudiments of Photography all of these people were
There and they gave him um the sort of introduction to their particular Fields um that he would never have had the opportunity um had you remained uh really um they were forced together and so this kind of this exchange I mean of course it was unpleasant and um you know there there was
Certainly terrible physical hardships but there was an intellectual exchange that went on and U that I think he carried with him for the rest of his life and um certainly every time I went to see classus the first thing that came back was he would be talking about his
Experiences in those camps so clearly it was uh truly formative and um and interestingly uh class was somebody who kept everything um and he was a sort of natural arabist he kept as even the toilet paper that Monica put up on the screen that was retained um so you know
And all the letters that he received from later on you know people like Elizabeth Rooney I mentioned or guy Warren or or Tony tuxen all of that was kept um and those friendships he retained even though he didn’t see the um uh he never went never returned to
Australia after 1950 when he left um but his heart and his mind was very much um there and I think that was kind of very interesting to um to see um and the other thing of course is that he’s um he’s an artist who works he is
First and foremost a painter and he really understood the meaning of paint what you could do with paint and this was um really Central to his work as an artist was um was painting um and he continued to paint up in his little attic studio right until a few weeks before he died
That was his the little attic was his um total uh world and um it was always a pleasure to go up those stairs into that little attic to see what was on the easel yeah I can imagine and I I think um um so I very clearly see what you’re
Saying I think he he was also Claus was probably uh uh at the age where um he was very impressionable and he was young enough not to um not to get scared in the situation too much Beyond I think older older uh inmates uh older uh people um had probably possibly had
Different experiences being intered and because the the perspective of course was a different one but uh for young young energ men um uh I think it was less scary probably and uh um so uh yeah um it’s it’s it’s amazing how much this time really really influenced
Him so my uh my question is also um most did most of the the artists or Mo most of the people who were kept in the internment camps did they stay in Australia or um was that something special that that Claus went back to London or uh how were they absorbed by the
Australian um Community well um if we look at the um the the attorneys as a as a group quite a many of them went on to make significant contributions um to um intellectual life in in Australia uh artistic life um to in business as in in architecture and so on
And so forth um a few of them came back to to Europe I mentioned helmet gme for instance the who became the great uh historian of Photography as soon as he could he went back and never never returned like class never returned to Australia um H he as well returned he
Was an old he was OB he’s old older he he too yeah um also V ver V who ended up returning and working in London and tsha the other graphic designer um who did designed the bank notes he returns to to United Kingdom so there were quite a few um and
But I think it was probably evenly divided between those who chose to stay and those who wanted to return to Europe uh some went to the United States of course um yeah and some perished because remember even one of one group of them return on that uh V that was to pedo
Including um um I’ve forgotten his name whose book was recently published passenger yes he was a very young writer that uh returned on the boat and uh was torpedo and he perished however his manuscript was um recently published so yeah W um so Michael is is writing my
Father old uh father who was older born in 1910 also from Wilmer was on the dunera never spoke about this period I only found about out about it when I was on around 10 um so um did CLA speak much about the ship um uh the the ship
Passage because I I’ve I’ve read a little bit about it and the conditions must have been very very harsh and very I mean the you know um his drawings um don’t don’t seem like Claus had a horrible time but I you know I read mixed
Um reports of what it meant to come over on that uh jera so um I don’t know who is best who wants to answer this question well I can start yeah mik CL talked about it a great deal um I think that uh the older you were the harder
The experience was and he was always aware that that um that compared to the older men uh on the boat some of whom had been ripped away from their families um in in England um had had a much harder time than he had had um he I
Think this is a perfect example of what Michael hton says um about his father not having spoken about the experience perfect example of the different ways in which people responded to the experience of there are people who regarded it as most terrible thing that ever happened to them they never wanted to
Think about it or talk about it again um there were people like clous who for whom it was a very important experience and one that they were very happy to talk about so he was he was very generous also with his time so he he was very happy to um help relatives that
Wanted to trace their their uh um fathers or uncles or relatives that you know and know what happened and he was very happy to write to them to talk to them and uh so he would he never held back from from telling people what he experienced
Yeah um so now I have two questions about his art uh uh first of all Susan shapir is asking uh are there other classical paintings beside uh the son Cecilia that you showed that we know explicitly influenced or inspired specific artworks drawings or paintings by freed bger or um was that
Unusual rber was a a very um uh interested in in the world of the past artists he always wanted to go to Italy and explore um churches museums he was a great admirer of um Goya rembrand um um pan yeah so pis you know was really um
Um very much um um influenced by um what they these artists did he um especially in his um latest paintings he had seen this work by go and he was particularly taken by um the the the use of dark and black color that he um he he saw in his
Painting and of other um Spanish um still life painters like zubaran and kotan so he he um it he always said he never really copied anyone which he didn’t but um and he always said you learn from yourself so he felt that um he uh his art was his own art however
I think he very much um learned from the past and uh and took it to a different level with his own experience and with his own understanding of of Masters and just to add to that he was obviously very interested in contemporary painters as well um so Nicholas Dale for instance who uses
Thick um impasto paint um it was clearly someone who whose work he he looked at closely um and I think um he was always going to um to see exhibitions um whether they would be in museums or in dealer galleries he was also someone who looked at the art
Magazines um and discussed art with with um his fellow artists like win Fabian for instance we know when Fabian came to London on his regular visits here um they would discuss um things that they had seen or what what was deem what was current in art and had viewed on that um
So he was very much um aware of what was going on um in in the art world and um he also had a very sharp and perceptive eye and could analyze things very very uh very closely and very clearly the other thing I would like to
Mention too is that Claus was a great reader and um he read in particular one of his AB abiding interests was the work of Samuel Beckett and uh he had almost everything that Samuel Becket published and then in particular he enjoyed the later works
And I think you can s kind of see a parallel with the development in class’s own painting which becomes more and more reduced and in a sense more and more existential where he reduces he renounces color and reduces J down to Grays whites and black
In a sight of pairing down that I that um is sort of paralleled in the work of um the the later work of of Becka particularly use um use black and white to create it didn’t use any other colors to create you could use other colors to create
Black and white and Grays but he actually just posed this kind of uh rule to onto himself to just use white and blocks there came there came a point in his development as a painter um when he felt that color had become a tyranny he had pushed color he felt to it’s limit
And couldn’t do anymore with it and didn’t want to do anymore with it he had become interested and this is what he said himself um in paint itself and what it could do and in tones yeah might to create the most tremendous range of tones and that occupied him interested
Him profoundly for many years uh eventually he reintroduce color um but that that was that was the turning point in his development as this feeling that yeah you could do with paint as paint and favorite he had a bulletin board in his studio in which he pinned up things
That had impressed him that sometimes Jo yeah very serious things and the one that was absolutely um fundamental uh to him was a a review that he read of of um an interview that he read with the painter Peter do and Peter do was asked
What is it about paint that you find so interesting and Peter Do’s reply was the paint that was um and what he could do with paint um that interested him to the end of his life but also there was a there was a a quote saying uh um why renounce color
There was a you know why why yeah and he actually didn’t renounce color in many other things he continued to use color very effectively in all his graphic work um so color didn’t um get thrown out of the window completely he had very Separate Lives as a designer and as a as
A painter he was very flexible in what he could do so he could manage to completely provide his artistic practice as a painter to the graphic designing and um he used color with um he used color when he was um on holiday he he painted he used watercolors with very
Vibrant colors in his water color so he it was um capable of uh of being very uh com comp compartmentalized in in what it could do so and having specific uh ways in different in in different aspects of his life the graphic which is yeah and completely different when people asked
Him why didn’t he teach painting he always taught graphic design he taught graphic design for many people would ask him why didn’t he teach painting and he was absolutely adamant about it he didn’t want to there was no meeting point they were completely separate activities to him yeah differently they they were
Compartmental yeah and these radical breaks are quite unusual uh in in his uh in his work so um and Alan asked actually what was the fascinating was what was the fascination of depicting children in his art were these children he knew or did they depict some aspects
Of his own childhood and then Nick is responding to Alan um Claus was a loger in my parents house where he had a studio in the 50s there were three children and we always debated which of us was in the picture we never agreed uh my brother was on steroids and perhaps
That gave rise to some of the rounded faces um so uh do you want to add something or say something about this well CLA um and I know the person who’s asked this um this question dear to me I’ve known him all his life
Um and what I can say to him is that clous was inspired and interested um by everything they did now he lived in this house with his friend verata Trier married to Sam Gallup and their three children for several years in Wimbledon and the things that the children did
Were inspiring to him they were interesting to him and he used them um in in his work but there were never pictures of the children themselves they weren’t they were Inspirations he trans he transformed them he used um you know he used their activities but he transformed them to a
Different level in his paintings yeah yeah so we very much went over time but I want to give you one question did he ident ify as a Jew or as a Jewish artist or what was his I don’t think so no he didn’t okay he grew up in um a
Family that was not religious um he said we didn’t know we were Jewish until Hitler came and told us right so no he did not identify as a Jewish artist okay okay so I’m um I want to ask you whether you want to give a say something to you know at the end
Of of today’s event um also Isabella is asking for um uh Monica for the timeline of the book that you’re writing or some details are there exhibitions in the planning and yeah what’s what is um uh what is happening um uh in that field so I don’t know I maybe we start with
Julie do you sorry Rachel I was just reading a a question that’s come in and I wasn’t listening to you could you repeat the question well I’ve been working on the book writing the book which um it’s in the phases of I guess editing and reviewing and adding a few more things
That came to light so the stages we are at um clbg work is in many institutions in Australia in England so um Australian very much interested in his work um um and I don’t know I think there is in planning some kind of either group exhibition of his work and so
On um the British museum has also got uh works by by Cloud which were recently exhibited Steven organized a display in The Prince and join Department that was uh on until I I believe last Christmas was it Stephen so so is work is still exhibited and still of Interest
So it seems like there’s a Resurgence right um be with all the research that all three of you are doing and with all the work that you’re doing on his work it feels like there’s uh so much more information and research coming out I mean what uh what was Des described
Today is uh in a way a dream like to have him keep everything up you know down to piece of toilet paper that he did drawings on is is a dream of an art historian can be also a nightmare of an arist but uh um it’s it’s wonderful that
So much information is there about um about his thought thoughts about his work the sketchbooks I I believe are very important source of information so um think it has come to light because uh Julie wanted to um calog Claus’s estate quite rightly is an important uh
Contribution to uh um you know by an artist with by a very interesting artist that uh uh worked in many fields so so and what happened along the way we we discovered all these uh um material that um was hidden away in boxes and in drawers and so on so it’s a
An out of that Discovery came this idea of putting together a bit more of a of a of a story about Claus and his life and his and his work Monica there’s a question here is that one of Freda Burger’s paintings on the wall behind Monica yes it my next behind this
Yes we were talking about that preparing the event yes so is it your face well I just told um I just hope that this um Talk has uh um put CLA through the B uh on the map for new uh and interested um uh people to to come to know his work
And uh and what he he did and what he contributed through the art world yeah yeah thank you so much Monica Julie and Stephen for drawing attention to Claus friedberger his life and his work and also about um sharing your research and memories with you by also
Um while you were doing that drawing attention to the dunera and to the Australian interment of British uh uh refugees who were considered enemies uh aliens um and I want to uh which I think is not too well known uh not too well known part of um World War II history
And maybe even uh British history I I don’t know so much about that but um and uh I want to thank also Francis carry who made uh who introduced Monica and me and made this uh event possible um thank you to everyone and take good care and
Stay well thank you bye thank you very much thank you bye bye bye thank you bye bye