Erich Kahn

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Erich Kahn (1904-1979) was a German Expressionist, and a survivor of the Nazi persecution of Jews and Gypsies during the events that led to World War II.

He was born and lived in Germany until, persecuted by Nazis, he found himself imprisoned at the Welzheim concentration camp. After taking refuge in England, he was interned for a while at Hutchinson Camp, on the Isle of Man. He died in London, at the age of 75.

Kahn's work has become lost in the twists and turns of history. The main reason for that lies in the fact that he belongs to what came to be known as the "Forgotten Generation" of German Jewish Expressionism-influenced artists born at the beginnings of the 20th century, whose careers were nipped in the bud by the ascension of Nazism. Forced into exile to survive, they found themselves forever bereft of their identity, "caught between yesterday and tomorrow".

The Berardo Collection has acquired a large part of Erich Kahn's body of work, which testifies to the richness of a life that even surpasses the biography A Painter's Life and Time, written by Klaus E. Hinrichsen, an art historian who was his friend for many years.