Conversation Piece - Life at Palace Camp, Douglas, July 1941
Date made: 1942
Description: A watercolour painting entitled 'Conversation Piece' depicting four men talking and smoking, about to be joined by two other (all detailed portraits), one of men is wearing a chef's hat and an apron. Men are stood on promenade with the wire and sea in the background. Not signed.
Hungarian Jewish artist Imre Goth (1893-1982) was working as a celebrated portrait artist in Germany, before being forced to flee the country after painting an unflattering portrait of Nazi leader Hermann Goering. He was doubly vulnerable being also a Jewish artist. He fled to Britain where he continued his career as a portrait painter. During the Second World War Goth was arrested due to his ‘enemy nationality’ and was interned in Palace Internment Camp in Douglas on the Isle of Man. This was the largest of Douglas’ internment camps, with the Palace holding 2,900 men in the hotels surrounding the Palace Hotel itself.
There were many celebrated modern artists interned on the Isle of Man during the Second World War, they were forced to flee Nazi Germany as the regime suppressed so called ‘degenerate’ art. Jewish artists were doubly vulnerable to the threats of Nazi Germany. We have an internationally significant collection of works created in the internment camps, with many of those artists going on to have high profile careers after the war. Goth’s artworks from the 1930s and 1940s are in high demand. We have twelve works by Goth in the art collection, purchased with the help of the Friends of Manx National Heritage.
Measurements: overall: 33 cm x 44.5 cm
Materials: ink on paper
Object name: painting
Collection: Art Collection
ID number: 1994-0021/3
Subject tags : #WW2INTERNMENTMUSEUMCOLLECTIONS