Linocut 'Released'
Date made: 1940
Description: A linocut print on fine 'tissue' paper by Hermann Fechenbach, entitled 'Released' and signed and dated in pencil and initialed in the print. The linocut depicts a group of internees stood by the barbed wire fence watching a fellow internee on the other side of the wire leaving the camp.
The linocut is a striking example of Second World War internee artwork. The print was purchased from the son (Peter Rose) of an ex-internee who acquired the print directly from the artist, whilst being interned in Hutchinson Camp in 1940. Peter Rose's father was Julius Rosenbaum who was interned in Hutchinson Camp, Douglas in July 1940 and released at the end of November 1940.
Herman Fechenbach (1897-1986), was a painter and graphic artist born into a Jewish family in Württemberg, Germany. He fought and was severely wounded in the First World War. He studied in Stuttgart, Munich and Florence then travelled widely before settling in Stuttgart in 1924–5. He produced a number of wood engravings on Old Testament subjects and was forbidden to exhibit by the Nazis in 1933 and fled to Palestine in 1938. Fechenbach arrived in Britain in 1939, where he worked as a painter and wood engraver to raise funds to help his remaining family escape from Germany. He was interned at Hutchinson Camp on the Isle of Man, and went on hunger strike in protest. He produced a series of linocuts entitled 'My Impressions as Refugee'.
Measurements: artwork: 22 cm x 16.5 cm; overall: 37 cm x 30.5 cm
Materials: paper
Object name: print
Collection: Art Collection
ID number: 2009-0179
Subject tags : #WW2INTERNMENTMUSEUMCOLLECTIONS #mm100artcollection
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