The retrospective of the work of Felix Nussbaum in the Kulturgeschichtliches Museum Osnabruck in 1990 and the catalogue, Felix Nussbaum Are Defamed - Art in Exile - Art in Resistance, fully established Nussbaum's artistic rank and his position in the art of the twentieth century. The representative collection of his most important works, on permanent display in the upper gallery of the Kulturgeschichtliches Museum in Osnabruck, is a constant witness to this.
Nussbaum's art reflects the course of the first half of this century like that of no other painter - the tranquil life in the provinces, the rapid tempo of life in the capital Berlin, emigration, the camp, war and the conquest of Europe by Nazi Germany, then the exclusion of the Jewish people by a policy of racism, life underground and in hiding, and finally the extermination of the Jews in Europe.
Above all, his last paintings, an eye witness account of the Holocaust to which he himself eventually fell victim, are unique in art. The catalogue for the 1990 exhibition has become a standard work on Felix Nussbaum and on resistance in art, stimulating a reconsideration of this away from the clichees of Agitprop.
Hence, The Overlook Press is issuing a new and fully revised edition of the book. It includes paintings by Felix Nussbaum that have come to light in the last five years, among them the major group of works that were left behind in Amsterdam when his parents were arrested.
All the new facts that have emerged on Nussbaum's life and the new details that have become known on his artistic contacts have been taken into account, and the interpretation of many individual paintings has been given greater depth or corrected in accordance with the latest state of research. The many comparisons with works by other European artists should help to widen understanding of the analysis of Nussbaum's works in art history.
