Hans Michaelson

* 1872, Hettstedt 1954, Ecuador

Biography

* 1872, Hettstedt, 1954, Ecuador

Hans Michaelson was the son of a Jewish trading family. He undertook his artistic training in Munich at the private art school run by Ludwig Schmid-Reutte. He then went on to study between 1908/09 at the Berlin Art Academy. In 1914 Michaelson exhibited in the now renowned art salon of Paul Cassirer. During the First World War he served as a soldier and between 1916 and 1917 his work was exhibited in three exhibitions of the “Berlin Secession”. In 1927 Michaelson co-founded the artist group “The Seven”. Following the seizure of power by the National Socialists, he was labeled “degenerate” in 1933. As a Jew and an expressionist painter he was under threat from the National Socialists on two levels. However, owing to diplomatic intervention, he was able to avoid deportation and fled to Ecuador in 1939. He settled in Guayaquil and taught at the academy there, providing many artists from the region with an education in Expressionism and the opportunity to engage with the movement.

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