Alfred Russo was born into a Jewish family in Vienna, Austria-Hungary (now Austria) in 1868 and trained as a painter, draughtsman and etcher. He came to England as a refugee fleeing Nazi Germany around 1939. Little is known of his later career, although he is believed to have worked primarily as an art restorer in England. An example of Russo's painting was included in the survey exhibition <em>Kunst im Exil in Grossbritannien 1933-45</em> (Art in Exile in Great Britain) held in West Berlin in 1986.
Artist and art restorer Alfred Russo was born into a Jewish family in Vienna, Austria-Hungary (now Austria) on 22 September 1868 and trained as a painter, draughtsman and etcher. He came to England as a refugee fleeing Nazi Germany around 1939. Little is known of his later career, although he is believed to have worked primarily as an art restorer in England. His traditional, intricately executed landscape scene entitled Country Barn, depicting a rural scene on a windy day, and Besigheim Neckar, representing a typical southern German town (both Ben Uri Collection) showed Russo’s skill and precision as an etcher. An example of Russo's painting was included in the survey exhibition Kunst im Exil in Grossbritannien 1933-45 (Art in Exile in Great Britain) held in West Berlin in 1986, and then in revised format at the Camden Art Centre in London, alongside other Viennese ‘artist restorers’, including Sebastien Isepp, Gerhart Frankl and Erich Wagner. Alfred Russo died in London, England in 1959. Ben Uri Collection is the only public institution in the UK holding his work. His etchings were included in Ben Uri's survey exhibition, Out of Austria: Austrian Emigre Artists to the UK (2018).
Alfred Russo in the Ben Uri collection
Consult items in the Ben Uri archive related to [Alfred Russo]
Publications related to [Alfred Russo] in the Ben Uri Library