Born: 1926 Vienna, Republik Österreich
Died: 1987 Beaconsfield, UK
Year of Migration to the UK: 1968
Biography
Painter Jacques Herbert Kupfermann was born on 17 May 1926 in Vienna, Austria, to Elias and Minna (née Fevermann) Kupfermann, Jewish parents who had migrated from an area of Austria-Hungary that had become part of Poland after the First World War. Following the Anschluss (Nazi occupation of Austria) in 1938, Kupfermann was forced to leave school and, in 1940, aged thirteen, he fled to the USA, where he studied at the Art Students League of New York. His parents, who remained in Vienna, did not survive the Holocaust. After completing his studies in New York, he pursued further training at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris and at the State Academy in Norway. He later served with the United States Army as a paratrooper in Northern Italy, and after the war spent a period in Israel, where he worked on the development of the town of Eilat. He lived and painted for extended periods in Mexico and Norway before settling permanently in England in 1968, living in London and, later, maintaining a studio in Maidenhead, Berkshire. In 1964 he married Jeannette Weitz; they had a son, Elias, and a daughter, Mina, who followed in her father's footsteps and became a painter.
Kupfermann's paintings, considered as expressionist by critics, deal primarily with landscapes, portraits, and still lifes. A review published in the Marylebone Mercury in 1982 described him as 'much given to evocative pictures of the countryside and river, his paintings recalling mood as well as shape and colour', his colour theories substantially shaped by his study in New York. The relationship between his formation as a Viennese Jewish artist and his long residence in England gave his work a dual character: rooted in the expressionist inheritance of Central Europe, yet responsive to the countryside and light of Britain. In his landscapes, Kupfermann was particularly inspired by the north Cornish coastline, the Thames Valley, and the terrain of Maine, USA. His portraiture, which developed significantly in the later years of his career, encompassed many prominent sitters. A notice in the Torbay Express and South Devon Echo described his oil paintings as 'internationally acclaimed'. By 1986 he was listed among the regular artists of the Thackeray Gallery, in London's Kensington.
Kupfermann exhibited widely in the USA and Israel from the 1950s, with solo exhibitions at the Little Gallery, Princeton (1954, 1956, 1958), Kalamazoo Museum (1958), Z.O.A. House, Tel Aviv (1960), Munson Gallery, New Haven (1963, 1967), Downtown Gallery, New Orleans (1961, 1964, 1973), Jacques Seligmann Gallery, New York (1965), Woodstock Gallery, New York (1966), and Gallery 100, Princeton (1972, 1975). In the UK he first exhibited at the Thackeray Gallery in the summer of 1972 and held his first solo exhibition there in spring 1974,followed by shows in 1976, 1978, 1982, 1984, and 1986. He exhibited at Brunel University in 1977 and participated in group exhibitions with the Royal Society of Portrait Painters at the Mall Galleries, London, in 1984 and 1986. In November 1986 his work featured in a group exhibition at the Classics Devon Square Gallery, Newton Abbot, Devon. His final solo exhibition was held at Galerie Richard, Küsnacht, Switzerland, in 1987.
After his death, his work was included in the 1996 Festival of Austrian-Jewish Culture in London, organised by the Jewish Music Heritage Trust and the Austrian Cultural Institute.
Jacques Kupfermann died in London, England in 1987. His works are not currently represented in UK public collections but are held in many international public collections, including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Columbus Museum; Kalamazoo Art Institute; Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and the Academy of Norway. The Ben Uri Research Unit welcomes contributions from researchers or family members who might have more biographical information.
Michal Mel
Related books
- Jewish Music Heritage Trust and Austrian Cultural Institute, 'Festival of Austrian-Jewish Culture', (London: Jewish Music Heritage Trust and Austrian Cultural Institute, 1996)
- Thackeray Gallery, Jacques Kupfermann: Paintings (London: Thackeray Gallery, 1986)
- 'Picture Show in Old Cinema', Torbay Express and South Devon Echo, 12 November 1986, p. 9
- 'Thackeray Gallery', Country Life, 30 January 1986, p. 48C
- 'Gallery Dates', Marylebone Mercury, 29 October 1982, p. 24
- Thackeray Gallery, Jacques Kupfermann: Oil Paintings (London: Thackeray Gallery, 1978)
- 'Guide to London Events', Fulham Chronicle, 26 April 1974, p. 14
Related organisations
- Royal Society of Portrait Painters (Exhibitor)
Related web links
Selected exhibitions
- Group exhibition, Festival of Austrian-Jewish Culture, Sternberg Centre for Judaism, London (1996)
- Solo exhibition, Galerie Richard, Kusnacht, Switzerland (1987)
- Group exhibition, Royal Society of Portrait Painters, Mall Galleries, London (1986, 1984)
- Solo exhibition, Thackeray Gallery, London (1986, 1982, 1978, 1976, 1974, 1972)
- Group exhibition, Classics Devon Square Gallery, Newton Abbot, Devon (1986)
- Solo exhibition, Thackeray Gallery, London (1984)
- Solo exhibition, Brunel University, Middlesex (1977)
- Solo exhibition, Gallery Vincitore, Brighton, Sussex (1973)
- Solo exhibition, Gallery 100, Princeton, USA (1972, 1975)
