Dr. Catherine Stodolsky

Nikolaistr. 4

80802 München

Tel.: 089/ 33 81 22

e-mail: u93220@mail.lrz-muechen.de

Malva Schalek

(1882 - 1944)

Prague – Vienna- Theresienstadt – Auschwitz

Malva Schalek

(1882 - 1944)

INTRODUCTION: ART SURVIVES

Malva Schalek`s name is practically unknown. This is particularly unjust given the fact that her art has frequently been reproduced in books about the concentration camp Theresienstadt. Yet little or no information about the painter and her life and work has been available until recently. But this month the Jewish Museum in Prague has purchased one of her portraits. Two canvases of hers hang in a Viennese Museum and in the Town hall ; these two oils, one of the famous actor Max Pallenberg, the other of the “boudoir” of the emperor’s mistress, Katarina Schratt were included in the Vienna exhibition “Women Painters in Austria (1999).

The fact that her drawings from Theresienstadt , which the art historian Tom Freudenheim has characterized as being “perhaps the finest and most complete artistic oeuvre to survive the Holocaust” were produced, found, saved and maintained in good condition is a wonder and reason enough to create a Malva Schalek exhibition. During the years in which she was interned in Theresienstadt, Malva was able to create an astounding number of drawings which describe the day to day life in the camp. The works are often sensitive, using color and line to great effect. And the depictions of women working, barracks life, and scenes of the Theresienstadt fortress and its surroundings gives insight into the conditions under which the internees lived and worked. Schalek works almost like a courtroom artist, in a place where no cameras could record, revealing a sense of near normalcy when in fact most inmates faced almost certain death.

In this exhibition, works representing a happier period in Vienna and Prague will be juxtaposed with images of suffering and death in Theresienstadt. Malva Schalek´s life and work offers the contemporary observer the opportunity to consider the world which we have lost.

1. Biographical Dates

2.18.1882 Birth in Prague as fourth child of Gustav and

Balduine Schalek, née Simon

1884-1896 Elementary School in Prague

From 1896 Middle School in Hohenelbe

1900-1901 Private Art Academy for Women, Munich with

Rosenthal-Hasek

1901 move to Vienna, studies with

Heymann and Thor

From 1903 independent Atelier in the

Theater and der Wien

1917 Exhibits in the Secession in Vienna

regular Summer stays in Aussig, Türmitz and Bad Ischl (in the summer ..house of Johann Strauß and Joseph von Simon)

1920`s various Exhibits in Vienna and Prague and in the

Artists Association Show

July 1938 Flight from Vienna to Leitmeritz

1940 Flight to Prague

2.2 1942 Last letter before forced internment in

Theresienstadt

5.18.1944 Deportation to Auschwitz