Stein Otto Th. W.

Biographie

Otto Th. W. Stein (1877-1958) was a Czechoslovakian draftsman and painter of German origin born in Saaz, Bohemia. Trained in Vienna, Prague, Karlsruhe, and Paris, he co-founded the New Secession in Munich in 1913 and worked as a painter and graphic artist in Chemnitz and Berlin, close to the Free Secession. Persecuted by the Nazis because of his Jewish origin, he emigrated to Prague in 1935 and survived the Holocaust as a prisoner in Theresienstadt before settling in Friedland after the war.
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His cosmopolitan artistic training in major European capitals—Vienna, Prague, Karlsruhe, and Paris—gave him an exceptional cultural outlook that nourished his creative sensibility. This international education prepared him for the European avant-garde and influenced his progressive aesthetic approach.

The co-founding of the Munich New Secession in 1913 demonstrates his commitment to artistic renewal movements. This collective initiative reveals an artist keen to promote innovative aesthetics in the face of established academicism.

His marriage to Elena Dubler in 1902-1903, which ended in 1924, marked his period of creative maturity. His activities in Chemnitz and Berlin, where he moved in the circles of the Free Secession, confirmed his integration into German progressive artistic networks.

His visionary 1913 essay on cinematography reveals a remarkable forward-looking intelligence. Anticipating the future impact of cinema on the press and television, he demonstrates an analytical capacity that goes beyond the purely artistic domain and reveals a mind open to technological change.

Nazi persecution abruptly disrupted his trajectory. Emigration to Prague in 1935 marked the beginning of a period of exile that culminated in his internment in Theresienstadt. His survival of the Holocaust demonstrates exceptional resilience in the face of extreme hardship.

The post-war move to Friedland allowed for a creative renaissance in a peaceful context. The German neglect of his work, followed by its rediscovery in 2015 thanks to the research of Edward Engelberg, illustrates the vagaries of artistic recognition and the importance of memorial work to preserve the legacy of persecuted artists. This belated resurrection confirms the value of a work unjustly overshadowed by the tragedies of the 20th century.

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