Kurt Scheele
1905 Frankfurt/Main - 1944 Smolensk - Two People - Woodcut/paper. 10/10. 32.8 x 43.3 cm, 39 x 49 cm (mat opening). 61 x 71 cm (dimensions with frame). Inscribed lower right: Woodcut by Kurt Scheele. Mat. Framed under glass. - Lit.: Vollmer 4, p. 178. The painter and graphic artist studied from 1922 with Albert Windisch at the Fachschule für Buchgewerbe and with the commercial artist Rudolf Koch in Offenbach. From 1924, he was taught drawing at the Frankfurt Art School by the Expressionist Franz Karl Delavilla. His membership in the artist group "Der Keil" began with his move to Berlin in 1927. In the following years, he undertook study trips within Europe. In 1927/28, he participated in painting courses by Martin Bloch and Anton Kerschbaumer. He also took up woodcutting during this time, a technique that occupied most of his creative work. In painting, he moved away from Expressionism in the following years and turned to abstract painting. Consequently, his works were classified as "degenerate" during the Nazi era, and he was banned from exhibiting from 1939.