Eavesdropper on an Age: Ludwig Meidner in Exile

Ludwig Meidner (1884–1966) was an important, but little known, figure in the German expressionist movement. His early Apocalyptic Landscapes are today seen as some of the purest examples of expressionism. A Jewish artist, Meidner continued to produce paintings and prose throughout most of his life, but his exile in London during World War II contributed to the relative neglect of his work, which was exhibited for the first time in decades in 1963—just a few years before his death. Published to mark the fiftieth anniversary of Meidner’s death, Eavesdropper on an Age collects the sketchbooks, watercolors, and charcoal and chalk drawings the artist created during his years in exile between 1939 and 1953. Produced under intensely difficult conditions, the scenes of war and disaster, death and destruction record with astonishing accuracy the shocks that reverberated throughout Meidner’s time. At the same time, Meidner’s often grotesquely absurd drawings powerfully condense stories of persecution while offering candid direct commentary, including mordant caricatures of the Nazis. Combining more than two hundred full-color illustrations—including many never-before published works—with contributions by art historians, curators, and critics, Eavesdropper on an Age is a just tribute to this important artist of exile.