Wilhelm Schnarrenberger

Wilhelm Schnarrenberger, an exponent of Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity), grew up and trained as an artist in Munich. Between 1921 and 1933 he was professor at the Badische Landeskunstschule in Karlsruhe (today's Academy of Fine Arts) until he was removed from his post in 1933 by the Nazis, moving with his wife, the painter Melitta Schnarrenberger, to Berlin. He found himself confronted there by onerous living and working conditions and from 1937 onwards his art was designated degenerate by the Nazi authorities. In 1938 he moved to Lenzkirch in the Black Forest where he ran a boarding house with his family. After the war he resumed his job as professor in Karlsruhe. The self-portrait with Melitta tells of the devastating effects of the working ban imposed on him, as well as the precarious climate for artists in Berlin in the 1930s. This is where this intense dual portrait was painted. As a portrait of an artist couple, it also provides insight into the fact that in relationships of this kind between artists and for all manner of different reasons, one career must take precedence over the other, or conversely operate in the background.