A simple plaque. Yet it speaks volumes. This unassuming Max Kaus Plaque in Berlin tells a story of a life intertwined with tumultuous times. A life dedicated to art and teaching. A life shaped by war and the rise of Nazism.
Max Kaus. The name itself barely whispers from the weathered bronze. But if these stones could speak they would recount the life of a German Expressionist painter and graphic artist. Born in Berlin in 1891 he died there in 1977. His early training at the Unterrichtsanstalt des Kunstgewerbemuseums was followed by a brief period at the Akademie der Künste. The influence of Die Brücke was profound shaping his early work.
Imagine young Max. Impatient for a career he opened his first studio in 1913. A travel bursary took him to Paris. But the outbreak of World War I cut his trip short. He returned to Berlin enlisting as a medical orderly. In Ostend serving in Western Flanders he met Erich Heckel. Together using salvaged wood and stones from a destroyed railway station they constructed a printing press. They created lithographs. A remarkable act of creativity amid the devastation of war.
After the war Max Kaus’s career flourished. His first solo exhibition in 1919 marked a significant step. He became a member of the Freie Sezession. He married Gertrud Kant a porcelain artist. He even gained a professorship teaching landscape art. His works drew inspiration from travels across Germany Austria and northern Italy. His portraits of gaunt young men reflected the post-war desolation. A style unfortunately out of fashion by that time.
The Nazi rise to power in 1933 brought tragedy. His work was deemed “degenerate”. Removed from public view. He lost his teaching position. His home and studio were destroyed by bombing in 1943. Two hundred paintings were lost. Two days before the war’s end his salvaged prints were destroyed by Soviet artillery. His wife Turu died in 1944.
Yet even amid such loss Max Kaus persevered. After the war he returned to teaching at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste. He became deputy director. He remarried. His later work moved towards a more formal style. His North Sea Rome and Venetian paintings became well known. He retired in 1959. He lived to a ripe old age with his third wife Sigrid Reinke.
Look closely at the plaque. It is a testament to a man who survived destruction and loss. A testament to an artist who continued creating even when his work was rejected. A testament to a teacher who shaped generations of artists. Max Kaus’s story is a profound one. A story woven into the fabric of Berlin itself. A story etched not only in this plaque but also in the art that still survives.