Fritz Zalisz (Gera 1893-1971 Holzhausen)
Portrait of naturalist and evolutionary biologist Ernst Haeckel, a year before his death
1918
chalk on paper
72,5 x 52,5 cm (sheet)
monogrammed lower left: "Fr Z"
inscribed and dated center left: "Ernst Haeckel Jena 1918"
Condition: The paper is browned due to age and slightly soiled in places. Edges and corners slightly bumped and creased, with small puncture holes. The depiction is otherwise in good condition.
Provenance: Leipzig private collection (the artist's descendant)
Joseph Fritz Zalisz was a German painter, graphic artist, sculptor and poet associated with so-called "Lost Generation" of Leipzig Expressionism. As a young man, he first studied zoology with, and worked for, the famed naturalist Ernst Haeckel (1834-1919), who put him in touch with the Munich painter Gabriel von Max. During the First World War, Zalisz served as a war artist. From 1918, he studied at the Leipzig Academy of Fine Arts [Akademie für Grafik und Buchgewerbe] with Otto Richard Bossert, Alois Kolb and Adolf Lehnert; and later in Berlin. Settling in Leipzig, Zalisz then went on study trips to Belgium, France, Switzerland, and the Netherlands. In 1937, six of his works were confiscated from public collections and destroyed as "degenerate art" ["Entartete Kunst"].
