Fred Uhlmann (1901-1985)

1901 - 1985

Fred Uhlman was a German-English writer, painter and lawyer of Jewish origin. He was born in Stuttgart, Germany on 19th January 1901 into a prosperous middle class Jewish family from parents Ludwig and Johanna.

He studied at the Universities of Freiburg, Munich ad Tubingen from where, in 1923, he graduated with a degree in Law followed by a Doctorate in Canon and Civil Law. He practised as a Barrister from 1927 to 1933.

In March 1933 he emigrated to Paris to avoid Nazi prosecution. Foreigners were not permitted to take paid employment and if caught would be immediately expelled from the country. Uhlman therefore taught himself to paint and supported himself in this way, selling his work privately if he could, but buyers were hard to come by.

In April 1936 he moved to Tossa de Mar, a small fishing village on the Costa Brava in Spain, but shortly after this, the Spanish Civil War broke out and he decided to move back to Paris via Marseilles. Whilst making a telephone call to Diana Croft, daughter of Lord Croft, his passport and wallet were stolen from his jacket. He continued his journey to Paris where he received a telephone call to say his items had been recovered and they were sent on. He had been on the brink of being a stateless person, open to internment or expulsion.

Fred Ulman’s first solo exhibition was held at the Galerie Le Niveau in Paris in 1935.

On 3rd September 1936, Uhlman landed in England with ... show more

Fred Uhlman was a German-English writer, painter and lawyer of Jewish origin. He was born in Stuttgart, Germany on 19th January 1901 into a prosperous middle class Jewish family from parents Ludwig and Johanna.

He studied at the Universities of Freiburg, Munich ad Tubingen from where, in 1923, he graduated with a degree in Law followed by a Doctorate in Canon and Civil Law. He practised as a Barrister from 1927 to 1933.

In March 1933 he emigrated to Paris to avoid Nazi prosecution. Foreigners were not permitted to take paid employment and if caught would be immediately expelled from the country. Uhlman therefore taught himself to paint and supported himself in this way, selling his work privately if he could, but buyers were hard to come by.

In April 1936 he moved to Tossa de Mar, a small fishing village on the Costa Brava in Spain, but shortly after this, the Spanish Civil War broke out and he decided to move back to Paris via Marseilles. Whilst making a telephone call to Diana Croft, daughter of Lord Croft, his passport and wallet were stolen from his jacket. He continued his journey to Paris where he received a telephone call to say his items had been recovered and they were sent on. He had been on the brink of being a stateless person, open to internment or expulsion.

Fred Ulman’s first solo exhibition was held at the Galerie Le Niveau in Paris in 1935.

On 3rd September 1936, Uhlman landed in England with

no money and unable to speak the language. Two months later, he married Diana Croft on 4th November 1936, much against her parent’s wishes. They lived on Downshire Hill, Hampstead which had become a favourite cultural and artistic meeting place for refugees and exiles who had been forced to flee their homeland. He founded the Free German League of Culture whose members included Oskar Kokoschka and Stefan Zweig. They would spend their summers in Croesor Valley, Gwynedd, Wales.

In 1938, he exhibited at the Zwemmer Gallery and from then on he exhibited regularly in one man shows and mixed exhibitions throughout Britain. This work, The Lighthouse, is known to have been exhibited at the Zwemmer Gallery.

After the outbreak of the Second World War, Ulhman was interned by the British Government in June 1940 in Hutchison Camp on the Isle of Man. Here he met Kurt Schwitters, a fellow internee. He was released six months later and reunited with his wife and newly born daughter, Caroline. Later Fred and Diana had a son, Francis Raymond Croft. The British Museum has a collection of his drawings from this period.

Fred Ulman is known to have formed a major collection of African Art which he bequeathed to Newcastle University. In Post-War years he sold many pieces to the British Museum acting as a “Marchand Amateur”. His memoirs are held at the British Library, under embargo until 2035, 50 years after Ulman died. He is also known to have donated other internment drawings to the Staats Galerie in his native town of Stuttgart. They were exhibited in 1921 “despite everything, Fred Ulhman, a Jewish fate”.

His work is mostly in oil of landscapes, townscapes and still life. It is quirky and naïve with a distinctive palette. His work is represented in many important public galleries including the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, Victoria & Albert Museum and British Museum in London. A retrospective of his work was held at the Leighton House Museum in London in 1968.

Fred Uhlman was also a writer. His memoirs “The Making of an Englishman” were published in 1960. His novel Reunion was published in 1971, ignored when first published, re-published in 1977 to critical acclaim, Arthur Koestler wrote the introduction for it in 1976.

“When I first read Fred Uhlman’s Reunion some years ago, I wrote to the author (whom I only knew by reputation as a painter) and told him I considered it a minor masterpiece. The qualifying adjective needs perhaps a word of explanation. It was meant to refer to the small size of the book, and to the impression that although its theme was the ugliest tragedy in man’s history, it was written in a nostalgic minor key”. It was made into a dramatic film in 1989, directed by Jerry Schatzberg from a screenplay by Harold Pinter. It has also been adapted for the stage and premiered at Dublin’s New Theatre on 9 November 2010.

There are several books written by or about Fred Uhlman, one being a dissertation by Anna Plodeck, University of London (Courtauld Institute of Art) 2004 “The making of Fred Uhlman, Life and work of the painter and writer in exile”.

Fred Ulhman died on 11 April 1985 in London and is buried in Yarpole, Herefordshire.