Eugen Spiro (b. 1874 / d. 1972)

Eugen Spiro was born on April 18, 1874 in Breslau, Silesia. He was one of nine children born to synagogue cantor and composer, Abraham Baer Spiro.

Eugen had a brief apprenticeship company for women's clothing in a Breslau, after which Spiro studied from 1892 to 1894 painting at the Academy of Fine and Applied Arts in Breslau. He then joined the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. Spiro worked as a pupil to Franz von Stuck, Academy Professor, in the Villa Stuck studio in 1897. Later that year, Sapiro was awarded a private scholarship to study in Italy for a year.

After some time traveling in Europe, Spario moved to Berlin in 1904. He was briefly married to actress Tilla Durieux. In 1906, he became a member of Berlin Secession, and spent some time teaching at the Académie Moderne. In 1911 he was promoted to "Officier de l'Academie des Beaux-Arts."

As early as 1907 Spiro began participating regularly in the Great Berlin Art Exhibitions. Spiro was living in Germany at the time when WWI broke out, being Jewish, he fled back to Berlin. 1916 Spiro was elected to the board of the Berlin Secession, first as treasurer, in the following years until 1933 as a full board member.

Spiro married his second wife Elizabeth Saenger-Sethe in 1917. The couple's son, Peter Spiro, was born in 1918 in Berlin. The family traved extensively between the years 1918 through 1935 to places including: northern Italy, Paris, Southern France, Corsica , Spain, Portugal , Morocco and Dalmatia

Spiro was involved with the founding of "Union des artistes libres" He was chair here from 1938 to 1939. In 1941, Spairo moved with his family to New York where they were residents for the remainder of his life. In New York, The Galerie St. Etienne hosted solo exhibitions of Spiro. Beginning in 1949 Spiro teaching in the Wayman Adams-Summer School. In 1954 he became management at "The Mill" in Elizabethtown, New York. He also taught at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire.

Selected Solo Exhibitions Include:
1934 Berlin- Jewish Museum (along with Ludwig Meidner )
1934 Prague and Brno- Moravian Art Association
1943 New York- Galerie St. Etienne
1957 Düsseldorf- Art Association of the Rhineland and Westphalia ,
1959 Munich- Galerie Wolfgang Gurlitt
1969 Berlin- Retrospective Exhibition
1979 Berlin- Art Official Zoo
1987 Cologne- Retrospective Exhibition of the Gallery Abercron
2004 London- Jewish Cultural Centre
2008 Munich- Gallery of Abercron

Sources Include:
www.de.wikipedia.org
www.skinnerinc.com

Eugen Spiro was a prominent artist who studied at the Academy of Fine Arts Munich and became a master student of Franz von Stuck. He was a member of the Munich Secession from 1900 to 1933 and exhibited at the Glaspalast Munich. Additionally, Spiro was part of the Berlin Secession from 1904 and spent time in Paris from 1906 to 1914, where he joined the Café du Dôme circle of painters and befriended Hans Purrmann. He also taught at the Akadémie Moderne, which was associated with the Nabis group of artists.