Hans Baluschek was born in Breslau in 1870 and moved to Berlin in 1890 where he studied at the Royal Academy of Art. The gallery Gurlitt was the first to exhibit his work in 1885 and in 1897 he took part in the Great Art Exhibition in Berlin with two works of art. These works established Baluschek's membership of the Berlin Secession. In 1920 his novel 'Enthüllte Seelen' (Uncovered Souls) was published, consolidating his renown as an author as well. In 1933 the national socialists classified his work as 'degenerate art' and he was forced to move out of his studio. As a major representative of critical realism Baluschek captured the spirit of the times and the social tensions of the Wilhelmine era. He was fascinated by the metropolis, its in...