About Werner Philipp

  • Biography from Crocker Art Museum Store

    Painter, muralist. Born in Breslau, Germany on March 20, 1897. Philipp studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Berlin, with Oskar Kokoschka in Dresden, and Yves Brayer in Paris. A Jew, he fled Nazi Germany in the late 1930s and settled in San Francisco. Having once considered a career as a singer, he became a patron of the San Francisco Opera and painted many portraits of its stars. He also painted atmospheric landscapes and a mural in Temple House of Congregation Beth Sholom. The West German government honored him with a retrospective exhibition in Berlin about 1971. Philipp painted until a few weeks before his death in San Francisco on May 17, 1982. Exh: GGIE, 1939; De Young Museum, 1943 (solo); Calif. State Fair, 1949; Arizona State Fair, 1949, 1950 (awards); CPLH, 1965 (solo). WWC 1942; SF Chronicle, 5-18-1982 (obit).

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