Jean Leppien(Kurt Gottfried Johannes Leppien )
Jean Leppien(Kurt Gottfried Johannes Leppien )
[Der Mitgefangene] war außer sich, daß ich mit Begeisterung die Schiefertafel und den Griffel von der Wand nahm und sie mit komplizierten, feinschraffierten Zeichnungen übersäte. Er war überzeugt, daß ich nicht ganz richtig im Kopf sei, wenn ich abends die Tafel putzte, um frühmorgens, sobald es hell wurde, eine neue Zeichnung zu beginnen.
[[The inmate] was beside himself when I enthusiastically took the slate and the pencil from the wall and covered it with intricate, finely shaded drawings. He was convinced that the fact that I cleaned the board in the evenings, only to start a new drawing early the next morning as soon as it was light, showed that I was not right in the head. (ed. trans.)]
Jean Leppien in: Ein Blick hinaus, 1987.
| Born | on 8 April 1910 in Lüneburg, Germany |
|---|---|
| Died | on 19 October 1991 in Paris-Boulogne, France |
| Exile | Switzerland, France |
| Profession | Painter |
The former Bauhaus student, born Kurt Leppien, left Berlin under the name Kurt Leppien in 1933. The painter's circle of friends included many communists and Jews who had already left Berlin. Leppien saw no reason to stay. He travelled via Switzerland to Paris. There he reconnected with several former Bauhaus students such as Moses Bahelfer, Albert Flocon and Jean Weinfeld. After his arrival, he painted little, working instead on photo montages, posters, decorations and presentations. In 1935, he participated in an international exhibition against fascism at the Billiet Vorms gallery. He kept afloat with occasional jobs such as colouring illustrations, decorating shop windows and as an errand boy. He designed book covers for emigrant publishers such as Carrefour and Edition Météore, and worked for a photo agency.
After the war broke out in 1939, Jean Leppien, who lived together with the Jewish-Hungarian Bauhaus graduate Suzanne Ney, was interned in the Marolles camp, after which he enlisted in the Foreign Legion (Légion Etrangère). After being demobbed he returned from Algeria and Morocco to France. Leppien and Suzanne worked a farm in Sorgues in the south of France between 1940 and 1944. They married in 1941 after Suzanne's divorce came through. Suzanne was arrested and deported on 21 March 1944. Leppien tried to find his wife, but was also arrested. After the liberation by the Americans he returned to Paris following an odyssey through German prisons. There he met his wife again who had managed to escape from Auschwitz.
Further reading:
Leppien, Thomas (Hrsg.): Jean Leppien. Vom Bauhaus zum Mittelmeer. Waiblingen: Status Verlag GbR 2013.
Selected works:
o.T. (Linolschnitt, 1948)
LXXVI (Nein, Mondrian ist das nicht!) (Gemälde, 1949)
Dix Gravures (Grafikmappe, 1952)
Purpurblaues Nordlicht auf Rot (Gemälde, 1968)
Komposition XXVI ((Gemälde, 1979)
Gallery
