Background
Jankel Adler was born on July 26, 1895 in Tuszyn, Poland. He was the seventh of ten children of the family.
Eiskellerstraße 1, 40213 Düsseldorf, Germany
In 1922, Jankel started to work as a teacher at Kunstakademie Düsseldorf.
Jankel Adler was born on July 26, 1895 in Tuszyn, Poland. He was the seventh of ten children of the family.
Initially, in 1912, Jankel started an apprenticeship as an engraver under the guidance of his uncle in Belgrade. Two years later, he left for Germany, where he studied at the college of arts and crafts under Gustav Wiethücher.
After his studies, Adler returned to his native Poland, where he lived for some time. During that period, he also visited Berlin and Paris. In 1922, Jankel left for Düsseldorf, where he was appointed a teacher at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf the same year. Adler met Paul Klee, who also served as a teacher there.
In 1933, he left Germany upon friends' advice, after he had published an "urgent appeal" together with other left-wing artists and intellectuals against the Nazi policy and for communism during the campaigns for the parliamentary elections in February of that year. The same year, in 1933, two of his pictures were shown by the Nazis at the Mannheimer Arts Center as examples of degenerate art.
At first, Adler escaped to Paris and took his exile as conscious fight against the fascist regime in Germany. Later, he also visited Poland, Italy, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, Romania and the Soviet Union. When World War II broke out in 1939, the painter volunteered for the Polish army. Two years later, however, he was dismissed due to his bad health. After that, Jankel Adler moved to Scotland and some time later to London, where he lived until his death.
In the 1940's, a number of respectable exhibitions of Adler's works were held in London, Paris and New York City. Also, during his last years in England, Adler was active in the local art circles and influenced the young artists. However, he didn’t get a British citizenship.
In July 1932, together with a group of leftist artists and intellectuals, Adler published an urgent appeal against the policy of the National Socialists.
Jankel was a member of "Junges Rheinland" and "Cologne Progressives". Also, he was a joint founder of "Jung Jidysz", a group of avant-garde artists.