Hermann Lismann, “Francesca da Rimini and Paolo Malatesta”, Date Unknown, Oil on Canvas
Born in Munich, Hermann Lismann belonged to the group of artists that met regularly at the Café du Dôme. After serving in the German army in World War I, he settled in Frankfurt, where many of his works were acquired by the local museum, and where for several years he taught aesthetics at the university.
After the rise of Hitler Lismann immigrated to France, residing in Tours. He was interned by the French at the outbreak of World War II as an enemy alien, but managed to escape to Montauban near Toulouse, in the unoccupied zone. However, in 1943 Lismann was deported to his death in the extermination camp of Majdanek.
Lismann’s post-impressionist works in the Staedelsches Museum at Frankfurt and in the museum of Wuppertal, were confiscated by the Nazis and disappeared. Nevertheless, a memorial exhibition held by the Frankfurt Kunstverein in 1959 was able to assemble 132 of his works.