Object of the Month: September 2024

Chosen by: Heather Southorn, Collections Manager

Leicester Museums and Galleries have recently had two brush and ink works by the artist Fritz Josefovicz donated to the collection. The artist, later known as Joss, was born in Vienna and travelled widely in his youth, before being expelled from Argentina for his socialist views. By 1932 he had returned to Vienna and was publishing the Wiener Post, the last anti-fascist newspaper remaining when the Nazis entered Austria. In 1933 he fled to England where he formally changed his name to Frederick Joss.

The first artwork shows Engelbert Dollfuss, Chancellor of Austria from 1932 during the rise of Hitler. He was assassinated by Nazi agents in 1934. The second shows Theodor Habicht, Hitler’s enforcer in Vienna from 1931 who was expelled from Austria when Dollfuss banned the Nazi party in 1933. This led to Habicht setting up a ‘leadership-in-exile’ group which resulted in an attempted coup and the murder of Dollfuss in July 1934.

The newly donated works can be seen at Leicester Museum & Art Gallery, in the German Expressionist Gallery from Friday 20th September.