Lesser Ury

1861 — 1931

Lesser Ury was a German-Jewish painter and printmaker of the Impressionist Berlin Secession. He became best known for his depictions of lively Berlin street and coffee house scenes. Lesser Ury often painted these compositions in a dark colour palette. But his extensive oeuvre also includes magnificent landscape and history paintings. As is well known, the promising career of the headstrong painter was interrupted by his falling out with Max Liebermann. An influential leading figure in the Berlin art scene, Liebermann repeatedly prevented Ury's participation in exhibitions - perhaps also out of jealousy of the independent competitor's growing fame, whose unwieldy manner often led to friction with the other Berlin artists. It was not until Lovis Corinth reopened the door to the Berlin Secession for Lesser Ury.

The legend persists that the National Socialists destroyed a large part of Lesser Ury's work. In fact, numerous paintings were auctioned off by the Paul Cassirer auction house immediately after his death (and thus before the National Socialists seized power and the beginning of the Second World War) and are now in private hands.