Portrait of Martha Price (recto), 1948
Isidor Ascheim was born into an Orthodox Jewish family in Pozen (Posnan), Prussia (present-day Poland). After serving in the First World War, he studied under the German Expressionist Otto Mueller in Breslau (1919-23) and was influenced by Erich Heckel of the Die Brücke (The Bridge) group. In 1934 three of Ascheim's works were included in the 'Exhibition of German-Jewish Artists' Work: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture' (5-15 June 1934) organised at the Parsons Gallery, London by German-Jewish emigre dealer, Carl Braunschweig (later Charles Brunswick), which included in total 221 artworks by 86 artists suffering persecution under the Nazi regime, although it is not known whether Ascheim came to Britain. He immigrated to Mandate Palestine in 1940 and settled in Jerusalem, teaching at and becoming director of the Bezalel School of Arts and Crafts. He was married to the Israeli painter Margot Lange-Ascheim. He died in Jerusalem in 1968.
