Arthur Segal

Arthur Segal

1875 - 1944

Born in 1875 in Iasi, Romania; Died in 1944, London, England

Painter, printmaker and teacher.

Arthur Segal was born to Jewish parents. In around 1890 he moved to Berlin to study at the Staatliche Hochschule für Bildende Künste, before moving to the Académie Julian, Paris in 1895. Between the period 1900-1910 Segal was preoccupied with painting Impressionist and neo-Impressionist works, and in particular those using the painterly technique of pointillism. Segal settled in Berlin in 1904 where, in 1910, he co-founded the radical exhibiting group, 'Neue Sezession' (New Secession) with German Expressionist painter and printmaker, Max Pechstein. During this period of intense creative activity Segal associated himself with Der Blaue Reiter, an influential Expressionist art group. Segal exhibited at Berlin's Sturm-Galerie and published a series of Expressionist woodcuts.

With the outbreak of war in 1914, Segal moved to Ascona, Switzerland and remained there until 1920. During his time in Switzerland, Segal continued to exhibit with fellow modernists at Zurich's Dada nightclub, Cabaret Voltaire. As a refugee, an anti-war theme emerged in his work, particularly in his woodcuts, and religious (Jewish) undertones are not uncommon, either. In 1921 Segal returned to Berlin and helped establish another arts group called the 'Novembergruppe', again with Max Pechstein and others. During the 1920s and early 1930s, Segal focussed on a concept called Neo-objectivism which is the relationship between objects and light. With the rise of Nazism, Segal fled Germany like many of his fellow modern artists and architects, first to Spain in 1933 and then to Britain in 1936. Segal quickly set up a school of painting, initially in London and then moved it to Oxford (1939-1943).

His son was the architect, Walter Segal (1907-1985).

(Benjamin Angwin - September 2014)