The painter Franz Lerch (1895 – 1977) was born in Vienna, where he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts, and in the 1920s exhibited as a member of the Hagenbund and the Vienna Secession. In 1933, he married Stefanie (Steffi) Krauss (1905 – 1996), who had been born in Hungary, and who had also been a student at the Vienna Academy. Following the Nazi annexation of Austria in 1938, Steffi’s Jewish background forced the couple to emigrate, first to England, and then to the United States, where they settled in New York City. In America Franz worked for a design company and painted in his spare time, while Steffi worked in advertising and gained a reputation as an illustrator of children’s books.
I first became aware of Franz and Steffi Lerch through my research into the life and work of their fellow Austrian émigré artist, Theodor Kern, who settled in Hitchin, England, the town where I live. Kern was a fellow student and lifelong friend of Franz Lerch. Exploring Franz’s biography, initially as a means of finding out more about Kern’s life, I developed an interest in his and Steffi’s life stories, about which very little seemed to have been written, in their own right.
Franz’s many paintings of Steffi, and their dual portrait, which I’m using as the header image for this blog, made a strong impression on me and appeared to reflect a powerful bond of affection between this couple, whose lives and careers were turned upside down by the events of the twentieth century. In this blog, I’ll be attempting to piece together their individual biographies and the story of their life together, as well as reflecting on their work as artists.
If you have any information about either Franz or Steffi Lerch which you think might be of interest, please email me at:
mprobb@btinternet.com
Martin Robb
Hitchin, England.
May 2022
Header image:
Franz Lerch, ‘Selbstporträt mit Gattin’, 1934 (Belvedere Museum, Vienna)
Franz and Steffi Lerch 