B. Breslau, Germany, 1874 - d. New York, 1972

Garden Near Italian Lake, Garden Near Italian Lake, 1931, oil on canvasEugen Spiro was born into the family of a cantor in Breslau. He studied art under Franz von Stuck in Munich, was greatly influenced by Jugendstil, and participated in the Secession exhibitions. He lived in Paris from 1906 and taught at the Acad?mie Moderne. In 1914, as a citizen of an enemy state, he had to return to Germany, and for some time worked as a draftsman for a cartographic unit of the German Army. After the war, he taught art in Germany until 1933. Not being allowed to paint and exhibit in Germany, he returned to Paris. In 1940, following the Nazi occupation of France, he went into hiding and subsequently escaped to the United States where he taught painting.