Georg Tappert

 Georg Tappert, Geisha Revue, 1913

Georg Tappert (1880-1957) was born in Berlin as the son of a tailor. Growing up on Friedrichstraße - one of the main fashion and entertainment streets - Georg soon became familiar with the fashion world and the demi-monde. After an apprenticeship in his father's studio, he began his formal artistic training in 1901 at the Karlsruhe Academy. 

 Georg Tappert, Pink Chansonette, 1921

In 1905, Tappert moved back to Berlin (where he had his first solo exhibition at Paul Cassirer's gallery) and then to Worpswede where he participated in the creation of  the Worpswede Art School. In 1910, Tappert co-founded the Neue Sezession (with Max Pechstein and others) and was appointed its first executive officer. In 1912, he began teaching in Berlin's Royal Art School. During the First World War, Tappert was drafted into the Fliegerstaffel (Flying Corps), but could stay in Berlin and continue with his art work. 

 Georg Tappert, Girl with Flat Hat, c. 1925

After the war, Tappert was one of the founding members and organizers of the Novembergruppe, and a member of the Arbeitsrat für Kunst. Tappert exhibited with the Novembergruppe until 1929. In 1919, Tappert resumed his teaching positions in Berlin at the private Reimann School and the Staatliche Kunstschule. In 1933, while teaching at the Kunstschule, Tappert was dragged from his class by Nazi students who demanded his dismissal. He was temporarily ousted but reinstated the same year. 

 Georg Tappert, Nude, 1930

In 1937, Tappert was finally dismissed from his teaching position and included as an example of "artistic decay" in the pamphlet "The Cleansing of the Temple of Art". The same year, Tappert’s works were removed from all public collections in Germany. After the destruction of his Berlin studio by Allied bombs in 1944, Tappert decided to stop painting. More than hundred of his works were either destroyed by the Nazis or evaporated in the burning of his studio. In 1945, shortly after the war, Georg Tappert, together with Karl Hofer, was asked by the Allied Occupation Forces to help rebuilding the Berlin University of the Arts. He died 1957 in Berlin. You can see more works of Georg Tappert here in my Flickr set.