Eva Frankfurther facts for kids

Eva Frankfurther (born February 10, 1930 – died January 1959) was a talented artist. She was born in Germany but became a British citizen. Eva was famous for her paintings of people from different countries who lived in the East End of London during the 1950s.

About Eva Frankfurther

Early Life and Moving to Britain

Eva Frankfurther was born in Dahlem, a part of Berlin, Germany. Her family was Jewish. Her father, Paul, was a businessman. Her mother, Henriette, had studied economics. Sadly, Eva's mother passed away when Eva was only 18 months old. Her father married again in 1934.

In 1939, Eva's family had to leave Germany. They were escaping persecution by the Nazis. Eva and her two siblings left Berlin six months before their parents. They stayed in Haslemere with German refugee teachers. Their parents arrived in England in August 1939. The family rented a flat in Belsize Park Gardens. During World War II, Eva and her sister moved to Hertfordshire. This was to keep them safe from the bombing in London.

Becoming an Artist

After the war ended, Eva started studying art. She enrolled at Saint Martin's School of Art in 1947. There, she learned to draw people from life. Her teacher was Roland Vivian Pitchforth. Other students, like Leon Kossoff and Frank Auerbach, thought highly of her. While she was a student, Eva spent some summers in America.

After finishing art school in 1951, Eva traveled. She visited Italy and painted many portraits of street beggars and pilgrims. She also briefly visited Paris.

Life and Art in London

When Eva returned to England, she decided to live differently. She moved away from central London and her family home. She chose to live in the East End of the city. She found a basement flat in Whitechapel. To support herself, she took an evening job. She worked at the J. Lyons and Co. Corner House restaurant in Piccadilly. She served customers and washed dishes. This job allowed her to paint during the day.

Eva worked at the Corner House for five years. During this time, she painted many of her co-workers. One famous painting is West Indian Waitresses, which shows two people. Eva also painted people who lived in the East End. She captured the faces of the long-standing Jewish community. She also painted people from the Pakistani, West Indian, and Irish communities. These groups were just starting to arrive in the area.

In 1956, Eva left the Corner House. She then worked at the Tate & Lyle sugar refinery at Victoria Dock. She left that job in 1957. After that, she lived in Israel for several months. Eva returned to London in 1959. Sadly, she passed away in 1959 at a young age.

Exhibitions and Legacy

During her lifetime, Eva Frankfurther mostly showed her art locally. She exhibited mainly at the Whitechapel Gallery in the East End. She also took part in a group exhibition at the Ben Uri Gallery in 1956.

After her death, the Ben Uri Gallery held a special exhibition in her memory in 1962. They also included her work in their 2014 exhibition called Refiguring the 50s. In 2017, the gallery held another show focusing only on her art.

Exhibitions

Here are some exhibitions that showed Eva Frankfurther's work after she passed away:

• 1962, Ben Uri Gallery
• 1979, Clare College, Cambridge
• 1980, Bedford Central Library
• 1981, Margaret Fisher Gallery, London
• 2001, Boundary Gallery, London