Soshana Afroyim (born Susanne Schüller; September 1, 1927 – December 9, 2015) was an Austrian painter of the Modernism period. Soshana was a full-time artist and traveled frequently, exhibiting her work internationally. During her journeys, she portrayed many well known personalities and her art developed in different directions. Her early period artwork was largely naturalistic in nature, showing landscapes and portraits. Later her style developed towards abstract art, strongly influenced by Asian calligraphy.
Early life
Childhood Soshana Afroyim was born in 1927 as Susanne Schüller in Vienna, Austria, into a Jewish middle-class family. Her younger brother Maximilian was born two years later. Her father, Fritz Schüller, owned a cufflink factory and her mother, Margarethe Schüller, was a sculptor. Soshana first went to the Rudolf Steiner School, but soon changed to the alternative Schwarzwald School. She started to paint and draw at a very young age. Her mother supported Soshana's creativity and collected her works.Afnan Al-Jaderi: The Story Of A Life, in: Soshana. Life and Work, Springer 2010, p. 24 / 25
Fleeing Vienna At the age of eleven, Soshana witnessed the annexation of Austria. "I watched Hitler's triumphant entry to Vienna. I remember well how I looked out of the window (...) and saw how he was welcomed by the cheering crowd as he drove in his open car (...). I turned cold and was horribly frightened."From Soshana's unpublished diaries, archived in the Austrian National Library
The family decided to leave Austria. Fritz Schüller, who had been born in Brno, had a Czech passport and left the country first. Margarethe, Soshana and Maximilian fled to Switzerland, then Paris, where Fritz had waited for them and finally in 1939 they reached London, where they would stay two years. Soshana attended the Northwood College and in 1940 the Chelsea Polytechnic School, where she had painting and drawing lessons and learned about fashion design. Due to the Blitz, the Schueller family had to take refuge in air-raid shelters almost every night. The experience was very stressful for Soshana, which she later expressed through drawings.Afnan Al-Jaderi: The Story Of A Life, in: Soshana. Life and Work, Springer 2010, p. 25 / 26
Emigration to America Soshana's father fled to Spain and via Tangier, followed by New York. In 1941 he managed to get an affidavit for his family and booked three tickets for the S.S. Madura, the last civil ship that would leave Europe. In 1941, Soshana, her mother, and her brother arrived at Ellis Island, in New York City. She enrolled at Washington Irving High School and attended painting classes under the guidance of artist Beys Afroyim, future plaintiff-appellant in Afroyim v. Rusk.Afnan Al-Jaderi: The Story Of A Life, in: Soshana. Life and Work, Springer 2010, p. 26
Early career
Travelling through America
At the age of 17, she travelled against her parents' will with Beys Afroyim through America. To earn their living during these travels, they painted writers, musicians, statesmen and scientists like Thomas Mann, Franz Werfel, Otto Klemperer, Bruno Walter, Lion Feuchtwanger, Theodore Dreiser and Hanns Eisler.
When the United Nations Conference on International Organization opened in May 1945 in San Francisco, the couple portrayed well-known delegates, such as the deputy chairman of the UdSSR national planning commission Vasilij Vasilevič Kuznecov.
Cuba and the first large exhibition
Because of Beys' activities within the Communist Party, the couple left the US and spent nine months in Cuba, where Soshana had her first exhibition in 1948 at the Circulo de Bellas Artes, Havana. From that time on she used the name "Soshana", the pen name Afroyims gave her, meaning "Lily" in Hebrew (the more common spelling is Soshana - שושנה). After a short stay in the US, they moved to Europe and eventually to Israel.
Vienna and Paris
Back to Vienna Soshana returned to Vienna with her son and eventually gave Beys full custody."My life calmed down, I had a stable home, no more hotel rooms, no more railway stations, no more departures." Amos Schueller, Soshana - My Grandfather's Daughter, in: Soshana. Life and Work. Springer 2010 In 1950, she enrolled at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna and in 1952 to the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, where she painted under the guidance of Prof. Sergius Pauser, Albert Paris Gütersloh and Prof. Herbert Boeckl. Unhappy with academic art practice, she relocated in Paris, France in 1952.
Paris Upon relocation to Paris, Soshana lived and worked in the former studio of André Derain. She eventually moved into another studio at Impasse Ronsin next to Brâncuși.Biography in: Soshana, Amos Schueller, 2005, p.85 She became very close with the artist, whom she described as loving her "like a daughter."From Soshana's unpublished manuscripts, archived in the Austrian National Library Later, she lived in another studio that was previously owned by Gauguin.
Soshana struggled financially as a full-time artist in Paris. She described it as a "bittersweet time." She became acquainted with the artists Kupka, Auguste Herbin, Ossip Zadkine, César, Pignon, Bazaine, Max Ernst, Yves Klein, Alexander Calder, Wifredo Lam, Sam Francis, Jean-Paul Sartre, Affandi, Lain Bangdel, and Marc Chagall. She considered Alberto Giacometti one of her best friends.Afnan Al-Jaderi: The Story Of A Life, in: Soshana. Life and Work, Springer 2010, p. 29 In 1953, Soshana met the Zurich gallery owner Max G. Bollag, who became a major promoter of her work.
In Paris, Soshana had multiple exhibitions in the André Weil Gallery and Salon d'Automne, the Salon des Réalités Nouvelles and the Salon de Mai, where she met Pablo Picasso for the first time. He invited her to visit him at his Villa in Vallauris and drew a portrait of her in 1954.
World travel
In 1956, Soshana traveled through Asia. She had organised herself an invitation for a Chinese Ministry of Culture to exhibit in Beijing"I wanted to see China, so I just went to the embassy, and told them, that I am a painter and that I want to fly to China." Within one month Soshana got an invitation for an exhibition. The Chinese Ministry of Culture paid for the flight and the transport costs of the paintings. (From Soshana's unpublished manuscripts, archived in the Austrian National Library). On her way to China, she visited India, Thailand, Cambodia and Japan, where she became inspired by Indian philosophy, Hinduism and Buddhism. She was impressed by the art of calligraphy and learned art techniques on xuan paper from Buddhist monks in Kyoto and Chinese painters in Hangzhou. The art of calligraphy became formative for her painting style. In 1957 she arrived in Beijing, where her exhibition took place in the Emperor's palace.
In 1959 Soshana travelled through Africa, where she portrayed Albert Schweitzer in Lambaréné,"His hospital was very primitive (...) I made a portrait of Albert Schweitzer. He did not want me to paint his glasses, although he had them on his nose." (From Soshana's unpublished manuscripts, archived in the Austrian National Library) eventually returning to Paris.
In the same year, she became acquainted with the Italian artist Pinot Gallizio."Once going down Rue de Seine in the spring of 1959, I met an Italian painter in one of the galleries and we started talking and got very interested in each other. His name was Pinot Gallizio. I took him over to my studio and showed him my work. He in turn tried to explain to me, how to use Vinovil, that is a certain plastic material. I wanted to learn from him this technique." ( From Soshana's unpublished manuscripts, archived in the Austrian National Library) They worked together in Paris and Alba del Piemonte, Italy. In a letter written by Gallizio, to his gallerist Otto and Heicke Van de Loo in Munich, he announced that "20 paintings were made in September 1959 in Paris, together with Soshana", adding "results formidable"."Pinot and myself started working on the same canvas at the same time. He showing me his technique of using Vinovil, with my technique using the palette knife. (...) Later I visited Pinot at his home in Alba de Piemonte and we worked there together using all different methods, even fire on canvas.(...) In Paris and Alba, we painted 20 or 25 paintings together, but his art dealer did not want me, therefore we signed separately." (From Soshana's unpublished manuscripts, archived in the Austrian National Library)
Through Gallizio, Soshana got in contact with the COBRA group, among others to Karel Appel and Asger Jorn."It happened that Karel Appel sat next to us and we started talking, as Pinot knew Appel and was connected with the Cobra Group, together with Asger Jorn." (From Soshana's unpublished manuscripts, archived in the Austrian National Library) But because she was a woman, they did not accept her as a full member of the art group."They did not want a woman to join them. I hurt me but as a woman I slowly get used to it." (From Soshana's unpublished manuscripts, archived in the Austrian National Library)
Instead, Soshana started a collaboration with the O´Hana Gallery in London, where she had three exhibitions in 1959, 1960 and 1963.Several articles about Soshana's exhibitions in the O´Hana Gallery are archived in the Austrian National Library: 10/1959 The Arts Review, 1959 The Jewish Chronicle, 2/1960 Apollo, 13/2/1960 The Guardian, 19/2/1960 Evening News, 26/2/1960 The Jewish Chronicle, 4/3/1960 Yorkshire Evening News, two articles 1963 – newspaper unknown. In 1962, she held an exhibition at Château Grimaldi in Antibes.Catherine Guglielmi, "La Chronique Artistique", L'Indepentant August 31st 1962: "Le vernissage de Soshana au Musee Picasso (Chateau Grimaldi) fut un evenement artistique et mondain digne de attachante personnalite de l'artiste."
Mexico
In 1964, Soshana traveled to Mexico for various exhibitions. She lived for many months in Cuernavaca,Afnan Al-Jaderi: The Story Of A Life, in: Soshana. Life and Work, Springer 2010, p. 37 known as the "City of Eternal Spring" and a refuge for many artists and intellectuals of the 1960s.Christian Kloyber: Mexico – Soshana's Inspiration, in: Soshana. Life and Work, Springer 2010, p. 226 She became friends with Mexican artists such as Rufino Tamayo, Siqueiros, José Luis Cuevas and Mathias Goeritz. In 1965, she met Adolph Gottlieb for the first time and later in New York, they developed a deep friendship. In 1966, an exhibition of Soshana's work took place in the Palacio de Bellas Artes.Several articles about Soshana's exhibitions in the Palacio de Bellas Artes are archived in the Austrian National Library: 1966 El Heraldo, 5/6/1966 El Redondel, 5/8/1966 Excelsior, 8/8/1966 El Sol de Mexico, 10/8/1966 El Universal, 13/8/1966 The News, 17/8/1966 El Nacional, 17/8/1966 Cine Mundial, 18/8/1966 The News, 18/8/1966 El Sol de Mexico, 18/8/1966 Novedades, 22/8/1966 Excelsior, 31/8/1966 Excelsior
Second journey around the world During the course of her second trip around the world in 1968, Soshana visited the South Seas, the Caribbean, Thailand, Bali, Australia, India, Sikkim, Nepal, Afghanistan, Iran and Israel. In 1969, the Chogyal entrusted her with painting portraits of the king and the queen of Sikkim and the same year she became a member of the Theosophical Society.Christian Kirchner, Soshana – Collector of Worlds, in: Soshana. Life and Work, Springer 2010, p. 50
In 1972, Soshana moved to Jerusalem, where she planned four exhibitions in the Old Jaffa Gallery. However, when the Yom Kippur War broke out, they were all cancelled. Soshana left Israel and moved to New York in 1974.Afnan Al-Jaderi: The Story Of A Life, in: Soshana. Life and Work, Springer 2010, p. 39
New York