Sketchbook

Adolf Richard Fleischmann (1892-1968) was born on 19 March 1892 in Esslingen am Neckar, Germany to Wilhelm Adolf (b. 1856) and Pauline (née Grupp, b. 1861) Fleischmann. He had two sisters, Hedwig and Margarete, and his family belonged to the Evangelical Church Community of Esslingen. After high school he studied art in Stuttgart at the Royal School for Applied Arts (Königliche Kunstgewebeschule) and Art Academy (Kunstakademie), and developed a lifelong career as an abstract painter. He served with the German Army during World War I. In the 1920s and 1930s, his art appeared in exhibitions in Stuttgart, Berlin, and Paris among other locations. After the Nazi seizure of power in 1933, his work was branded as degenerate art and he left Germany. Adolf primarily lived in Mallorca, Paris, and Italy. During the war, he was interned at Les Milles, but managed to escape in 1940. Using false papers, he lived in Limoges, France with a member of the Resistance. After the war he met Elly Abendstern, and moved to Paris with her and her son Peter in 1947. They married in 1948, and in February 1952 all three immigrated to the United States. He continued to work as an artist in the United States, but lived the last few years of his life in Stuttgart. He had a major exhibition at the Württemberg Art Association in Stuttgart in 1966. After his death in 1968, his wife Elly remained in Stuttgart to promote his art.

The sketchbook was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2016 by Peter Aldin.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Peter Aldin