Biography

1883

Born on 31 July in Bublitz/Pomerania as the youngest son of the theatre director Julius Kleinschmidt and the actress Rosa Kleinschmidt, née Härtig

1894

Relocation of the family from Halle to Berlin

1901

Formative encounter with the painter Adolph von Menzel, decision for the existence as an artist

1902-1904

Studies at the Berlin Academy with the history painter Anton von Werner

1903

Acquaintance with Lovis Corinth

1904-1905

Studies at the Munich Academy of Art with Peter Halm (lithography and etching) and Heinrich von Zügel (painting)

1905

Return to Berlin and settle there as a freelance painter and graphic artist
Beginning of a friendly relationship with Lovis Corinth

1909

Participation in the 18th exhibition of the Berlin Secession
Acquaintance with Julius Meier-Graefe

1911

Participation in the 22nd exhibition of the Berlin Secession

1914

Conscription for military service, training as a fireworker

1915

gas poisoning, stay in sanatorium, exemption from military service
Marriage with Margarete Treichel, birth of daughter Maria

1915-1922

Training as art teacher, work as machine draughtsman and drawing teacher
Repeated trips to southern Germany (Wasserburg)
Freelance work

1919-1923

Creation of many important etchings and lithographs

1923

First solo exhibition at Euphorion-Verlag in Berlin
Beginning of the friendship with Julius Meier-Graefe

1925

Exhibition at the Gurlitt Gallery in Berlin, painting becomes the preferred artistic medium, while graphic art recedes

1926

Birth of the daughter Reglindi

1927

Beginning of the sponsorship by the two Ulm factory owners, art collectors Martin and Wilhelm Bilger after mediation by Meier-Graefe, joint trip to Amsterdam and summer stay in Southern Germany (Ulm and Lake Constance), friendship with the Ulm painter Albert Unseld
First contacts with the New York art collector Erich Cohn

1928

Summer stay in Southern Germany, study trip to Southern France
Beginning of the friendship with Curt Glaser

1928/1929

Erich Cohn becomes the decisive patron of Kleinschmidt

1931

Study visit to Southern France, where he meets Erich Cohn for the first time
painting studies in southern Germany with Wilhelm Bilger

1932

Move to southern Germany, first to Klingenstein near Blaubeuren, then to Ulm
On the advice of Curt Glaser, Kleinschmidt deposits his large-format works in the State Art Library, Berlin

1933

Julius Meier-Graefe visits Kleinschmidt's studio in Ulm
Move to Ay when sending
Kleinschmidt and his family are increasingly exposed to political repression, works at "Schandeaustellungen

1933-1934

Exhibitions at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Philadelphia Museum of Art

1934

New York trip as guest of Erich Cohn

1935

Prepares for emigration due to the increase in political conflicts in the Nazi state, lives with friends in Ulm, Blaubeuren and finally Ehingen on the Danube from October

1936

In March emigration via Basel to Holland, branch office in Laren (North Holland)

1937

Outlawed at the Munich exhibition "Degenerate Art
Summer stay in the south of France

1938

Summer stay in Toulon, from September branch in La Varenne near Paris

1939

Study trip to the south of France

1940

Angina pectoris from February to March
Internment in various camps, release on the occasion of the French surrender, return to occupied France to the family in La Varenne

1941

Flight from the Gestapo to Lorient in Brittany

1942

Settlement and work in Chartres, ban on painting
Visit by Erich Cohn

1943

Forced repatriation by the German security service
Branch office in Bensheim an der Bergstraße

1943-1949

At first he only painted watercolours, gouaches and drawings, but from 1946 on he painted oil paintings again

1944

Destruction of 14 oil paintings stored at Wilhelm Bilger in Ulm by a bomb attack

1945

Destruction of the entire property including a large part of the factory in a bombing raid

1946

Support by the Cohn couple with painting materials and aid packages
devotion to the gouache technique developed by him

1949

Visit of Erich and Helene Cohn in Bensheim
On 2 August the artist succumbs to his illness, buried in Lörrach