Otto Schoff
Freunde, 1923

Alfred Flechtheim and Otto Schoff

Otto Schoff, born on 24 May, 1884 in Bremen, was a painter and graphic artist. He created studies of different milieus, large urban scenes, erotic and idyllic works and depictions of carefree male and female homosexuality. Schoff was admitted to the Kunstgewerbeschule upon the recommendation of Gustav Pauli, the director of the Kunsthalle Bremen. He continued his education in Frankfurt/Main and Darmstadt and was a student of Emil Orlik’s at the Unterrichtsanstalt des Kunstgewerbemuseums in Berlin. Schoff earned his living creating designs for glass paintings. An annual grant from the City of Bremen enabled him to visit Paris from 1913–14 with George Grosz and Herbert Fiedler where he attended classes at the Académie Colarossi.

Returning to Berlin the artist exhibited at the Graphisches Kabinett J.B. Neumann. During Schoff’s active service, drawings and watercolours by him were published in magazines in Germany. After suffering from poisoned gas and a period in a field hospital, the artist returned to Berlin in 1918. Works from his portfolio of drawings and illustrated books appeared at Fritz Gurlitt’s and Alfred Flechtheim’s. The latter published a series of graphic works ‚Das Wannseebad’ in 1922 with a contribution by Hans Siemsen, as well as ‚Joachim Ringelnatz: Fahrensleute’. After participating at exhibitions of the Berlin Secession from 1926–29 and at the Zweiten Ausstellung nachimpressionistischer Kunst at the Nationalgalerie in 1928, Flechtheim showed works by the artist in 1930 in the group exhibition Seit Liebermann in Deutschland. Although Hermann Göring collected works by Schoff, the artist was subjected to increasing reprisals from 1935 onwards. He was prohibited from painting and was included among ‘degenerate’ artists. As a result, the Kunsthalle Bremen reputedly disposed of a depiction of a girl’s head by Schoff. On 3 July, 1938, when his rooms were being searched by the Gestapo, Schoff suffered a heart attack. His fiancée, Ilse Thäns, took her own life shortly afterwards.