Nicolas Schöffer as a Jewish Artist

Shortly before his death, the kinetic artist Nicolas Schöffer revealed to his wife that while hiding from the Nazis in France during World War II, he had made and preserved many drawings and had continued in this vein after the war. These interesting works, which he had exhibited in Jewish art shows immediately after the war, came to light only after his death in 1992 and have not been subjected to analysis within the traditions of Jewish Art or to art that has been influenced by the Holocaust. This will be the basis of this lecture, which will also explore his relationship with Atlan, another Jewish artist working after the war in Paris, and the relationship of Schöffer`s wartime experiences to the use of his robotic sculptures, especially in their interaction with live dancers and actors onstage.