This is the erotic art of Michel Fingesten (1884–1943). Fingesten was born in Silesia and studied art in Vienna. He left Italy for America in 1900 where he made his living by drawing illustrations for newspapers.
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In 1907, he moved to Munich where he studied with Franz Stuck. He toured Asia and Europe before finally settling in Berlin. During this period he earned success and fame as a graphic art. He was particularly drawn to erotic subjects.
When the Nazis came to power, they declared his art as ‘degenerate’, and in 1933, Fingesten, who was of Jewish descent, moved to Milan.
His work was included in the Nazi’s 1937 The Degenerate Art Exhibition (pictured), along with other artists, such as Paul Klee, Oskar Kokoschka, Wassily Kandinsky, Max Beckmann, Emil Nolde and Georg Grosz.
In Italy, rather than keeping quiet, Fingesten organised exhibitions and produced work that criticised the Nazi regime in Germany.
In 1940, Fingesten was sent to the Civitella del Tronto internment camp, and then to the Ferramonti di Tarsia camp. He lived to see the camp’s liberation, but tragically died of an infection a few days later, on 8 October 1943.
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