LOST AND FOUND: The Art and Life of Samson Schames

Samson Schames, a Jewish artist forced to flee Nazi Germany, found an extraordinary visual language in exile – creating vivid mosaics out of rubble gathered from the bombed streets of London. These haunting works express the devastation and uncertainty of war and survive as early examples of “detritus art”—artworks made from materials typically considered waste or scraps.

Through an exploration of Schames’ life in his native Frankfurt am Main and his exiles in London and New York, LOST AND FOUND traces the development and resilience of an artist across time, space, and historical ruptures. Combining works from multiple institutions and private collections on both sides of the Atlantic, it is the first comprehensive presentation of Schames’ works in the US.

Art could never repair what Samson Schames lost, but in that loss, he sought and found both meaning and a language for expressing it.