Biographical/Historical Information

Max Boehm was born in 1874, the son of Hermann Hirschel Boehm and Lina Boehm. Max was a prominent businessman in Berlin, working as a liquor manufacturer, banker, real estate dealer, restaurateur, music patron and collector of German art. He and his wife Else had three children: Herta, Hildegarde, and Herman. Herman had emigrated to America in 1936, and had tried unsuccessfully to bring his parents over from Germany. Max and Else were deported to Theresienstadt in 1942. Max died there in 1944, though Else survived and was later reunited with her son Herman, who was serving as an America soldier in Germany in 1945. Else emigrated to America and died there in 1972.

Max Boehm was closely associated with the artist Max Liebermann. Boehm’s description of this relationship, written in Theresienstadt, has survived (see LBI Archives, AR 4154).

Max Liebermann trained in Weimar before continuing to study in Amsterdam and Paris, where he was influenced by Courbet, Millet, and the Barbizon School. Liebermann returned to Germany in 1878 and continued painting in the Impressionist style, founding the movement in his native country. In 1899, he helped found the Berlin Secession. He was a very influential figure in German art and was the dominant figure until the emergence of avant-garde art. He was the president of the Prussian Academy of Arts but was forced to resign in 1933 because he was Jewish.

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Citation

Liebermann, Max: Portrait of Max Boehm, Leo Baeck Institute, 77.48.