ARTING Gallery is honored to present:

The Unknown Paintings of Peter Scholleck

September 3-29, 2024

Opening Event September 5, 2024, 5:00-8:00 p.m. with refreshments

Remarks at 6:00 p.m. by curator George Ciscle and Eileen Scholleck Koenigsberg, the artist’s daughter.

In addition, join us at any of the salon events listed below.
Please rsvp to info@peterscholleckart.com if you are able to attend. Remarks by George Ciscle and the artist’s daughter begin 30 minutes after the start time of each salon.

Tuesday, September 10, 9:00-10:30 a.m. with breakfast
Monday, September 16, 5:00-6:30 p.m. with light refreshments
Sunday, September 22, 3:00-4:30 p.m. with light refreshments

On view, are 12 paintings by self-taught artist Peter Scholleck from an extraordinary body of 157 works created from 1946 to 1967 that have never been viewed by the public.

Painter Peter Leo Max Scholleck (1923-1969) was born in Munich Germany to Jewish parents. At age 15, in 1938, Scholleck was not allowed to remain at the Episcopal boarding school where he was enrolled because of Hitler’s antisemitic laws. Later that year, the horror of Kristallnacht took place in Munich and his step-father, Wilhelm Nussbaum, was taken to Dachau Concentration Camp. He was released six weeks later but was in ill health from beatings sustained at Dachau. Scholleck’s mother had been resistant to leaving Germany, but after Kristallnacht the family began the process of obtaining documents for emigration to the United States. Just prior to their departure, the Nazi security police came to the family residence to determine if the items and small amount of money they intended to take with them were permitted by the government. Though he rarely spoke of his life in Germany, Scholleck tried to describe to his daughter the fear that he felt with the Nazis present in his home. The family arrived in Baltimore in May 1939 where Nussbaum died just 20 months later.

How the sum of Scholleck’s experiences and those as a soldier stationed in the Pacific during World War II were internalized, cannot be wholly known. Seeking to understand how his personal history informed the works that he ultimately created is perhaps best understood by the tension and urgency in each piece. There is a raw need for expression that is delivered in a rich and methodical process. Scholleck’s execution reveals his deep devotion, passion, and earnestness toward his works. He made art because he had to: prolifically, energetically, experimentally. His daughter, Eileen Scholleck Koenigsberg, recalls that her father was compelled to paint. He had an inner drive to create that he could not ignore.

This exhibition is a first step to introduce the collection to the public; it is not a commercial venture. The intention is to place Scholleck’s works in public spaces or with collectors in order for the work to be seen and enjoyed beyond the walls of his daughter’s home.

Visit www.peterscholleckart.com to learn more about the artist and his work.

Arting Gallery will be open from 3:00-5:00 p.m. on September 10, 15, 17 and 24, and by appointment. To schedule a visit outside of posted hours, email ag@artinggallery.net.

Arting Gallery (www.artinggallery.net) is located at 3500 Parkdale Avenue, Building 1, Suite 212, Baltimore, Maryland 21211.

IMAGE: Peter Leo Max Scholleck, Untitled, 1967, Oil, mixed media on canvas, 48 × 92.25 inches