Neumann, Ernst, 1907-1956 : Artist Ernst Neumann was born in Budapest, Hungary in 1907, of Austrian parentage. In August 1912, the family emigrated to Canada. After completion of high school, Neumann began art studies at the newly created École des Beaux-Arts in Montreal where he excelled in printmaking. In addition, he followed life drawing classes, sponsored by the Royal Canadian Academy, at the Art Association of Montreal. His print-making skills were further honed through an apprenticeship at a lithographic firm in the mid-1920s. Neumann developed many strong friendships with other Montreal artists including Goodridge Roberts, Herman Heimlich, Jori Smith and Sam Borenstein. In 1936, together with Goodridge Roberts, he formed the Roberts-Neumann School of Art which offered classes in drawing and painting and in art appreciation. The school would run for three years and became a meeting place for Montreal artists. The Depression and its victims were strong subject matter for the compassionate artist. He completed a series of drawings and prints of the unemployed. In 1939, Neumann had his first one-person exhibition of prints at the Art Association of Montreal. Many of his works focussed on the Montreal cityscape, street life, and the surrounding countryside and provided him with a form of reliable income. A further series of six images, completed in the 1940s, comprised court scene prints and stemmed from the artist's stint as court reporter. Although he applied, Neumann was never accepted as a war artist.
Neumann became a strong and recognized participant in the Montreal artistic scene. However, although many of his friends had studied and sketched abroad, his first European trip wasn't until 1954. That year, Neumann served as a delegate, representing the Canadian Council for the Arts, at a U.N.E.S.C.O. conference. He followed this with several months travel, drawing his way across Europe. In an effort to fund a more lengthy overseas sabbatical, Neumann applied for and received his first successful grant submission. In 1955, he travelled to France on a Royal Society of Canada year-long fellowship. He spent several months in Paris. Early in 1956, while visiting his fellow Canadian artist friend Brodie Shearer, in Vence France, Ernst Neumann succumbed to a heart attack at the young age of forty-nine.
