Art Behind Barbed Wire 26 February 2004 - 03 May 2004 Amongst
the large number of refugees arriving in Britain between
1933-39, a small but significant number were artists, fleeing
persecution for their opposition to Hitler's regime. Many who
reached Britain were subsequently interned. Established and
younger artists and a variety of artistic styles were
represented in the internment camps. Most famous was the
artistic community in Hutchinson Camp, Douglas, on the Isle of
Man, which included the renowned Kurt Schwitters. Huyton Alien
Internment Camp too had its distinguished artist residents,
including John Heartfield, Martin Bloch and Samson Schames. In
1999, Walker Art Gallery purchased a group of watercolours and
drawings by two refugees, Hugo Dachinger and Walter Nessler
which were created during the artists' internment at Huyton.
They are shown here for the first time, a testament to the power
of art to assert itself in desperate circumstances and a record
of one of the more shameful episodes of British