Max Kaus was born in Berlin on 11 March 1891. After serving a
painter's apprenticeship, he attended the School for Crafts and
the Applied and Decorative Arts in Berlin-Charlottenburg, while
working as a decoration painter on the side. As a young man, Max
Kaus first came into contact with Italian Renaissance art
through the Kaiser-Friedrich Museum. Since he wanted to
establish himself as a freelance painter, Kaus moved into his
first studio in 1913. A travel grant to Paris in spring 1914
enabled Kaus to visit the art metropolis; the outbreak of the
first world war, however, forced him to break off his stay there
and return home. Kaus volunteered as a medical orderly in 1916.
The artists he met while serving included Erich Heckel, Anton
Kerschbaumer and Otto Herbig. Inspired by Heckel - his role
model both as a man and an artist - Kaus did lithographs and
woodcuts. After the war he supported himself by accepting
commissions for decorative painting. Max Kaus was really
interested in the fine arts and it was not