Lene Schneider-Kainer

Who was Lene Schneider-Kainer?

Lene Schneider-Kainer, born Lene Schneider, was a Jewish-Austrian painter, daughter of the painter Sigmund Schneider, noted for her illustration of "Lukian:Hetärengespräche. Mit Illustrationen von Lene Schneider-Kainer und einem Nachwort von Sabine Dahmen".

She started her art studies in Vienna, and continued in Munich, Paris and Amsterdam. During a stay in Paris she met her future husband, Ludwig Kainer, a doctor, painter, graphic designer, poster artist and stage designer from Munich, whom she married in 1910. From about 1911 the couple belonged to a circle of artists and intellectuals that included Arnold Schönberg, Franz Werfel, Herwarth Walden and his wife, Else Lasker-Schüler. Between 1912 and 1926 she lived in Berlin at 78 Niebuhrstraße in Charlottenburg. In 1914/15 Lene produced a strong and expressive oil painting of the poet and playwright Else Lasker-Schüler.

Schneider-Kainer made her debut as an artist in 1917 with an exhibition of some 50 oil paintings and drawings at the Galerie Gurlitt, shocking the art world of Berlin. There was an uproar over 30 erotic images, illustrating Wieland's 1788 German translation of the "Dialogues of the Courtesans" by Lucian.