Early Life, Family and Training

Werner Scholz enters the world on 23 October 1898 in Berlin, Germany. He is born into a household defined by structure and sound: his father, Ehrenfried Scholz, is an architect and a student of Martin Gropius, while his mother, Elisabeth, is a pianist. By 1916, the trajectory of his life shifts toward the canvas. He begins his formal training in painting at the Berlin University of the Arts.

The momentum of his studies is abruptly severed by the onset of war. Scholz volunteers for military service during World War I. The conflict finds him on the Chemin des Dames in France. On 23 October 1917, his nineteenth birthday, a shell strike changes his physical reality forever. The injury is severe. He loses his left forearm.

The war leaves a permanent mark on his person, but the impulse to create remains. Between 1919 and 1920, Scholz returns to the Berlin University of the Arts to continue his studies. He navigates the post-war landscape of Berlin, moving into a studio on Nollendorfplatz as he seeks to reconcile his training with the harsh realities of a changed world.

The Berlin Years and Expressionism

Berlin in the 1920s is a landscape of grit and social friction. After moving into a studio on Nollendorfplatz in 1920, Scholz becomes a central figure in the city's shifting atmosphere. He joins the second generation of German Expressionism, working alongside contemporaries like George Grosz and Otto Dix. His focus turns toward the hardship and misery of the petty bourgeoisie in the post-war era. The paintings from this period, particularly his oils between 1919 and 1945, carry a muted tonality. Yet, beneath that restrained palette, the works remain extremely expressive, capturing the existential loneliness of the urban population.

The political climate shifts violently. By 1937, the atmosphere in Berlin turns hostile toward the avant-garde. The Nazi regime declares his work "degenerate art," and an exhibition ban is imposed. This crackdown forces a sudden departure from the metropolitan life he had documented. Many of his Berlin studio works are lost in the destruction of 1944, leaving only fragments of this intense period behind.

• The Dead Child, Central Panel of the Triptych "The Dead Child" (1933)
• The Expelled (about 1933)

Technique and Artistic Style

Scholz operates through the tension of the line and the weight of color. His brushwork is not a mere application of pigment but a series of powerful gestures that define the form. He moves beyond simple representation into the realm of Expressive Realism, stripping away embellishment to confront the raw state of his subjects. The results are often stark. His figures emerge from the surface, trapped in moments of existential loneliness and profound need.

The medium dictates the intensity of the message. He frequently utilizes oil on fibre board to achieve a specific, concentrated energy, or turns to pastels to explore different textures of light and shadow. This technical choice supports a visual language that refuses to look away from hardship. In works like the triptych The Dead Child, the structural power of the composition meets a relentless, unyielding application of paint.

• The Dead Child, Central Panel of the Triptych "The Dead Child" (1933)
• Amaryllis (undated)
• Kropfsberg Ruin (undated)

Later Years and Death

The political climate of the late 1930s forces a departure from the urban intensity of Berlin. In 1939, Scholz moves to the Tyrolean mountain village of Alpbach. This shift from the metropolitan center to the mountains marks a permanent change in his geography. He remains in Alpbach for the rest of his life, finding a different kind of solitude in the Tyrolean landscape than the one he once depicted in the city.

The 1960s bring a period of movement and travel. He ventures frequently to the Netherlands and Italy. These trips provide a change of scenery from the mountain air of Tyrol. His focus remains on the act of painting, even as his surroundings shift between the northern lowlands and the Mediterranean south.

Scholz's life ends in Schwaz, Tyrol, on 5 September 1982. He had spent his final decades settled in the mountains, far from the wartime destruction that claimed his Berlin studio and many of his earlier works. His presence in the region remains tied to the quietude of the Alps.

Where to See the Works Today

The physical remnants of Scholz's career are scattered across several major institutions, reflecting the reach of his expressionist vision. In Europe, his presence is felt within the collections of the Albertina in Vienna and the Wallraf-Richartz-Museum in Cologne. These holdings represent a significant portion of the visual record left behind after the destruction of his Berlin studio in 1944 and the seizure of works during the war years.

The Bavarian State Painting Collections in Munich also hold his art, preserving pieces that survived the era of political censorship. Beyond the European continent, his paintings have found permanent homes in Moscow and Detroit. These international locations ensure that his specific, gestural approach to human isolation remains accessible to global audiences.