Fabry, Edmund

Architect, painter, draughtsman, graphic artist

Born: 20.02.1892 in Norderney

died: 14.11.1939 in Wiesbaden

In 1930, Fabry collaborated with Arnold Hensler to design the war memorial on the Neroberg in Wiesbaden. In 1931–32, he worked with landscape architect Wilhelm Hirsch to design the fountain complex in the Reisinger and Herbert parks. Also on the Neroberg, he planned the Opelbad in 1933–34 together with Franz Schuster and Wilhelm Hirsch. As early as 1916, Fabry had been in contact with the art collector Heinrich Kirchhoff.

He emerged as a painter and graphic artist at the end of World War I. In 1917, his work was featured in exhibitions organized by the Frankfurt art dealer Ludwig Schames (1852–1922) and the Nassauischer Kunstverein e.V. The Museum Wiesbaden holds various works on paper by him, including landscapes and architectural depictions. These works reveal him around 1917 as an artist whose style and color palette were influenced by Expressionism and who tended toward abstraction. In 1920, he became a member of the “Darmstadt Secession,” which also included his fellow Wiesbaden artists Arnold Hensler, Otto Ritschl, and Josef Eberz.

As a painter and draftsman, he primarily created still lifes and architectural scenes. In 1921, Fabry served as curator of a group exhibition organized by the Nassauischer Kunstverein e.V. and the Society for the Fine Arts. Works by Alexej von Jawlensky were also featured in this exhibition. In his memoirs, Jawlensky later wrote that he counted Fabry among his closest friends, who had encouraged him to take up residence in Wiesbaden. Fabry, Jawlensky and his son Andreas, Arnold Hensler, Elisabeth (Lisa) Kümmel, Alo Altripp, and 22 other artists were members of the Freie Künstlerschaft Wiesbaden, which had been founded by Ritschl in 1925.