Lothar Brabanski
Lothar Brabanski (b. 1911 in Biskupitz/Hindenburg, Germany d. 2004 Silver Spring, MD) was the son of a coal miner in Upper Selesia along the Polish border. By 1936, he began work as a stone mason’s apprentice, learning how to cut, carve, and move stone, which led to work for various stone masons from 1938–40. Prior, he had worked in coal mines, on the Lunthilfe (land conservation corps), as an architectural draftsman. After the war, in 1945, he got a job in Dusseldorf, applying his technical drawing skills. By 1946 he enrolled in the Berlin Academy of Fine Arts, where he studied under expressionist painter Karl Höfer and Berhard Heiliger.
By 1954 he emigrated to Washington, DC where his sister resided, where he eventually found work as an architectural draftsman, preparing drawings for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce building at 1615 H Street, NW. In 1956, his wife and son joined him in DC. In the spring of 1957 he was hired as an adjunct instructor to teach sculpture at American University, eventually jointing the faculty full time in 1957, retiring in 1975. Beyond his involvement at the start of the Jefferson Place Gallery—where he was a member from 1957–1960—he exhibited in the 10th and 14th Area Annual exhibitions at the Corcoran (1955 & 1959) and several area charity exhibitions.
Solo Exhibitions
1959—Drawings and Sculpture (with William Calfee), Nov. 3—21
Group Exhibitions
1957—First Group Show, Oct. 10—Nov. 9
1957—Christmas Show, Dec. 9—Jan4, 1958
1958—The Group +2, May 20—June 17
1958—12 Washington Artists, University of Kentucky, Oct. 19—Nov. 16
1958—Christmas Show, Nov. 25—Dec. 31
1959—Member’s Show, April 21—May 2
1960—End of Year Review, May 17—June 11
Jefferson Place Gallery Catalog, 1959 [ #5 ]
Courtesy Michael Brabanski [ #22 ]
Courtesy Michael L. Brabanski [ #197 ]