Perls, Hugo

Hugo Perls was born in Rybnik in Upper Silesia (then Germany, now in Poland) on May 24, 1886. He studied law, philosophy, and art history at the Universities of Freiburg and Berlin. In 1910 Hugo and his wife Käthe Perls had their first child, Frank. Two years later they had another son, Klaus. After Hugo Perls completed his studies, he joined the German civil service, where he worked for a time for the Ministry of the Interior before serving in the German Foreign Office ( Auswärtiges Amt ) in World War I.

In 1914 Perls began collecting artwork, and by 1921 was working as an art dealer, establishing the Käte Perls Gallerie in Berlin and collecting and selling the works of many well-known artists, especially impressionists. Among the works of artists included in his collection were pieces by Edvard Munch, Pablo Picasso, Claude Monet, Vincent van Gogh, and Paul Cézanne, among others. In 1913 Munch had painted a portrait of Hugo and Käte Perls.

Perls moved to Paris in 1931 because of the growing strength of the National Socialists in Germany, where he studied the works of Plato in their original language. At this time he also studied the works of Goethe and Kant. This research eventually led him to compose several pieces concerning Plato, his philosophy, and aesthetics. These articles were published in journals such as the Revue Philosophique, Mercure de France, and the Revue de Morale et de Métaphysique . He also gave lectures at the Sorbonne on Plato. In 1938 his research resulted in the publication of his first book: L'Art et la Beauté vus par Platon .

In 1941 Hugo Perls immigrated to the United States, where he lived in Manhattan. In the same year he married his second wife, the Swedish writer Eugénie Söderberg (1903-1973). His eldest son Klaus had established the Perls Galleries in New York in 1937, and during this time Hugo Perls may have assisted his son in the acquisition of artwork. In 1939 his son Frank opened the Frank Perls Gallery in southern California. For a short time after World War II Hugo Perls lived in Italy and traveled in Europe to further study collections of paintings. From this time until his death, Perls concentrated on writing and publishing his works, most of which concerned Plato and his philosophy and how his concepts could be used in judging and appreciating art. Perhaps most significant among his writing was his work Platon: sa conception du kosmos, originally published in 1946. This book, based on Perl's studies of Plato's original writings while in Paris, was republished in German twenty years later. Other topics focused on in his published works included the discussion of aesthetics and the relationship between beauty and art. His work Die Komödie der Wahrheit (The Comedy of Truth) also featured other topics such as German intellectualism and the growth of anti-Semitism.

Hugo Perls's wife Eugénie died in New York in 1973. After her death he married the writer Monica Schall. Hugo Perls died in New York in 1977.

From the guide to the Hugo Perls Collection, 1936-1976, bulk 1946-1965, (Leo Baeck Institute)