Paula Neufeld

Paula Neufeld was born on March 29, 1884, in Berlin, Germany, to Samuel and Dorothea Norden Neufeld. Neufeld studied art at the Art Institute of Berlin and the Berlin Academy of Art and with the artists Freiherr von Koenig, Eugene Spiro and Willy Jaekel. After her studies, biographical entries mention that in addition to her art she worked as a teacher and graphic designer.

While working, Neufeld documented trips throughout Europe, including Italy, Switzerland and Scandinavia, through landscapes. Neufeld’s reputation as a talented painter grew as her work was exhibited in Berlin, Mannheim, Breslau, Stuttgart and London. Unfortunately, as a Jewish artist Neufeld was forced to immigrate to the United States in 1936 to escape persecution by the Nazis, and became a U.S. citizen in 1942.

She settled in Kansas City with her sister, Adele Friedman. Neufeld continued her studies of art in the United States at the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, a thriving art colony that was under the directorship of Boardman Robinson in the 1930s.

Returning to Kansas City, she continued to paint landscapes, still lifes, portraits and murals from her studio in downtown Kansas City. Neufeld maintained her studio from the 1930s until the 1960s, where in addition to creating her own work she also taught art classes. In 1957 she received a fellowship for the Huntington Hartford Foundation artist colony to live and work there. She died on May 30, 1967, in Kansas City, Missouri.