Hans Feibusch

Hans Feibusch (Frankfurt am Main, 1898 – London, 1998) was a German painter and sculptor of Jewish heritage who lived and worked in Britain from 1933 until his death. He is best known for his murals, particularly in Anglican churches. He worked in thirty Anglican churches, twenty-eight as a muralist and two as a sculptor only, probably producing the largest body of work in this field by any artist in the history of the Church of England.

After serving in the German Army during the First World War, he studied in Munich, worked under Karl Hofer in Berlin and with André Lhote in Paris. In 1931 he won a prize from the Prussian Academy of Arts for his painting The Fishmonger. After the Nazis came to power he emigrated to England in 1933. His works were included in the 1937 Degenerate Art exhibition, probably because of his Jewish heritage, although his painting was relatively conservative.

In England he became friends with George Bell, Bishop of Chichester, whose influence brought him his first religious commissions, including the mural in the bishop's private chapel. His painting, always representational, combined an expressive use of colour with neo-classical arrangements of closely grouped figures. Among his murals, the Trinity in Glory at St Alban the Martyr, Holborn, is his largest single work, and the Newport civic series was painted with Phyllis Bray. He converted to Christianity in 1965, though in his last years he returned to the Jewish faith of his youth.

His reputation was reassessed from 1993, when the Twentieth Century Society held a celebration of his work. His studio contents went to Pallant House Gallery in Chichester.