Black and white photograph of Heinz Koppel and Renate Fischl, on their wedding day in 1949.

Heinz Koppel - Biography

Artist Heinz Koppel was born to Jewish parents in Berlin in 1919. After the Nazis came to power in Germany, they emigrated to Prague, Czechoslovakia, and later fled to the United Kingdom in 1938. His father, Joachim Koppel, founded and worked at the Aero Zipp factory at Treforest and Heinz studied art in London. His mother, Paula, had severe arthritis and was unable to leave with the rest of the family; she was eventually murdered in the Treblinka Extermination Camp.

From 1944, Heinz lived in Dowlais near Merthyr Tydfil where he taught art to children and adults. His artworks were inspired by the surrounding countryside and the industrial areas of Wales. In 1949, he married fellow artist Renate Fischl and they lived with their children in London and Liverpool before finally settling in Cwmerfyn, near Aberystwyth. He was one of the founding members of the 56 Group Wales, an artists’ organisation with the aim of promoting Welsh Modernist art and artists. Heinz died in 1980 aged 61.

Renarte Fischl was born in Dresden, Germany. She too was a painter and a student of the East Anglian School of Painting and Drawing.