Lene

Lene Schneider_Kainer was born in 1885 into a Jewish_family. In 1909 she started her art studies in Germany and France. she married a German painter and graphic designer, Ludwig Kainer. She made her debut as an artist in 1917 with an exhibition of her paintings. The erotic approach in her works shocked the art societies and groups in Germany. In 1926 and After her divorce, ordered by one of the most widely circulated magazine, “Berliner Tageblattes” she started an adventurous travel accompanied the German writer, Bernhard Kellermann. In this travel which started from Berlin, they entered Venice, Russia then Iran. In Iran they started making a documentary film. they filmed in three important and historical cities and towns; Isfahan, Kerman and Bandar Abbas. During their stay in Iran, she painted people especially women and children. She left some notes in this regard. After returning from Iran she continued her activities but due to the rise of Nazis they had to leave Germany. She went to Spain and lived in an island (Ibiza). Breaking out the Spanish Civil War in 1936 she migrated to New York, keeping on her activities with using a pseudonym “Elena Aleska”. During those days she made textile and cloth books for children.

Lene with her son went to Bolivia and started up a textile manufacturing factory. In 1954 she passed away, in the city of Cochabamba in Bolivia.