German art dealer who promoted the works of German Expressionists since 1913, especially Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, becoming his most important gallerist.
Schames received training as a banker and spent many years alternately in Frankfurt and Paris, where he worked as a banker, and where he was fascinated by the local art scene. He made numerous contacts with artists and compiled an art collection.
In 1885, aged 36, Schames returned from Paris and took part in the family business in Frankfurt, which traded in bedsprings and horsehair. In 1895, together with his business partner Wilhelm S. Posen, he opened 10 “splendid little rooms (at the opera, 1st floor) at Opernplatz …” This art shop belonged to a new type of gallery, which promoted modern artists, actively conveying their ideas and styles.
The art dealers Posen & Schames specialized in the paintings of French late Impressionism and the art of Fauvism. In 1900, Posen & Schames exhibited works by Jakob Nußbaum, for which the artist himself designed the invitation card.
From 1906 he continued the art shop Posen & Schames alone under the name “Kunstsalon Ludwig Schames”. At the same time, his emphasis shifted to the German Expressionists, in particular from the circle of the Neue Künstlervereinigung München such as Wassily Kandinsky, Adolf Erbslöh, Alexei Jawlensky, Alexander Kanoldt and Karl Hofer.
Shames had two children with his wife Fanny. The painter Samson Schames was his nephew. He died on in Frankfurt am Main on 3 July 1922, aged 69.
Link to Wikipedia biography (German)