Peter Flinsch

Artist Peter Flinsch was born in Leipzig, Germany in 1920. He was drafted into compulsory military service during the Second World War. He was discovered embracing another man and was court-martialed. He was imprisoned and then sent to a punitive work detail. This may have saved his life because his former unit was sent to the Eastern Front. After the war he returned to Leipzig, then moved to Berlin and finally Paris. In 1953 he immigrated to Canada. In 1955 he moved to Montreal, Quebec where he spent the rest of his life. He worked as a television set designer at Radio-Canada (the French language service of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation). His artistic work continued at home in his studio. He drew, painted and sculpted until the late 1990's when he had a small stroke. After his death on March 30, 2010, there remained on the wall of his studio his motto "A painting a day keeps the doctor away". Over the years he had exhibitions in Montreal, New York, Toronto, Berlin, Düsseldorf, Cape Town, Hamburg, Hagan and Lubeck.