In the first post-war years, when Emil Schumacher once again devoted himself fully to painting, the Lepkes were among the first collectors to believe in the young artist. Today, the Lepke Collection comprises around seventy drawings, prints, and paintings. It is the only nearly complete collection of Emil Schumacher’s early work in private hands.

Owing to their interest in the painter, who was still unknown at the time, the Lepke couple provided him with his early economic livelihood, enabling Schumacher to create his first charcoal drawings, woodcuts, and linocuts. The motifs from this period, nudes and landscapes, are typically academic, but formally strongly influenced by expressionism. Initially, the young painter was drawn to this art movement, like many of his peers, before later turning to abstraction.

In addition to numerous illustrations of his works, the publication also contains a text by Rudolf Lepke Jr., who, based on his own memories and on documents from his parents – including a family chronicle, a guest book, diaries, and meticulous records kept by his father – recounts their friendship with Schumacher.