In the exhibition “Tête-à-Tête. Köpfe aus der Kunstsammlung der Berliner Volksbank,” visitors to the Kunstforum in Charlottenburg will encounter one of the most interesting series of works from the Kunstsammlung der Berliner Volksbank: head representations. They are outstanding ambassadors for the collection, specialising in figurative art. The works of 22 artists, who mainly live in Berlin and Brandenburg, show the diversity of topics with examples from almost seven decades from 1950 to 2018. Since the modern era, artists have dealt more and more freely with the subject of “head representations,” detaching themselves from the classic portrait and creating fascinating interpretations. In the exhibition, form and expression are particularly in dialogue with material and technology.
Designed using concrete, glass, steel, cast stone and terracotta, the sculptural works by Horst Antes, Clemens Gröszer, Dieter Hacker, Christina Renker, Gerd Sonntag and Ulla Walter should be mentioned. The exhibition also includes diverse paintings, drawings and works on paper and graphics from important artists of the collection such as Gerhard Altenbourg, Luciano Castelli, Christa Dichgans, Rainer Fetting, Dieter Hacker, Angela Hampel, Martin Heinig, Burkhard Held, Helge Leiberg, Markus Lüpertz, Helmut Middendorf, Roland Nicolaus, AR Penck, Hans Scheuerecker, Erika Stürmer – Alex, Max Uhlig and Dieter Zimmermann.
Introduction to the exhibition “Tête-à-Tête. Köpfe aus der Kunstsammlung der Berliner Volksbank” by curator Dr. Dörte Döhl
When it comes to the subject of the head in art, one first thinks of the traditional genre of the portrait. The art of portraits usually emphasised the individual’s personality, and these commissioned works were mostly created with the intention of self-portrayal or the staging of power. It is not uncommon to use the portrait as a fascinating documentation of history and cultural history. In modern occidental art of the 20th century, however, we often encounter head motifs that put the individual aside and instead, underline other aspects of being human or reinterpret physiognomy. It is not a matter of classical representation, but of recording emotions and experiences or states and perceptions.
Today’s artists can look back on around a century of development that has fundamentally expanded the way we view the human head. At the end of the 19th century, Edvard Munch, in his composition known as “The Scream,” used simple stylistic means to make the motion of fear tangible, especially in the face of his figure. A short period after the turn of the century, Pablo Picasso began to develop a new visual language. Inspired by African sculpture, he also changed the human figure by breaking open forms. Cubism focused on an object from several perspectives at one time and thus also changed the perspective of the human head in art.
This turn to abstraction was further developed in the 1920s by Paul Klee and Alexej von Jawlensky. Klee’s well-known painting “Senecio” shows a round face painted in a few strong colours. Here too the influence of African mask art is to be highlighted, but above all, the geometric design with square, triangle and circle demonstrates the strong influence of the Bauhaus, at which Klee taught. Jawlensky, who, like Klee, came from the circle of the artist group “Blauer Reiter,” proceeded more systematically. He dissolved the shape of the face into a pattern of lines and colours. Not only that, but he also created several series in which he systematically explored the subject. The “Mystical Heads” were the first to emerge, then the “Saviour heads” and finally he himself spoke of his “abstract heads”. Immersed in themselves, the faces radiate a spirituality that has its roots in religious art. The images look like new creations in the spirit of the Orthodox icons. Picasso’s “Weeping Woman” created in 1937 has become an icon of modern art. As a mirror of strong emotions, the sitter’s face shows pain in a haunting way. Created as a result of the war painting “Guernica”, the tragedy of the epoch is expressively captured in the form of Dora Maar’s partner.
The Kunstsammlung der Berliner Volksbank comprises an extensive inventory of head depictions, of which only a selection can be shown in the exhibition “Tête-à-Tête.” The installations date from 1950 to 2018 and therefore span almost seven decades. Since “images of people” is a motto of the figurative collection, heads are an important subject matter among the works of art that have been collected over the last three decades.
The new figuration in the 1960s is represented by the steel head of Horst Antes, who became famous in particular with this type of representation or through the so-called “cephalopods.” His compact profiles explore the universal form of the subject treated in all cultures. Thus, the “head with standing figure, hoop and staff” also seems like an archaic symbol.
In contrast, Gerhard Alternbourg created filigree faces in countless works on paper. There are outstanding examples of this in the art collection the Berliner Volksbank. His “head” from 1971 confronts the viewer with a furrowed facial landscape in which memory is carved and at the same time transience is inscribed. Hans Scheuerecker devoted himself to the topic in a similarly intensive manner. The expressiveness of the line stands out in his “faces,” which playfully deal with elements of abstraction.
Outlines are often sufficient to associate a head shape, which Helge Leiberg also makes use of in “Wildheit im Kopf.” By “blending” the face with the figure of a female dancer, inside and outside views merge into one vision. While an emotional state is described here, in Ulla Walter’ “free thinker with an Archimedean point” openness in all directions is an expression of an attitude of mind. The hollow shape of the head embodies the opening to the outside and the absorption inward in thinking. A process that has to be explored again and again. Flowing transitions and openness are also themes in Gerd Sonntag’s glass sculptures. He has developed new techniques for his heads, which are made of several layers. The transparency of materials gives them a luminosity that at the same time causes the closed form to dissolve into light and colour.
The subject of contemplation is embodied by the thoughtful “astrologer” Markus Lüpertz, who seems to be a mediator between different worlds. The idealised head of Clemens Gröszer, which stands in the tradition of supersensible angel figures, also alludes to the earthly.
The powerful expression of Berlin’s “Neue Wilden” is dominant in Luciano Castelli’s monumental “Chinese Portrait” and Helmut Middendorf’s “Great City Head” from the 1980s. They are captured as free interpreted contemporary heads.
The subject of Rainer Fetting’s impressions of New York are men with hats. The big city encounters leaving fleeting impressions. With the hat as an accessory, the artist uses his possibilities as a director of the picture series.
Angela Hampel and Roland Nicolaus take up the fact that headgear or masks are traditionally used to stage a head. In their paintings “Selbst mit Maske” and “Selbstbildnis” they simultaneously pose the question of one’s own identity. Christa Dichgans shows her self-image in a sea of heads. In view of the diversity of being, she emphasises the necessity of the individual’s self-determination.
Dörte Döhl
A catalogue has been published to accompany the exhibition. This can be purchased for 5 euros plus shipping costs. If this should interest you, please send an email to:kunstforum@berliner-volksbank.de
22 minutes © Stiftung KUNSTFORUM der Berliner Volksbank gGmbH.
The exhibition “ZEITENWENDE – 30 Jahre Mauerfall. Werke aus der Kunstsammlung der Berliner Volksbank” takes the 30th anniversary since the fall of the Berlin Wall as an opportunity to show paintings from the time of the division of Germany and the political upheaval in the GDR. In this exhibition, the artworks lead you to question and examine how artists from East and West saw the Walled City of Berlin and followed the “turning point” of 1989/90.
In the 1970s, Rainer Fetting depicted the wall as a defining element of the Kreuzberg cityscape. In his early expressive paintings, Fetting concentrated on the surface and perspective effects of the building. The walls in Wolfgang Peuker’s provocative self-portrait from 1985 form an unusual background. The artist positioned himself in front of a cityscape from birds-eye view, which unadorned depicts the reality of the division.
Roland Nicolaus was inspired by the view from his studio on Pariser Platz. Such views inspired the subjects for his artistic work. Barriers, rabbits and relics of the past shape the east-west panorama. In contrast, Wolfgang Mattheuer, from Leipzig, created pictorial compositions in the 1980s that picked up moods and expressed longings. “Und die Flügel ziehen himmelwärts” depicts prisoners trying to escape the position they’re in. However, they face an abyss; a seemingly insurmountable obstacle. This urge to break out symbolises the situation of many people in the GDR. Pressure is also an issue in Hubertus Giebes’ painting from 1990. Despite the immobile figures in the foreground, a wall has been broken open with a powerful push. Invisible forces change what seems to be firmly established. Werner Liebmann created a painting in the same year, titled “Ascension”. In an ironic allusion to the tempting promises of the future, it shows a figure floating high above the Brandenburg Gate. How the departure will end remains open.
Manfred Butzmann and Konrad Knebel, two East Berlin artists, became chroniclers of the Berlin cityscape through years of studies. They carefully exposed the historical layers and the significance this had on the present. In the exhibition, works by Gerhard Alternbourg, Wolfgang Leber, Giuseppe Madonia, Helmut Metzner, Harald Metzkes, Wolfgang Petrick and Stefan Plenkers from the Berliner Volksbank’s art collection as well as selected public and private loans will also be shown.
Exhibition film „Die Berliner Mauer und ihr Fall”
28 minutes © Stiftung KUNSTFORUM der Berliner Volksbank gGmbH.
Hans Laabs (1915 – 2004) was one of the defining artists of the Berlin post-war period. Within the bohemian Charlottenburg art circle, he was ahead of his time within the reconstruction of the West Berlin cultural scene. In the mid-1950s, the non-conformist moved to Ibiza. Over a period of thirty years, he would spend several months a year painting. In the eighties, he returned to his studio in Luwigkirchstrasse, Berlin. During the summ
ers, he explored Salt and after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Baltic coast. There he found inspiration for his late poetic works.
Works by Hans Laabs and his companions such as Alexander Camaro, Werner Heldt, Jeanne Mammen, Ludwig Gabirel Schreiber, Heinz Trökes and Hans Uhlmann from the art collection of the Berliner Volksbank, as well as loans are exhibited.
23 minutes ⓒ Stiftung KUNSTFORUM der Berliner Volksbank gGmbH.
At the end of January 2019, Harald Metzkes, who lives in Altlandsberg near Berlin in Brandenburg, turned 90. To mark the occasion, the Stiftung Kunstforum paid tribute to him with this exhibition.
Born in Bautzen, the artist moved to East Berlin in the mid-1950s, where he refused to comply with the official guidelines of the GDR’s cultural policy. He was soon counted among the non-conformist “Berlin School”. He is considered one of the most important artists of the GDR and of contemporary art. Harald Metzkes created multi-layered and enigmatic symbols of social realities. In doing so, he developed a style influenced in particular by 19th-century French paintings.
The art collection of the Berliner Volksbank owns almost 70 works by Harald Metzkes. In the first exhibition in the new Kunstforum, all of Harald Metzkes’ paintings from the Berliner Volksbank art collection were shown for the first time. The collection unites a stock of representative works that has grown over three decades and highlights Metzke’s development.
24 minutes © Stiftung KUNSTFORUM der Berliner Volksbank gGmbH.
The exhibition “bankART – Drei Jahrzehnte Kunstsammlung der Berliner Volksbank” featured high-calibre paintings, works on paper and sculptures in the Kunstforum at Budapester Straße 35.
A highlight of the exhibition was the presentation of the complete collection of works on paper by the Thuringian “picture poet” Gerhard Altenbourg, shown for the first time in this form. Sculptures by Horst Antes, René Graetz and Rolf Szymanski also offered a multifaceted insight into the field of figurative sculpture. In addition, works from the estate of the Berlin painter Bertold Haag were presented for the first time, which the Stiftung KUNSTFORUM der Berliner Volksbank has been looking after since 2008.
A total of more than 80 works of art by 47 artists were shown, including works by Werner Tübke, Wolfgang Mattheuer, Bernhard Heisig, Rainer Fetting, Horst Antes, Harald Metzkes, but also newly acquired works by Carsten Kaufhold and Britta von Willert, among others.
The selected artworks provided a representative view of the then-current state of the collection, which is one of the most prestigious corporate collections of German-German art after 1950. Curator Dr Janina Dahlmanns presented the exhibition in the rotunda of the Kunstforum under the aspect “Innenwelten – Außenwelten.”
A shock for experts, a voyage of discovery for art lovers and history buffs: Larger-than-life sculptures in Hellenistic style, statues and monumental temple reliefs of African rulers in Pharaonic regalia, colossal animal sculptures of sacred rams and lions, relief stelae with images of gods and kings, and inscriptions in hieroglyphics that are not Egyptian. The exhibition “Königsstadt Naga” showed around 130 objects that have only been excavated in the desert of Northern Sudan in the last 15 years by a team of researchers from the Egyptian Museum Berlin.
Naga was a royal city of the Meroë Empire, which was the politically and economically powerful southern neighbour of Ptolemaic-Roman Egypt from 300 BC to 350 AD. The works on loan from Sudan for this exhibition were all created in Naga in the 1st century AD. Despite this narrow limitation in space and time, they represent a spectrum of artistic diversity in sculpture, relief and architecture, ranging from African tribal art to Egyptian-inspired works to works that draw from Hellenistic-Roman sources.
As a world premiere, these artworks are an irritating broadening of the horizons of the established image of ancient art and culture. They form a bridge between Africa and the world of the Mediterranean and thus symbolically stand for a region that also today and in the future has the potential to connect continents and cultural areas. All objects were made available on loan by the National Corporation for Antiquities and Museums of Sudan. The exhibition was created in cooperation with the National Museums in Berlin, funded by the Ernst von Siemens Kunststiftung and supported by the Verein zur Förderung des Ägyptischen Museums Berlin e.V.
Posters are a popular item used in everyday life. Their triumphant advance in the urban landscape began around 150 years ago. As this advertising medium became more and more widespread, not only graphic artists designed posters, but increasingly also artists who appropriated the medium. This mass media advertising and art form took a dynamic development in the 19th century until today. Posters are not only a medium of communication but also a mirror of society, its structures and everyday history. They often document basic political-social views, leisure, consumer and cultural behaviours in the broadest sense as well as educational and taste standards.
“KUNST FUR DIE STRASSE” gives a comprehensive overview of poster art from the Kupferstich-Kabinett of the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden. On display are works by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Otto Dix, Oskar Kokoschka, Marc Chagall, Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Rauschenberg, Manfred Butzmann and A. R. Penck.
Die Stiftung KUNSTFORUM der Berliner Volksbank zeigte vom 8.9.2010 bis 19.12.2010 in Kooperation mit dem Rumänischen Kulturinstitut “Titu Maiorescu” Hinterglasikonen der Region Siebenbürgen (Transsilvanien) aus der Sammlung Hartmut van Riesen, München und der Sammlung Irina Muntean, Berlin.Weitere Leihgaben kamen aus dem Muzeul National al Unirii, Alba Iulia (Rumänien). Die rund 170 Bilder, die zum ersten Mal in einer Ausstellung zu sehen waren, gaben einen faszinierenden Einblick in die Vielfalt der rumänischen Hinterglasikonen aus dem 19. Jahrhundert.
Sammlung van Riesen, München
Die umfangreiche Sammlung historischer Hinterglasbilder des Münchner Künstlers Hartmut van Riesen und seiner Ehefrau Gisela verdankt ihre Entstehung der Begeisterung für die Hinterglasmaltechnik aus Siebenbürgen. Auslöser der Sammelfreude war eine Hinterglasikone des Heiligen Nikolaus, die das Ehepaar 1966 zum Dank als Geschenk erhielt. Das Interesse für diese volksnahe Kunstform führte die van Riesens über gezielte Ausstellungsbesuche und Kontakte zu anderen Sammlern.
Sammlung Irina Muntean, Berlin
Irina Munteans Sammlung rumänischer Hinterglasikonen aus Siebenbürgen befindet sich bereits in dritter Generation in Familienbesitz. Von klein auf mit ihnen aufgewachsen vertiefte sie ihr Wissen über die Bilder auch durch Tätigkeiten im Brukenthal-Museum in Sibiu und im Antiquitätenhandel. Die einst an den Wänden des Bauernhauses der Großmutter in Rosia (Nordsiebenbürgen) bewunderten alten Bilder, die Faszination der Farben, die märchenhaften Figuren und der mystische Zauber bei flackerndem Kerzenlicht, weckten ihre Leidenschaft und wurden zur Lebensaufgabe.
Sammlung Muzeul National al Unirii in Alba Iulia, Rumänien
In dem 1888 auf Initiative der Gesellschaft für Geschichte, Archäologie und Naturwissenschaften des Kreises Alba gegründeten Muzeul National al Unirii in Alba Iulia wurden rund 200.000 museale Objekte und Kunstwerke von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart gesammelt. Die Hinterglasikonen bilden innerhalb der religiösen Sammlungsbestände die größte Werkgruppe und stammen aus allen wichtigen Zentren dieser Kunst.
Weitere Informationen:
Zentren der Hinterglasikonen-Malerei (PDF) >>
Rumänisches Titu Maiorescu Kulturinstitut Berlin (PDF) >>
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Three years after the large retrospective of Hans Purrmann’s work at the Kunstforum der Berliner Volksbank, a major exhibition was dedicated to his wife and fellow artist. The comprehensive presentation of the works of Mathilde Vollmoeller-Purrmann were created in cooperation with the Purrmann-Haus Speyer.
Mathilde Vollmoeller-Purrmann’s life and work are exemplary for an entire generation of women artists around 1900. As for many of her contemporaries, the metropolises of Berlin and Paris are the formative stages of her artistic career. In Berlin, Mathilde Vollmoeller was a student of Leo von König and Sabine Lepsius. In Paris, she exhibited successfully at the “Salon d’Automne” and the “Indépendants” and was a member of the “Académie Matisse”. For a long time, it was assumed that she had given up painting after her marriage to fellow artist Hans Purrmann. It was only after the rediscovery of a large part of her oeuvre that it could be proven that Mathilde Vollmoeller-Purrmann continued her artistic activity throughout her life.
The exhibition focused on Mathilde Vollmoeller-Purrmann’s paintings and watercolours. In addition, the role of women artists around 1900 was illuminated. In this context, the artists’ Sabine Lepsius (1864 – 1942), Marg Moll (1884 – 1977) and Maria Slavona (1865 – 1931), who were friends of Mathilde Vollmoeller, were introduced. A juxtaposition of works by Hans and Mathilde Purrmann focused on this extraordinary artistic marriage.
With the exhibition “Mathilde Vollmoeller-Purrmann (1876 – 1943). Berlin – Paris – Berlin,” Mathilde Vollmoeller’s artistic work returned after around 100 years to the art metropolis of Berlin, where, under the influence of the portrait painter Sabine Lepsius, the artist decided to train professionally in painting and lived for many years. Her life and work are exemplary for a whole generation of women artists around 1900.
For the Netherlands, the 17th century is considered the “Golden Age”. The economy of the small country flourished greatly as a result of the expansion of seafaring and trade. In the course of the years, the predominantly Protestant bourgeoisie attained great wealth and prosperity, and this was confidently displayed. As a result, the fine arts also flourished. In particular, the production of landscape, portrait and still-life painting soared to heights never again reached in Holland during the Golden Age.
The approximately sixty Dutch still lifes of the 17th and 18th centuries presented in the Kunstforum are among the most precious treasures of the Schwerin collections. On display were outstanding examples from all genres: magnificent flower arrangements, kitchen pieces, hunting and forest floor motifs. The exhibition included works by the genres most famous figures: Jan van Huysum (1682 – 1749), who was called the “Phönix der Blumenmale,” Pieter Claesz (1597/98 – 1660), Isaak Soreau (1604-unknown), Willem van Aelst (1626 – 1683), Otto Marseus van Schrieck (1619/20 – 1678), Willem Kalf (1619 – 1693), Rachel Ruysch (1664 – 1750) and Jan Davidsz. de Heem (1606 – 1684).
