D-20095 About the Museum The early years

The Kunsthalle owes its existence to an initiative by the Kunstverein in Hamburg (Hamburg Art Union), which was founded in 1817 and opened the first “public municipal painting gallery” in the Börsenarkaden in 1850. The collection grew rapidly due to the contribution of gifted works, and it soon became necessary to provide a building in which to house it. In August 1869, financed largely through donations, the Hamburg Kunsthalle was opened.

The basis of the permanent collection, 1886-1914

In 1886 the first Director was appointed – Alfred Lichtwark, who brought worldwide fame to the museum. Through the rediscovery and acquisition of works by the great Hamburg painters of the Middle Ages (Master Bertram and Master Franke) and the Romantic Period (Philipp Otto Runge and Caspar David Friedrich), he initiated a rapid and successful expansion of recent masters up to the present day (Menzel, Leibl, Thoma, Liebermann und Corinth), also extending over the German border to include works by Courbet, Manet, Renoir, Bonnard, and Vuillard.

Rapid expansion and the advent of modern art, 1914-1933

Lichtwark’s successor, Gustav Pauli, who was Director of the Kunsthalle from 1914 onwards, oversaw the extension of the museum into the so-called “new building”, a move which had become unavoidable for reasons of space. The new building was opened in 1919 after the end of the First World War, and featured large exhibition rooms with light from above, flanked by cabinets lit from the side.

Pauli used the move into the new building as an opportunity to reorganize the collection. He established a more distinct arrangement of the stock, making it possible to gain insight into the historical developement of painting. The new art movement (Franz Marc, Kokoschka, Nolde and Picasso), which Lichtwark had no longer been able to follow, moved into the Kunsthalle with Pauli. His most stunning aquisition, however, was without a doubt Manet’s “Nana”, which is to this day one of the highlights of the collection.

Severe losses, 1933-1945

Following Pauli’s departure in 1933, the provisional Director Harald Busch was able to defend the modern section for a time against attacks by National Socialist cultural politicians. However in 1937, under Director Werner Kloos, the destructive wave which aimed to confiscate “degenerate art” finally struck the Kunsthalle and destroyed the modern department. 74 paintings and arround 1,200 drawings and graphic works were lost.

1945-1955

Carl Georg Heise, who before 1933 had been Director of Museums in Lübeck, reestablished the reputation of the Hamburg Kunsthalle in the very difficult period after 1945. Most importantly, he completely rebuilt the collection of modern art, making it one of the best in Germany.

Extensions, 1955-1969

Alfred Hentzen, who succeeded Heise in 1955, was able to follow a path clearly defined by his predecessors. With funds now more readily available, it was possible to acquire works of art from the 19th century (Renoir, Gauguin) and, above all, modern painting and sculpture.

New inspiration, 1969-1990

As Director of the Kunsthalle from 1969 to 1990, Werner Hofmann gave the Museum fresh impetus. With the continued expansion of the collection, the Hamburg Kunsthalle was able to achieve an important position within the international museums landscape, above all as a result of exhibition such as the cycle “Art around 1800″ (with works by C. D. Friedrich, Runge, Goya amongst others) which attracted worldwide attention.

Restructuring, since 1991

At the beginning of 1991 Uwe M. Schneede was appointed Director of the Kunsthalle, which has recently entered a period of change. The galleries have been renovated, and paintings by the old and recent masters as well as the modern art collection have been rearranged into an attractive new hanging. An extension building offering 6.000 m of exhibition space has opened in February 1997, and houses the new collection of contemporary art – “New Modernist” art from 1960 onwards.  Museum Collections The Hamburger Kunsthalle numbers among the most important art museums in Germany and posseses a collection spanning seven centuries of art history. Among its highlights are the medieval altars of Master Bertram and Master Francke, Dutch seventeenth-century painting with two famous Rembrandt pictures, German Romantic painting with major works by Ph. O. Runge and C. D. Friedrich, and an outstanding collection of Impressionism and Classical Modernism. With the opening of the Gallery of Contemporary Art in 1997, the art of the present has achieved prominence. There are some 20 special exhibitions per year. Web site http://www.hamburger-kunsthalle.de/

D-58042 Hagen About the Museum The Karl Ernst Osthaus-Museum is an art museum in Hagen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The center of the museum is a building whose interior was designed by Henry van de Velde to house Karl Ernst Osthaus’ art collection, open to the public as the Folkwang Museum. When Osthaus’ heirs sold his art collection to the city of Essen, the city of Hagen gained possession of the empty museum building. For a time it served as offices for the local electric company.

After World War II, the new director of Hagen’s city art museum, Herta Hesse, oversaw the restoration of the old Folkwang building into a new home for Hagen’s art museum. Although the original interior design was lost due to reconstruction and World War II bombings, the interior has been restored several times and gives a reasonable approximation of Osthaus’ original museum, if not its collection. Under her direction, the museum focused on recapturing what the city had lost when the Folkwang collection was sold to Essen. The museum became a focus for exhibits of art nouveau and expressionist art, particularly the artists associated with Osthaus or his art colony.

Under Michael Fehr, the Karl Ernst Osthaus-Museum adopted a more playful attitude toward local history. Large installations created sensations in the city, and numerous works poke fun at Hagen’s inability to transcend the Osthaus past.

The Karl Ernst Osthaus-Museum also houses the Karl Ernst Osthaus-Archive, a major depository of documents relating to the Folkwang Museum and early 20th century avant garde art and architecture. Museum Collections The painting collection stems from private donations and gradual purchases. It houses one of the main collections of paintings by Christian Rohlfs and the most important collection of paintings by Emil Schumacher. Both are considered Hagen artists. Other notable works on exhibit include environmental art by Herman de Vries, and the German branch of the Museum of Jurassic Technology. Web site http://www.keom.de/

Küchengartenallee 4

07548 Gera

Otto Dix House

Mohrenplatz 4

07548 Gera About the Museum Gera’s Orangery is a late Baroque structure with two wings located in the former kitchen gardens of the estate of the younger line of the princely Reuß family. The orangery and greenhouse was designed by the Saxon state builder to the monarchy Gottfried Heinrich Krohne and built in the years 1729-1732 and 1748/49. Over the course of a tumultuous history, it served as military hospital, a horse barn, a gymnasium and a restaurant, and finally housed the Gera Art Association. The Orangery has been the home of the Gera Art Collection since 1972.

The two side wings and two ballrooms located in the center part of the building provide just under 1,000 square meters of space for the newly designed exhibition  “From Cranach to Dix” and for an ambitious program of special exhibits. Museum Collections The foundation of the Gera Art Collection is a mid-sized inventory of paintings, graphic prints, drawings and sculptures from the Middle Ages to the present day. It comprises just under 11,000 objects. Highlights of the collection are exhibited in the recently renovated North wing of the Orangery.

Under the name “From Cranach to Dix,” we have create unique constellations of known and lesser-known works and artists, with pictures from various centuries, generations and worldviews. We have placed Alexander Wolfgang next to Hans Thoma, combined Barbara Toch with Karl Weschke, set 19th century works from Gera together with scenes from the famous Munich and Dresden schools of painting, and created encounters between Joseph Beuys and Horst Sakulowski and Rainer Schumacher. In short, the exhibition demonstrates the uniqueness of a specific region in connection with the larger world of art history.

The graphics collection includes works from Dürer’s time to the present day.  One extraordinary group of works is titled “Sketches from the GDR” and comprises just under 2,000 works. In the studio space at Otto Dix House, you have the opportunity of receiving expert instruction in producing your own works on paper.

The Gera Art Collection houses 400 paintings and works on paper by Otto Dix. They include major works spanning the artist’s creative life, from a pupil’s Impressionist beginnings in the Thuringian landscape to the last self-portrait, with his niece Marcella, created in 1969, the year of his death.

Otto Dix House shows both highlights of its own collections and high-quality works on loan from the Otto Dix Foundation in Vaduz. The graphics collections includes sketchbooks from Dix’s youth, watercolors and drawings from the 1920’s and 1930’s as well as the war cycle masterpiece (50 etchings) and later color lithographs. The works also include a unique collection of 48 military postcards containing sketches from the First World War.

The Gera Dix collection offers an overview of Dix’s varied body of work that illustrates both overall characteristics and specific tendencies. A catalogue of the collection provides extensive commentary. Web site http://www.kunstsammlung-gera.de/

Otto-Dix-Weg 6

78343 Gaienhofen-Hemmenhofen About the Museum Otto Dix was born in 1891 in Untermhaus near Gera, the son of Franz and Louise Dix,  an ironworker and a seamstress,. Today the area is among the most beautiful in Gera. The Dix family occupied two rooms in an apartment building near the Church of St. Mary (Marienkirche). No could have known at the time that a hundred years hence Dix would be one of the most significant German artists of the 20th century. In 1991, Dix’s expanded and restored birthplace was inaugurated as a museum; since then, it has housed one of the largest publicly accessible collections of his works.

The visitor finds a permanent exhibition of the artist’s major works. Additionally, the historic atmosphere of working class household at the turn of the twentieth century  has been recreated through a collection of materials that gives insight into Dix’s life. A program of special exhibits on regional art history and contemporary art rounds out the offerings. Museum Collections The foundation of the Gera Art Collection is a mid-sized inventory of paintings, graphic prints, drawings and sculptures from the Middle Ages to the present day. It comprises just under 11,000 objects. Highlights of the collection are exhibited in the recently renovated North wing of the Orangery.

Under the name “From Cranach to Dix,” we have create unique constellations of known and lesser-known works and artists, with pictures from various centuries, generations and worldviews. We have placed Alexander Wolfgang next to Hans Thoma, combined Barbara Toch with Karl Weschke, set 19th century works from Gera together with scenes from the famous Munich and Dresden schools of painting, and created encounters between Joseph Beuys and Horst Sakulowski and Rainer Schumacher. In short, the exhibition demonstrates the uniqueness of a specific region in connection with the larger world of art history.

The graphics collection includes works from Dürer’s time to the present day.  One extraordinary group of works is titled “Sketches from the GDR” and comprises just under 2,000 works. In the studio space at Otto Dix House, you have the opportunity of receiving expert instruction in Web site http://www.kunstsammlung-gera.de/

D-60311 About the Museum Founded in 1981, the latest addition to Frankfurt’s museum world was baptized the »slice of cake« by locals, due to its triangular shape. In 1983 an open design competition was held to decide what the museum should look like. On May 17, 1983 Hans Hollein, a Viennese architect, was awarded the first prize and was commissioned to handle the project.

With his design for the Museum für Moderne Kunst Hans Hollein has accomplished an unusual architectural feat. He has succeeded in creating a triangular building which not only fits neatly into the triangular space available to him, but which is an experience to discover, and leaves a lasting impression on the visitor.

Very few people who enter the »slice of cake« have any idea of what the building looks like from the inside. The architecture is characterized by a succession of elements linking the different exhibition rooms – namely a series of passages offering varying perspectives on the rooms themselves. What gives the architecture dramatic tension is the relationship between the individual rooms, their proportions, and the particular forms of lighting used throughout the building.

Because the ground-plan of the building itself is so idiosyncratic, the rooms at the MMK, around 40 in total, are so individual in layout that it is difficult to compare them with the rooms in any other museum building. Museum Collections The MMK is entirely devoted to contemporary art. The heart of its collection is formed by a group of 84 works dating from the 60s. The collection includes works by Chamberlain, de Maria, Johns, Judd, Lichtenstein, Oldenburg, Rauschenberg, Rosenquist, Segal and Warhol, as well as Bacon, Klein, Palermo, Rainer, Richter, Ruthenbeck and Walter.From the mid-80s onwards this stock has been supplemented with contemporary art works.

Approximately every six months there is a ‘Change of Scene’ at the museum, which involves six to eight rooms being refitted. Web site http://www.mmk-frankfurt.de/

Dürerstr. 2

60596 Frankfurt am Main About the Museum The Städel is one of the leading and best known art museums in Germany. It is a must for any visitor to Frankfurt. 700 years of European history are represented in a collection of 2,700 paintings, 600 sculptures and 100,000 prints and drawings by artists ranging from Dürer, Holbein and Cranach to Rembrandt, Vermeer, Monet, Van Gogh and Cézanne to Matisse and Picasso, Bacon and Baselitz, Serra and Palermo. Museum Collections The Städel collection contains masterpieces that bridge seven centuries of European art: featuring magnificent paintings representative of the major schools and epochs of painting from the early 14th century to the present.

The Städel owns some 600 sculptures of which only a small part is on display.

The interplay between 19th- and 20th-century paintings and sculptures particularly engages viewers.

The wide span of the collection provides a stimulating art experience. Beside well known works, there is always something new to be discovered. Web site http://www.staedelmuseum.de/

D-60311 About the Museum The SCHIRN KUNSTHALLE FRANKFURT is one of Europe’s most renowned exhibition institutions. Since 1986, more than 130 exhibitions have been realized, including major surveys dedicated to art nouveau in Vienna, Expressionism, Dada, and Surrealism, the history of photography, or contemporary positions in sound art or on the subject of “Shopping – A Century of Art and Consumer Culture,” as well as retrospectives of Wassily Kandinsky, Marc Chagall, Alberto Giacometti, Frida Kahlo, Bill Viola, Arnold Schönberg, Henri Matisse, Julian Schnabel, James Lee Byars and Yves Klein. . The SCHIRN, with Max Hollein as director, presents explosive issues and topical aspects of artistic oevres in a concise language under contemporary aspects. Being a venue of discoveries, the SCHIRN offers both sides to its visitors: an original sensuous experience and committed involvement in cultural discussion.

The name of the Schirn Kunsthalle is historical. The German word “Schirn” originally meant an open-air stall for selling goods. Until the end of the Second World War, there was a Schirn street at the downtown location where the Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt has been located since 1986. Well into the nineteenth century the sellers’ stands of the Frankfurt butchers’ guild were situated “an der Schern.” After the destruction of the old town in 1944 this downtown area remained unreconstructed for the next thirty-seven years. The Schirn’s complex of buildings, designed and planned by the architectural firm of Bangert, Jansen, Scholz & Schultes and with an exhibition space of 2000 m2, created a modern connection between the central historical structures of the cathedral and the Römer city hall. The founding of the Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt took place during the culturally fruitful period between 1970 and 1990 under Frankfurt’s deputy mayor for cultural affairs, Hilmar Hoffmann, a period that also saw the famed Frankfurt Museumsufer (Museum Riverbank) achieve its present importance. Since 1986 the Schirn has formed a center of urban integration in the heart of Germany’s business metropolis, and it is an impulse for cultural discussion of European rank. Museum Collections The ‘Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt’ is one of Germany’s most renowned exhibition institutions. Since 1986, more than 100 exhibitions have been realized, including major surveys dedicated to Expressionism, Dada, and Surrealism, the history of photography, or contemporary positions in sound art, as well as one man shows of Wassily Kandinsky, Marc Chagall, Alberto Giacometti, Frida Kahlo, Bill Viola, and Henri Matisse. Max Hollein, Director of the ‘Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt’, considers it the Schirn’s duty ‘to present explosive issues and topical aspects of artistic oeuvres in a concise language under contemporary aspects. Being a venue of discoveries, the Schirn offers both sides to its visitors: an original, sensuous experience and committed involvement in the cultural discussion.’ Offering an imaginative approach to the exhibition contents, workshops for grown-ups and kids open up new insights in a playful manner. Web site http://www.schirn-kunsthalle.de/

Steinernes Haus am Römerberg

Markt 44

60311 Frankfurt am Main About the Museum The Frankfurter Kunstverein is a major national and international institution for contemporary art in Germany.

New and Old in the City Centre

The Steinerne Haus, which houses Frankfurter Kunstverein’s over 1,000 m2 gallery space, stands in the heart of the old city between the Römer (City Hall) and the Schirn Kunsthalle.

It is one of the city’s few remaining historic buildings. Strategic modification of its architecture has enabled Frankfurter Kunstverein to fit in ideally with its surroundings. Frankfurter Kunstverein is maintained by its over 1,700 members from the Rhine-Main area, other parts of Germany, and abroad. The city of Frankfurt am Main generously provides the premises and limited funding. Project-related funding is also received from individuals, foundations, and companies.

Dialogue with the Present

Side by side with our temporary exhibitions our goal is to highlight the social relevance of contemporary art by consciously seeking innovative models that re-define the relations between visual arts and viewers. Ongoing commentary on and dialogue with the present, its problems and aspirations, is the result. We keep an eye on contemporary art in order to profile interesting developments in exhibitions and projects. We also nurture valuable contacts to the international art scene so that we can respond promptly to new impulses. Guided tours, lectures, film programmes, symposia, conferences, travel  are some of the means by which Frankfurter Kunstverein helps members and visitors to come to grips with this exciting new terrain and to open up critical dialogue with current exhibitions and contemporary art.

Art as a Cultural Activity

Modern art has always had a home at the Frankfurter Kunstverein. Founded in numerous German cities in the early nineteenth century, the aim of the Municipal Art Associations (Kunstvereine) was to support and disseminate new and modern art. One of the newly-founded Frankfurter Kunstverein’s chief functions in 1829 was to work with the Städelsches Kunstinstitut in Frankfurt am Main in acquiring works for its collection. The emphasis shifted gradually to independent exhibitions and to the presentation of little-known artists and artistic directions that later came to play a seminal role in the development of art. In the early 20th century the Frankfurter Kunstverein exhibited works by Max Beckmann, when he was still unknown. After World War II Frankfurter Kunstverein made its mark with internationally oriented solo exhibitions and theme-oriented group exhibitions aimed at highlighting new and exciting developments. This work has continued right up to the present day. Experimentation is important, as well as keeping an eye open for the new and the seminal. Museum Collections Although the museum has no permanent collection, as art is not purchased any more, its exhibitions of contemporary art are internationally renowned. Furthermore, guided tours, symposia, film programs, and excursions are organized. So even in the neighbourhood of important museums, such as the Museum of Modern Art (Museum für Moderne Kunst) and Schirn Gallery (Schirn Kunsthalle), the museum manages to assert itself as an important meeting point not only for Frankfurt’s art scene. Especially young artists of the state-run art school (Städelschule ) and the well-known design school HFG are closely connected with the museum and cooperation is common. Web site http://www.fkv.de/de/index.html

Weckmarkt 17

D-60311 Frankfurt am Main About the Museum The Fotografie Forum international (FFi) is located in the heart of Frankfurt on the south side of the Frankfurter Cathedral in the first floor of the historical Leinwandhaus. Since its founding in 1984 the FFi has specialized in contemporary and historical photography of international importance. Through changing exhibitions, gallery talks and workshops visitors experience first hand the different aspects of the photographic image: photojournalism, fashion, art, science or advertising. Museum Collections The Fotografie Forum international has premiered many classical and cutting edge photographers to the German art scene. Web site http://www.ffi-frankfurt.de/