The Kunsthalle im Lipsiusbau Shows "New Objectivity in Dresden"

Written by Gunther Andersson Thursday, 08 December 2011 02:26

Dresden, Germany.- The Kunsthalle im Lipsiusbau (The Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden (Dresden State Art Collections)) is pleased to present "New Objectivity in Dresden" on view at the museum through January 8th 2012. In the 1920s Dresden, long established as a city of art, became an important centre of the artistic styles known as “Neue Sachlichkeit” (New Objectivity) and Verism. For the first time, a special exhibition is being devoted to this phenomenon in Dresden, in which it will be possible to draw comparisons with other artistic centres in Germany. With cool distance and razor-sharp precision, painters depicted the world around them in paintings which leave an impression of extreme realism.

A selection of works by more than 70 artists will enable visitors to gain new perspectives on familiar paintings by viewing them in their contemporary artistic context and at the same time to discover hitherto little-known artists whose works are of exceptional quality. The point of departure for the research accompanying the exhibition was the collection held in the Galerie Neue Meister. Important works on loan from other renowned museums will provide a broader view of this artistic current reflecting the period of the Weimar Republic, with its problems of inflation, short-term stabilisation and political unrest. Fastidious training in drawing at the Dresden Kunstakademie and Kunstgewerbeschule moulded an entire generation of artists, including Otto Dix, George Grosz, Otto Griebel, Hans Grundig, Wilhelm Lachnit and Bernhard Kretzschmar. They produced disillusioned images of unemployed people, war invalids and prostitutes as well as portraits of working women and children, expressing the artists’ desire for social change. At the end of the 1920s, against the backdrop of the Wall Street Crash and the subsequent Great Depression, the students of Otto Dix’s paint shop – among them Curt Querner, Rudolf Bergander and Willy Wolff – again turned their attention to sociocritical themes. "Neue Sachlichkeit" (New Objectivity) combined biting irony and social criticism with old-masterly elegance and Neo-Romantic ideas.

The spectrum of the artists’ personal styles ranges from powerfully naive painting to rigid construction to tranquil traditionalism. Franz Radziwill, for example, produced unconventional landscapes in Dresden, while Richard Oelze and Franz Lenk painted strangely alienated still-lifes. The main interest of nearly all the artists was, however, portraiture: whimsical and ordinary, touching and sometimes also sophisticated faces painted with a fine brush, often using the technique of layer painting employed by the Old Masters. The exhibition contains over 140 paintings and about 40 drawings and prints. These are complemented by selected sculptures and photographs from the holdings of the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden as well as explanations about painting techniques along with photographs and films documenting events in Dresden in the 1920s. An accompanying series of talks will also investigate additional themes from the fields of architecture, literature and history.

Between the Frauenkirche and the Brühlsche Terrasse an impressive building for the arts was constructed in the 19th century. With its glass dome – nicknamed the “lemon squeezer” on account of its form – the building is a prominent feature on Dresden’s skyline. When it was first built the “lemon squeezer” was highly controversial because it was seen as rivalling the dome of the Frauenkirche. Today, however, it is regarded as an enrichment to the city’s historic Altstadt. The ornately decorated complex of buildings was called the “Lipsiusbau” after its creator, Professor of Architecture Constantin Lipsius. In addition to the Kunstakademie, it accommodated the exhibition building belonging to the Sächsischer Kunstverein (Saxon Art Society). Over many decades sensational art exhibitions were held here. For example, as early as 1905 the painters of the newly founded artists’ group “Brücke” were already represented in the Kunstverein exhibitions.


After its partial destruction in 1945 the exhibition building was left in a state of disuse for many years. Reconstruction work under the auspices of the Saxon State Ministry of Finance was eventually completed in 2005. When it was rebuilt, traces of the destruction were purposely left visible, creating an impressive contrast with the architecture. Thus, aspects of the building’s history were not concealed but made to stand out. This created architectural juxtapositions in which past and present converge. For their design, the working group consisting of the firm Auer + Weber + Architekten with Rolf Zimmermann and the state-owned enterprise Sächsisches Immobilien- und Baumanagement as the client were awarded the Architecture Prize of the Bund der Architekten Sachsen (Saxon Union of Architects). Through the recreation of the Kunsthalle, which is now used by the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, the city has now regained an impressive venue for art exhibitions. Numerous exhibitions offer visitors an informative and varied programme of events. However, the particular role of the Kunsthalle is to be a place for viewing and discussing contemporary art. Visit the museum's website at ... http://www.skd.museum

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