The Hamburger Kunsthalle honors Eduard Bargheer

Saturday, 27 September 2008 22:06

Hamburg, Germany - To mark the publication of Volker Plagemann’s new biography of Eduard Bargheer in the series “Hamburger Köpfe”, the Hamburger Kunsthalle is presenting the exhibition “Eduard Bargheer in Hamburg”. Tracing the painter’s artistic and intellectual links to the Hanseatic city from the early 1920s until his death in 1979, it includes not only the sweeping Elbe landscapes from the early 1930s with which Bargheer decisively influenced the Hamburg Secessionist style, but also views of Blankenese from his late work.

The exhibition shows the progression from a soft, fluid painting style to the abstract, grid-like compositions that brought him international success in the 1950s. In addition, a number of portraits on show document the painter and printmaker’s relationships with notable Hamburg figures such as Erwin Panowsky and Gustav Gründgens.

Curator of the exhibition: Dr. Ulrich Luckhardt.  Exhibition on view 28 September through 11 January, 2009.

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.  Visit : www.hamburger-kunsthalle.de/