Images & Texts

PRESS RELEASE

FRANKFURT FOREVER!
PHOTOGRAPHS BY CARL FRIEDRICH MYLIUS

12 February TO 1 June 2025
Exhibition Hall of the Department of Prints and Drawings
Press preview: Tuesday, 11 February 2025, 11.00 am

His photographs are a journey through time. Carl Friedrich Mylius (1827–1916) shaped the image of Frankfurt like no other photographer. From the Zeil, the Eschenheimer Turm, the Goethe Monument and the Römer to the banks of the Main, he captured the city’s most famous sights. In doing so, he became a pioneer of architectural photography more than 150 years ago. From 12 February to 1 June 2025, the Städel Museum is devoting the first major solo exhibition to Carl Friedrich Mylius, featuring some eighty works. The occasion is the donation of 180 photographs from a private collection, which perfectly complement the Städel’s historical holdings of Carl Friedrich Mylius’s photographs and make them accessible to a broad public.

In the 19th century, Frankfurt was an important destination for travellers as a historic site of imperial coronations, as a trade fair city and because of its geographical location near the Middle Rhine. With the rise of tourism, Carl Friedrich Mylius’s photographs of sights that are still famous today became popular souvenirs. Many of his views show a city in transition. At the time, Frankfurt was undergoing not only a political reorganization as a result of Prussian annexation, but also rapid economic and social development. Industrialization and urbanization led to drastic structural changes—entire streets in the old town and inner city disappeared. As a chronicler of this period, Mylius documented the historical sites of his city as well as new buildings, industrial plants and the modern infrastructure. He was also drawn to the areas around Frankfurt—the Feldberg in the Taunus mountains, the towns of Kronberg, Königstein and Gelnhausen—and left behind the first surviving photographs of some of these places. One of the highlights of the exhibition is a 7.60 metre long view of the Main. It is the first photographic panorama in Germany.

“From the very beginning, the fascination with photography has remained unbroken. The photographs of Carl Friedrich Mylius, a native of Frankfurt, are a valuable visual legacy—artistically outstanding works and at the same time important documents of the city’s history. Mylius’s education and life are closely linked to the Städel Museum: he donated photographs to the Städel while he was still actively working. In 2023, this unique historical collection was expanded by a generous private donation. With this exhibition, we are able to present Carl Friedrich Mylius’s complete oeuvre comprehensively for the first time”, says Philipp Demandt, Director of the Städel Museum.

“Carl Friedrich Mylius was one of the first in the young Frankfurt photography scene of the late 1850s to specialize in architectural views. As a photographer, he was a neutral observer who captured his subjects objectively and impartially. At the same time, he used stylistic devices such as central perspective and balanced composition, demonstrating his keen sense of design. Even in these early days, photography was more than mere illustration—it was a means of capturing the city in an aesthetic dimension. This made Mylius an early pioneer of architectural photography”, explains Kristina Lemke, curator of the exhibition and Head of Photography, Städel Museum.

Curator: Dr Kristina Lemke (Head of Photography, Städel Museum) with support from Dr Brigitte Sahler
Sponsored by: Dr. Marschner Stiftung
With additional support from: Ina Petzschke-Lauermann
Cultural Partner: hr2-kultur

The detailed press information can be found here.

PRESS RELEASE

EXHIBITION PREVIEW 2025 AND OUTLOOK 2026

A PHOTOGRAPHIC JOURNEY TO 19TH-CENTURY FRANKFURT, THE FIRST COMPREHENSIVE RETROSPECTIVE DEVOTED TO ANNEGRET SOLTAU, THE DRAUGHTSMAN WERNER TÜBKE, ASTA GRÖTING IN THE CONTEMPORARY ART COLLECTION, A MAJOR AUTUMN EXHIBITION ON CARL SCHUCH AND FRENCH MODERNISM, MAX BECKMANN ON PAPER AND, IN THE SPRING OF 2026, MONET ON THE NORMANDY COAST. THE DISCOVERY OF ÉTRETAT

Read the full press release here.

PRESS RELEASE

RINEKE DIJKSTRA
BEACH PORTRAITS

EXTENDED TO JULY 2025
Contemporary Art Collection

The ocean—a gaze: The artist Rineke Dijkstra (*1959) portrays young people looking directly into the camera on various beaches around the world—in Poland, Great Britain, Ukraine, Croatia and the United States. The carefully composed photographs are a search for the essence of human existence: sensitive encounters in which the artist also raises questions about authenticity and truthfulness in portrait photography. From 13 December 2024 to 27 July 2025, the Städel Museum will present 27 of Dijkstra’s works in a solo exhibition, including 23 images from her Beach Portraits series, which attracted international attention and established her as one of the most influential female photographers in contemporary art. Works from the Streets series and a self-portrait of the artist are also featured in the exhibition.
In the Beach Portraits series, created mainly in the 1990s, Dijkstra links the young people portrayed across national borders through a consistent composition. Set against the serene, basic background of the sea and reduced in context and clothing, the focus is entirely on the subjects, their characters and their youthful naturalness, which are manifested in the tiniest nuances of facial expression and posture—especially when, despite their best efforts, their emotional worlds are revealed. As a result, these powerful shots become timeless images that embody the human condition, full of uncertainty, curiosity and the search for identity. Through this unique visual language, which draws on art historical references ranging from the works of Sandro Botticelli to August Sander, among others, Dijkstra’s photographs express a contemporary historical view of the post-Cold War era.

Philipp Demandt, Director of the Städel Museum, notes: “Rineke Dijkstra's portraits could not be more contemporary, and at the same time they are already great works of art history: they have long been icons of photography. The medium of photography plays a central role in the Städel Museum’s collection: photographs were acquired for the teaching collection as early as the 1850s. Today, the collection comprises more than 5,000 works—from the beginnings of photography to the immediate present, including key works by pioneering female photographers. I am therefore all the more delighted that, with Rineke Dijkstra, we are now able to present such an important photographic artist at the Städel Museum.”

“In her work, Rineke Dijkstra succeeds in sensitively approaching the essence of the human being—a claim shared by photographic theory and art history. Rineke Dijkstra’s protagonists are people who are not only searching for their identity across cultural boundaries, but who are also united by a timeless question: ‘When and how do I understand myself and how do I want to be perceived by my environment?’ It is this empathetic, all-too-human moment that is expressed in Dijkstra’s works and makes them so timeless”, adds Maja Lisewski, Assistant Curator of Contemporary Art and curator of the exhibition.

Exhibition dates: 13 December 2024 to 18 May 2025
Curator: Maja Lisewski, Assistant Curator, Contemporary Art Collection
Location: Städel Museum, Schaumainkai 63, 60596 Frankfurt am Main
Städel Invites Rineke Dijkstra: 13 December 2024, in partnership with BMW

The detailed press information can be found here.

PRESS RELEASE

FANTASY AND PASSION: DRAWING FROM CARRACCI TO BERNINI

10 OCTOBER 2024 – 12 JANUARY 2025
Städel Museum, Exhibition Hall of the Department of Prints and Drawings
Press Preview: Wednesday 9 October 2024, 11 am

The Städel Museum presents the great masters of Italian Baroque draughtsmanship. For the brothers Agostino and Annibale Carracci, Guercino, Stefano della Bella and Gian Lorenzo Bernini, drawing was a central component of their artistic work. In their drawings, they not only laid the foundations for their paintings, sculptures or prints, but also demonstrated the independence of the medium. Executed with pen and brush or black or red chalk, the sheets are sketches, studies or precisely rendered individual works. They impress with their sweeping lines, their dramatic chiaroscuro and their extraordinary expressiveness. From 10 October 2024 to 12 January 2025, the Städel Museum will be showing 90 of these remarkable Italian Baroque drawings from its own collection in an exhibition parallel to the Frankfurt Book Fair with Italy as this year’s Guest of Honour, inviting visitors to an intimate encounter with the artistic drawings of a bygone era.

The scholarly analysis of the drawings was made possible by the generous support of the Gabriele Busch-Hauck Foundation in Frankfurt. This multi-year research project has produced a wealth of new information on individual artists and their working methods, the subjects depicted and the techniques used, as well as on contemporary and later collectors.

The 17th century was a time of change in Italy. Baroque art emphasized movement and dynamism, contrasts and the play of light and shadow. These characteristics can be seen not only in the paintings and sculptures, but also in the drawings of the period. The artists studied individual motifs, figural groups, postures, draperies and sequences of movement. They drew from nature, developed complex pictorial narratives and created designs for large-format works. The emotional spectrum of their depictions ranges from delicate and introspective to ecstatic, expressive and sometimes cruel. The works on paper were often the basis for paintings, sculptures or prints and refer to the exchange between artists and patrons. They are therefore not only an expression of individual artistic creativity, but also a reflection of larger cultural contexts.

Read the full press release here

PRESS RELEASE

REMBRANDT’S AMSTERDAM
GOLDEN TIMES?

27 NOVEMBER 2024 TO 23 MARCH 2025
Exhibition Annex

Amsterdam – one city with many faces. In the 17th century, Amsterdam was the metropolis in Europe. The economy and trade were booming, the population rapidly increased, and the arts and sciences flourished. An influential civic society shaped the city’s fortunes and glorified itself in splendid group portraits made by the greatest Dutch painters of the age, foremost among them Rembrandt, alongside Jacob Backer, Ferdinand Bol, Govert Flinck, Bartholomeus van der Helst, Nicolaes Eliasz. Pickenoy, and Jan Victors. From 27 November 2024 to 23 March 2025, the Städel Museum, in collaboration with the Amsterdam Museum, showcases portraits from the Rembrandt period in a major exhibition, with the magnificent group portraits of the Amsterdam Museum taking centre stage. These works are rarely lent out, and this is the first large-scale presentation of them in Germany. Around 100 paintings, sculptures and prints and cultural and historical artefacts from other prominent Dutch and international museums will be on view in Frankfurt, including masterpieces from the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Koninklijk Museum van Schone Kunsten in Antwerp and the Muzeum Narodowe in Warsaw. The exhibition will also feature remarkable works by Rembrandt and his contemporaries from the Städel Museum’s own collection.

“Rembrandt’s Amsterdam. Golden Times?” is sponsored by ING Germany, the Städelscher Museums-Verein e. V., the Dagmar-Westberg-Stiftung and the Fontana Stiftung, with additional support from the Ernst von Siemens Kunststiftung.

The exhibition challenges the traditional view of the 17th century as the Netherlands’ ‘Golden Age’. The economic and cultural prosperity of the Rembrandt era was bolstered by the aggressive trade policies of the United Netherlands, which relied on the establishment of colonies in Asia and South America as well as the enslavement and exploitation of people. As wars, poverty and religious and political persecution swept across Europe, migration to the Dutch Republic – particularly Amsterdam – steadily increased. A robust labour market and an unparalleled degree of religious tolerance attracted many in search for a better and freer life, a goal that some, but by no means all, achieved. It was primarily Amsterdam’s urban elite that commissioned lavish portraits of themselves: members of the civic guards and the craft and trade guilds, as well as the governors of the social institutions supported by civic society. While showcasing these prestigious paintings, the exhibition at the Städel Museum also illuminates the experiences of other social groups. Visitors will encounter images and narratives reflecting a pluralistic Amsterdam society, which tell of wealth and poverty, joy and hardship, power and powerlessness.

In the words of Städel Director Philipp Demandt: “With this exhibition, we are bringing Rembrandt’s Amsterdam to the Städel Museum. By taking a critical look at the realities of 17th-century Amsterdam, we engage with the ongoing discourse surrounding the re-evaluation of the Netherlands’ ‘Golden Age’. The masterpieces of Rembrandt and his renowned contemporaries depict a city in flux, undergoing profound economic and social transformations. No other museum in the world houses as many group portraits from this period as the Amsterdam Museum. At the Städel Museum, we are excited to unite these works with other international loans and our own exceptional collection of paintings and prints by Rembrandt, which our museum’s founder already collected with passion. We extend our heartfelt thanks to all the lenders and sponsors who have generously supported our exhibition. This ambitious project would not have been possible without their commitment.”

“Amsterdam – Europe’s vibrant metropolis, a timeless favourite among travellers and a haven of art and culture. This holds true today just as it did during Rembrandt’s era. During the life of the renowned painter, the city’s economy and culture flourished on an unprecedented scale. This exhibition explores both the ‘Golden Age’ and its darker aspects. Following the 2021 Rembrandt exhibition at the Städel Museum that focused on the peerless artist himself, we now invite visitors to immerse themselves in the city where he lived and worked with many other pioneering artists. As ING Germany, we are delighted to support this exhibition, making Dutch art once again accessible to the Städel’s visitors”, says Nick Jue, Chairman of the Board, ING Germany.

As Sylvia von Metzler, Chairwoman of the Board of the Städelscher Museums-Verein e. V., comments about the exhibition: “The exhibition ‘Rembrandt’s Amsterdam’ is the highlight of our anniversary year. For 125 years, we have been supporting the Städel Museum in all its endeavours, and the Städel’s own works by Rembrandt featured in this exhibition reflect our extraordinary commitment. We are thrilled that this great Dutch artist is once again at the centre of a major exhibition, alongside many of his contemporaries. We will experience Rembrandt’s Amsterdam in a new and surprising light.”

Daniel Hoster, Chairman of the Board of the Dagmar-Westberg-Stiftung, points out that “Our founder, Dagmar Westberg, was a devoted patron and friend of the Städel Museum. She had a lifelong passion for the art of the Old Masters, which also informed the donations she made to the museum’s collection. Our support of the exhibition ‘Rembrandt’s Amsterdam’ reflects her desire to share her fascination with Old Master painting with a broad audience and reveal the stories behind the works of art. The Dagmar Westberg Foundation wishes the Städel Museum great success and many interested visitors.”

“The Dutch group portrait emerged primarily in Amsterdam. It is probably the most striking example of Dutch art from Rembrandt’s time. It can be attributed to the unique conditions of Amsterdam, a mercantile city with a distinctly bourgeois and Protestant character. During this time, the city transformed into a booming global trade hub, where the ruling elite celebrated their status and civic commitment through prestigious paintings created by leading artists. While the notion of the 17th century as a ‘Golden Age’ has long been uncritically accepted in the Netherlands—partly due to these artworks—this perspective has begun to erode in recent years. Our exhibition addresses this shift by also highlighting those individuals who were deemed ‘unworthy of portrayal’ at the time and thus left little mark on the tradition of portraiture. The quest to uncover their stories is both overdue and valuable, as it will enhance our understanding of Rembrandt’s Amsterdam,’ explains Jochen Sander, curator of the exhibition, Deputy Director and Head of the collections of Dutch, Flemish and German painting before 1800

Curator: Prof. Dr Jochen Sander (Deputy Director and Head of German, Dutch and Flemish Paintings before 1800, Städel Museum)
Supported by: ING Deutschland, Städelscher Museums-Verein e. V., Fontana Stiftung
With additional support from: Ernst von Siemens Kunststiftung

The detailed press information can be found here.

PRESS RELEASE

PARTNERSHIP AGREED: STÄDEL AND FRESENIUS

The Städel Museum and Fresenius have entered into a partnership for the next two years, reaffirming their shared commitment to society. As Germany's oldest museum foundation, the Städel is supported by companies, foundations, private sponsors, the City of Frankfurt and the State of Hesse. The Städel Museum sees itself as a place of encounter, exchange and dialogue with the past, present and future. With a collection spanning over 700 years of art, major special exhibitions, an educational programme and digital offerings, it provides unique access to art across generations, epochs and styles – in the spirit of its founder Johann Friedrich Städel. For the healthcare company Fresenius, people’s health forms the focus of all activities. It has been committed to saving lives and improving people's quality of life and health for more than 100 years now. For Fresenius, the partnership with the Städel Museum is part of its social responsibility and a sign of its commitment to the Rhine-Main region. It was here that the company was founded, its headquarters are still located today and many of its employees live. With this partnership, Fresenius demonstrates its commitment to Frankfurt and the Rhine-Main region.

Philipp Demandt, Director of the Städel Museum, commented on the start of the partnership with Fresenius: "More than 200 years ago, our founder Johann Friedrich Städel had the visionary idea of donating his art collection to the public and thus founded the Städel Museum. To this day, his foresight and generosity remain a role model for many. Our partners and sponsors are also committed to this social cause by supporting their Städel. As our new corporate partner, Fresenius joins us in this special commitment. As a museum, we have a social mission: to impart knowledge and to enable people to experience art in many different ways. I am delighted that we have found a partner in Fresenius to support us in this endeavour.

Michael Sen, CEO of Fresenius, said of the partnership: “Fostering and funding the arts is an essential requirement for a diverse, open-minded and pluralistic society. Institutions like the Städel Museum ensure that everyone can access world-class works of art – a task that is also close to Fresenius’ heart. ‘Committed to Life’ – improving people’s lives – that is our claim. Both art and the Städel Museum make an important contribution to this. I am delighted to be working with such an outstanding cultural institution.” As a new corporate partner, Fresenius will support the work of the Städel Museum from August 2024. Together with the Städel Museum, Fresenius will also develop event formats that give employees unique access to the collection, which ranges from art from the Late Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the Baroque period and Classical Modernism to the present day.

PARTNERSHIP AGREED: STÄDEL AND FRESENIUS

Location: Städel Museum, Schaumainkai 63, 60596 Frankfurt am Main
Information: staedelmuseum.de/en
Visitor services and guided tours: +49(0)69-605098-200, info@staedelmuseum.de
Opening hours: Tue, Wed, Fri, Sat, Sun + holidays 10.00 am – 6.00 pm, Thu 10.00 am – 9.00 pm
Special opening hours: Up-to-date information on special opening hours at staedelmuseum.de/en

@staedelmuseum on social media: #staedel on Instagram / YouTube / TikTok / Facebook / LinkedIn / STÄDEL STORIES: For more stories and background information on the collection and the special exhibitions, read, watch and listen to stories.staedelmuseum.de (in German)

ANNIVERSARY ACQUISITION: IMPORTANT BRONZE SCULPTURE BY REMBRANDT BUGATTI AT THE STÄDEL

ACQUISITION OF THE “DEVOURING LION” FROM THE COLLECTION OF ALAIN DELON ON THE OCCASION OF THE 125TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE STÄDELSCHER MUSEUMS-VEREIN

The Städelscher Museums-Verein is celebrating its 125th anniversary with a major acquisition: the bronze sculpture Devouring Lion by Rembrandt Bugatti (1884–1916). With this 1908 figure, the Städel Museum in Frankfurt am Main has acquired a major work by the Italian artist and is now one of only two museums in Germany to be able to present its public with a bronze by this outstanding sculptor. The sculpture was purchased by the Städelscher Museums-Verein with funds from Volker Westerborg and private donations. The Devouring Lion previously belonged to the art collection of the actor Alain Delon, who owns one of the world's most important collections of works by Rembrandt Bugatti. Sculptures by the artist were last shown at the Städel Museum in 2020 in the special exhibition “En Passant. Impressionism in Sculpture”. On permanent loan from the patrons’ association, the anniversary acquisition is currently on view in the Städel Museum’s collection presentation of “Modern Art” and can be seen in the Impressionist Hall in dialogue with sculptures by Edgar Degas and Auguste Rodin. The Städelscher Museums-Verein was founded on 27 June 1899, making it one of the oldest and largest patrons’ associations of a German museum today.

“Rembrandt Bugatti is one of the greatest sculptural talents in the history of art. By the time of his untimely death at the age of thirty-one, he had created an unparalleled oeuvre of some 300 sculptures, of which the Devouring Lion from the private collection of Alain Delon is one of the most important. As always, in a single working process of just a few hours, Bugatti translated the essence, appearance and tension of his model into a sculptural work that seems to break down and dissolve the boundaries between object and abstraction. The Devouring Lion is a milestone in early twentieth-century sculpture and an extraordinary addition to the Städel Museum. I congratulate the Städelscher Museums-Verein on this special anniversary acquisition. I would also like to thank Véronique Fromanger, Paris, and Edward Horswell, Sladmore Gallery, London, for their selfless support of this extraordinary acquisition”, says Philipp Demandt, Director of the Städel Museum.

“For 125 years, the Städelscher Museums-Verein has been supporting the Städel Museum with acquisitions to complement its collection, with the realisation of special exhibitions that attract the public, and with the financing of research and restoration projects. With the purchase of this outstanding sculpture by Rembrandt Bugatti on the occasion of our anniversary, we can once again confirm our mission of support. As chairwoman, I would like to thank our more than 10,000 members and art lovers from the bottom of my heart for their commitment. They are a prime example of what civic commitment to the Städel Museum can look like”, says Sylvia von Metzler, Chairwoman of the Städelscher Museums-Verein.

The acquisition was made possible in large part by a generous donation from Volker Westerborg (1940–2022) to both the Städel Museum and the Städelscher Museums-Verein. Westerborg’s support focussed on works by artists who lost their lives in the First World War and whose memory should serve as a reminder of the consequences of the war. Westerborg’s support had previously enabled the purchase of Wilhelm Morgner’s Astral Composition VI, 1912. With a major work by Rembrandt Bugatti, who committed suicide in 1916 under the impact of the First World War, the Städel Museum is once again honouring Westerborg’s patronage.

You can read the full press release here.

PRESS RELEASE

STÄDEL | WOMEN
WOMEN ARTISTS BETWEEN FRANKFURT AND PARIS AROUND 1900

10 JULY TO 27 OCTOBER 2024
Exhibition Annex

Modernism is unimaginable without the contribution of women artists. Not only well-known women painters and sculptors such as Louise Breslau, Ottilie W. Roederstein, and Marg Moll, but also many others successfully established themselves in the art world during the period around 1900—Erna Auerbach, Eugenie Bandell, Mathilde Battenberg, Marie Bertuch, Ida Gerhardi, Dora Hitz, Annie Stebler-Hopf, Elizabeth Nourse, and Louise Schmidt, to name just a few. In Paris and Frankfurt alike, they built international networks and supported one another. As influential teachers and art agents, some of them also shaped the history of the Städel Museum and Städelschule. It is time to dedicate a major exhibition to these women for the first time ever, and to discover them anew. From 10 July to 27 October 2024, the Städel Museum presents some 80 paintings and sculptures by altogether 26 women artists. Among them are significant artworks from renowned US and European museums and numerous works from private collections, which are exhibited for the first time. Previously unpublished archival materials accompany the works. Photographs and letters tell of international studio collectives, the strategic importance of professional artist associations, and successes, but also of continual efforts to gain recognition.

The exhibition features women artists who, with great independence and professionalism, asserted themselves in an art world dominated by male “artist geniuses”. From the perspective of their networks, a complex picture of women artists’ training and working circumstances in the modernist era emerges—from the struggles of the pioneers in 1880s Paris to the first female sculptors at the Städelschule (Städel art school) around 1900 to the self-determined young generation of women artists in the New Frankfurt of the 1920s and ’30s. Widely different stylistically, the works testify to the diversity of women’s artistic approaches, while also mirroring the radical social and aesthetic upheavals of the time. In their art the women painters and sculptors undertook critical investigations of their own existence as artists in a male-dominated environment. They self-confidently presented themselves in the circles of their female friends and companions and called traditional gender roles into question. By depicting the nude body, they also claimed their right to a motif complex previously reserved for men. In the process, they not only availed themselves of painting and drawing but also increasingly entered the territory of sculpture, which on account of its technical and material requirements and the physical strain it involved was considered the “most masculine” artistic medium.

Städel Museum director Philipp Demandt on the exhibition: “Käthe Kollwitz, Lotte Laserstein, Ottilie Roederstein: In recent years the Städel Museum has devoted major exhibitions to successful women artists. This summer we are presenting the Städel / Women to our public—26 modern women painters and sculptors in a single show. As the result of an extensive research project on the history of our institution and its collection, the Städel Museum has succeeded in reconstructing remarkable women artists’ biographies and locating lost works. We are thus closing gaps in the research while in turn opening doors for further study. This exhibition will fundamentally change our understanding of the situation of women artists around the turn of the last century and their influence on the development of modern art. I am deeply indebted to our lenders and sponsors, who once again have shown how essential their dedication is to the core aspects of our museum work.”

The exhibition curators Alexander Eiling, Eva-Maria Höllerer, and Aude-Line Schamschula: “Our exhibition concentrates on the artistic activities of women painters and sculptors between 1880 and the 1930s. We devote ourselves to three generations of women artists as well as the widely diverse interrelationships between the Frankfurt art world and the French art capital. Following a prologue exploring the circle of women artists around Ottilie Roederstein in Paris, the focus turns to the training situation for women at the Städel art school and Frankfurt’s new School of Arts and Crafts in the 1920s. We introduce these artists along with their individual achievements and highlight the widely branching networks with which they supported and encouraged one another. It is an exhibition about the self-empowerment of women artists who were no exception in their day.”

Curators, Städel Museum: Dr Alexander Eiling (Head of Modern Art), Eva-Maria Höllerer (Research Associate, Modern Art), Aude-Line Schamschula (Research Associate, Modern Art)

Supported by: Kulturfonds Frankfurt RheinMain gGmbH, Damengesellschaft of the Städelscher Museums-Vereins e. V., Dr. Marschner Stiftung, Ernst von Siemens Kunststiftung, CATRICE

Media Partner: FAZ
Cultural partner: hr2-kultur

The detailed press information can be found here.

Press Release
NEW HEAD OF CONTEMPORARY ART COLLECTION

The Städel Museum has a new Head of its Collection of Contemporary Art: Svenja Grosser. At the Städel Museum since 2018, she has been responsible for the scholarly aspects of the collection as Deputy Head for the past three years and has curated numerous exhibitions—most recently “Victor Man. The Lines of Life” and “Ugo Rondinone. Sunrise. East.” Her research interests include contemporary painting, 20th and 21st century staged photography, museology, and gender theory. From 3 May 2024, she will present a new exhibition: “Muntean/Rosenblum. Mirror of Thoughts”.

“Since its foundation more than 200 years ago, the Städel Museum has continuously expanded its own collection, always with an eye to the respective artistic present. Today, art after 1945 with a focus on German painting in an international context can be experienced on more than 3,000 square metres in the Städel’s iconic Garden Halls. It is a particular pleasure for me to appoint Svenja Grosser as the new Head of the Contemporary Art Collection. She has distinguished herself through her outstanding expertise and her commitment to contemporary mediation. In future, she will continue to work intensively on the expansion of the collection and its public-orientated presentation”, comments Philipp Demandt, Director of the Städel Museum, on the appointment.

Svenja Grosser was born in Cologne in 1991 and studied Art History, German Philology, and Philosophy at the University of Bonn. She has been working at the Städel Museum since 2018. As project manager, she was jointly responsible for the new presentation of the Collection of Contemporary Art in 2020 and subsequently curated various exhibitions of contemporary artists, including Marc Brandenburg, Michael Müller, and Philipp Fürhofer. She has also written and edited numerous essays and publications to accompany these exhibitions. As co-initiator of the DigAMus Award-winning art and mediation space CLOSE UP and the digital application of the same name, Svenja Grosser is committed to a broad perception of and engagement with contemporary art. The event format “Städel Invites”, which she co-developed, offers the public the opportunity to meet contemporary artists and learn more about their motivations, ideas, and themes in dialogue. Grosser has already made several acquisitions for the Collection of Contemporary Art, including works by Louise Nevelson and Leiko Ikemura. She also regularly conceives thematic presentations of the collection within the permanent exhibition, placing works in new contexts.

“The Städel’s Collection of Contemporary Art is a place of inspiration and creativity for our visitors, as well as for me as head of the collection, which can provide answers to the questions of our time. In the coming years, I will be working on an exhibition programme with a feminist focus, as well as on thematic issues relating to contemporary painting and interventions across epochs. Current discourses and issues will be incorporated into the work with the collection, as will the wealth of knowledge gained from continuous observation of the contemporary art sector. I am delighted to have been appointed and to be able to continue to make this high-calibre collection accessible to a broad public,” emphasizes Svenja Grosser.

The detailed press information can be found here.

PRESS RELEASE

Muntean/Rosenblum. Mirror of Thoughts
Contemporary Art Collection
Press preview: Friday, 3 May 2024, 9.30 am

The two artists Markus Muntean (b. 1962) and Adi Rosenblum (b. 1962) have been working together since the 1990s. In their primarily painterly oeuvre, they impressively combine their identities to create one artistic signature. The Städel Museum is dedicating a solo exhibition in its Contemporary Art Collection to the artist duo, featuring a video work and eleven large-format paintings – including two new works – whose settings are places of transit: shopping centres, airport terminals, hotels, or offices. Immersed in their own thoughts, the young protagonists stare intently at their smartphones or gaze into the distance, are in motion or look out at the viewer with boredom or irritation. The work of Muntean/Rosenblum fluctuates between the influences of past art periods and contemporary pop-cultural phenomena. While their compositions are firmly anchored in the pictorial memory of art history, referencing well-known masterpieces from the Renaissance to Modernism, their figures are taken entirely from the present. They stem from an image archive established over many years, fed by photographs from lifestyle magazines, the Internet, and their own photo shoots. The artist duo uses this rich pool of images as a basis for creating peculiar scenes through the medium of painting: Set against anonymous urban backdrops, the dramatically arranged young people look like isolated extras in a contemporary stage play. Strange and at the same time familiar in their composition, the paintings reflect an atmosphere of lethargy and indifference. It is a painful yet liberating moment that marks the transition from adolescence to adulthood – a state of limbo. As if looking through a magnifying glass, Muntean/Rosenblum address central themes of our time: the ambivalence of human existence, the growing insecurity of the individual, and a pervasive sense of transience.

Philipp Demandt, Director of the Städel Museum: ‘With their interlinking of past and present, the works of the artist duo Muntean/Rosenblum fit perfectly into the Städel Museum’s collection, which spans more than 700 years of art. As a museum of pictures, we focus on painterly positions with regularly changing exhibitions in the Contemporary Art Collection and thus follow how painting expands, redefines itself, and breaks new ground across epochs. The art of Muntean/Rosenblum epitomises this borderline and tightrope walk of painting in contemporary art: drawing on photographs, they create surreal, collaged paintings at the interface between conceptual art and figurative genre painting.’

Svenja Grosser, Head of the Contemporary Art Collection and curator of the exhibition, adds: ‘Non-places underpin Muntean/Rosenblum’s working principle, which is primarily concerned with the possibilities of figurative painting. The artist duo’s decision to draw their motifs from an archive and to abandon their respective identities in favour of a joint signature already poses a challenge to painting, namely the lack of authorship. The concept of non-places is the logical extension of these considerations. As Muntean/Rosenblum take great care to deprive their works of a thematic statement, the viewer is challenged in his or her own perception: What does one want to see? How does one interpret the scene? What is real and what is not? The painting unfolds in this field of tension, between these poles, and is thus perhaps even closer to abstraction than to figuration.’

Curator: Svenja Grosser (Head of the Contemporary Art Collection, Städel Museum)
Project Coordinator: Maja Lisewski (assistant curator, Contemporary Art Collection, Städel Museum)

The detailed press information can be found here.