PRESS RELEASE
BACK TO THE PRESENT
NEW PERSPECTIVES, NEW WORKS – THE COLLECTION FROM 1945 TO TODAY
New Presentation of the Collection of Contemporary Art
Starting on 19 May 2020 – nearly a decade after the opening of the Garden Halls – the Städel Museum’s Collection of Contemporary Art will be presented anew for the first time. A history of art after 1945 fans out proceeding from the central square of the Garden Halls, which cover an area of some 3,000 square metres, beginning with major works of art dating from the recent past to the present. A total of approximately 230 works by 170 artists of various schools, styles and groups will reveal surprising comparisons, viewpoints and visual axes between the immediate present and its roots in past decades. In honour of the occasion, a large number of the museum’s most recent acquisitions and gifts will be on exhibit for the first time, for example works by Miriam Cahn (b 1949), René Daniëls (b 1950), Carlos Cruz-Diez (1923–2019), Jimmie Durham (b 1940), Asta Gröting (b 1961) and Victor Vasarely (1906–1997). With a wide array of narrative threads, the new presentation will allow experiencing post-1945 art from a thematic rather than a chronological point of view. The dissolution of the depicted object in formless, abstract painting, as seen in works of different decades, will be one thematic focus; another will be the advent of gestural painting and its impact on the generations that followed. The presentation will also address itself to the aesthetic of geometry and objects of everyday life – an aspect that turns up time and again in the period in question, charged with ever new meanings and references – in all its various forms and thematic premises. As visitors make their way through the rooms and squares of the Garden Halls, they will moreover gain insights into how the figure found its way back into the picture, how painting conquered – real – space, how the alleged competitors painting and photography entered into a mutual exchange, and much more.
Download the complete press text here.
PRESS INFORMATION
Passion for Pictures: Netherlandish Drawings of the Eighteenth Century
Extended until 24 May 2021
The Städel Museum has in its possession nearly 600 Netherlandish drawings of the eighteenth century – and thus one of the most extensive collections of its kind outside the Netherlands and Belgium. From 1 October 2020 to 24 May 2021, the museum will devote an exhibition solely to these works. The show will feature 81 representative drawings by artists of whom many, though little known today, were quite successful in their time. The selection mirrors the structure and artistic quality of the holdings as well as the wide range of subjects they cover. Frequently executed as finished artworks on a par with painting, often in colour, the drawings catered to the enlightened eighteenth-century citizens’ passion for pictures, as well as to their thirst for dialogue and information. Art admirers cultivated the pastime of gathering to contemplate and converse about the works.
Download the complete press release here.
2020
Passion for Pictures: Netherlandish Drawings of the Eighteenth Century
Extended until 24 May 2021
Exhibition Hall of the Department of Prints and Drawings
The Städel Museum has in its possession nearly 600 Netherlandish drawings of the eighteenth century – and thus one of the most extensive collections of its kind outside the Netherlands and Belgium. From 1 October 2020 to 24 May 2021, the museum will devote an exhibition solely to these works. The show will feature 81 representative drawings by artists of whom many, though little known today, were quite successful in their time. The selection mirrors the structure and artistic quality of the holdings as well as the wide range of subjects they cover. Frequently executed as finished artworks on a par with painting, often in colour, the drawings catered to the enlightened eighteenth-century citizens’ passion for pictures, as well as to their thirst for dialogue and information. Art admirers cultivated the pastime of gathering to contemplate and converse about the works.
The exhibition will unite designs for wall and ceiling decorations by Jacob de Wit, book illustrations by Bernard Picart, Netherlandish topographies by such artists as Cornelis Pronk, Paulus Constantijn la Fargue and Hendrik Schepper, atmospherically composed landscape drawings by Jacob Cats, the brothers Jacob and Abraham van Strij, Franciscus Andreas Milatz and others, decorative flower and fruit still lifes by Jan van Huysum and his numerous followers, depictions of exotic animals by Aert Schouman, satirical genre scenes by Cornelis Troost and Jacobus Buys, and much more. These works speak of the emancipation and heightened status of the drawing medium in the eighteenth century, but also of an intense preoccupation with the art of the seventeenth, the so-called Golden Age of Netherlandish art.
When the exhibition gets underway, the Department of Prints and Drawings will also once again open its Study Room to the public following major construction work. There visitors can request to view works of their choice from among Städel Museum’s collection of more than 100,000 drawings and prints.
Curator: Annett Sandfort (A former research associate of the Department of Prints and Drawings and the holder of a fellowship from the Stiftung Gabriele Busch-Hauck, Annett Sandfort carried out a thorough art-historical reappraisal of the eighteenth-century Netherlandish drawings in the Städel Museum collection.)
Supported by: Stiftung Gabriele Busch-Hauck
STÄDEL’S BECKMANN / BECKMANN’S STÄDEL: The Frankfurt Years
Extended until 29 August 2021
Exhibition house, first floor
Max Beckmann (1884–1950) is associated with Frankfurt and the Städel Museum like scarcely any other artist. Based in Frankfurt from 1915 to 1933, he produced a large share of his most important works here, developed his characteristic style, and in 1925 the city provided him with a master’s studio at the School of Arts and Crafts. Numerous views of Frankfurt and portraits of friends and acquaintances testify to his ties to the city, which, much to his regret, he left in 1933 after being forced to resign from his teaching activity. Vilified as “degenerate”, Beckman fled Germany in 1937. He died in New York in 1950.
Because of his close connection with Frankfurt, the Städel Museum has intensely concerned itself for nearly a century with collecting and researching Beckmann’s oeuvre, which has been presented in a large number of special exhibitions. The museum has continuously acquired works by the artist since 1918. With 11 paintings, 2 sculptures and more than 100 prints, the museum now has one of the most extensive Beckmann collections in the world. From 9 December 2020 to 29 August 2021, this special presentation is devoting itself to this body of work and Beckmann’s Frankfurt years based on selected works and documentary material. The focus is on his famous Self-Portrait with Champagne Glass as well as his important lithography cycle Die Hölle (Hell), which were both created in 1919 at a decisive point in his career and significantly influenced his further work.
Curators: Dr Alexander Eiling (Head of the Collection of Modern Art, Städel Museum), Dr Regina Freyberger (Head of the Collection of Prints and Drawings from 1750, Städel Museum)
Documentation: Dr Iris Schmeisser (Head of Provenance Research and the Historical Archives, Städel Museum)
2021
New Ways of Seeing: The Photography of the 1920s and ’30s
30 June to 24 October 2021
Exhibition Hall of the Department of Prints and Drawings
Press preview: 29 June 2021, 11:00 am
German photography from the 1920s and ‘30s oscillates between innovation and continuity. Not unaffected by the incisive social upheavals after the end of the First World War, unusual perspectives, different styles and contrasts became the means of expressing the changed living situations and political landscape. From 30 June to 24 October 2021, the Städel Museum is mounting an exhibition on the trends and movements in modern photography. It presents a selection of over 100 pioneering photographs from the Städel’s own collection of photography, which comprises more than 5,000 images, and loans of works by prominent representatives such as Alfred Ehrhardt, Hans Finsler, Lotte Jacobi, Felix H. Man, Albert Renger-Patzsch, Erich Salomon, August Sander, Umbo, Paul Wolff or Yva as well as a number of lesser known photographers, such as Carl Albiker, Karl Theodor Gremmler and Paul W. John.
Between 1918 and 1939, photography influenced the art world and everyday life like in no other period. In seven thematic chapters, essential aspects of the artistic engagement with photography and its use in various contexts of use will be presented in the entire spectrum of their motifs. Historical magazines, books and posters complement the photographic works and exemplify their use in different media. The 1920s offered photographers numerous new areas of activity, from the illustration of magazines and books to advertising design. Yet this was not the only way of using photography that paved the way for its strong presence in public space. As a seemingly authentic reflection of reality, political movements also recognised it as a means of acquiring and controlling the masses. The new ways of seeing with the camera that developed in the Weimar Republic were seamlessly taken over after 1933. Unlike the vilification of the avant-garde in the visual arts, there were no artistic restrictions in photography – modern imagery had already firmly established itself in visual memory and was used in the National Socialist state for propagandistic purposes.
Curator: Kristina Lemke (Research Assistant for Photography, Collection of Modern Art, Städel Museum)
Supported by: FAZIT-STIFTUNG, Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach-Stiftung, Dr. Hans Feith und Dr. Elisabeth Feith-Stiftung
Symposium: A scholarly symposium is taking place at the Städel Museum on 17/18 September 2020. It is dedicated to the late art historian, journalist and collector Wilfried Wiegand, who provided important momentum to the collection of photography at the Städel Museum. The results of the symposium will be incorporated directly into the exhibition. The symposium is being supported by the FAZIT-STIFTUNG.
Becoming Rembrandt: Creativity and Competition in Amsterdam, ca. 1630–1655
6 October 2021 to 30 January 2022
Exhibition Building
Press preview: 5 October 2021, 11:00 am
It is hard to imagine today, but when the young painter Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (1606–1669) moved from Leiden to Amsterdam in 1631, he was just one of many artists who wanted to make a name for himself in the flourishing metropolis of art, culture and commerce. He succeeded in doing so within just a few short years: Rembrandt gained extensive acclaim, trained dozens of aspiring artists, and engaged in the art trade, including the active distribution of his own paintings and prints. At the same time, his style changed radically – from the small, precisely executed paintings of his early days in Leiden to the large, dramatically lit narrative canvases of the Amsterdam period.
In a major exhibition, in conjunction with the National Gallery of Canada the Städel Museum will, for the first time, address Rembrandt’s rise to international fame during his formative years in Amsterdam. The presentation combines the Städel’s collection of works by Rembrandt, including The Blinding of Samson (1636), with outstanding loans from international collections, such as the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin, the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Dresden, the National Gallery in London, the Museo del Prado in Madrid, and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. In this exhibition, Rembrandt’s art enters into a dialogue with masterpieces by older and younger artists of his time, such as Nicolas Eliasz Pickenoy and Bartholomeus van der Helst, and with brilliant works by his own former students, such as Govaert Flinck and Ferdinand Bol. Focus will be placed on groups of closely related paintings that shed light on Rembrandt’s role and that of his contemporaries in this creative network. Rembrandt's pictorial production, and his impact, were surprisingly broad, encompassing landscapes, genre scenes and still lifes as well as history paintings and portraits. The examination of his competitors influenced his artistic development as well as his entrepreneurial ambitions. In Amsterdam, an exceptional number of talented artists competed for the attention and patronage of the wealthy and art-loving middle classes. It was precisely this exciting and stimulating atmosphere that challenged the young artist from Leiden to become the world-famous master that he is to this day: Rembrandt.
The exhibition is organised by the Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main, and the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa.
Curators: Prof Dr Jochen Sander (Vice Director and Head of the Collection of Dutch, Flemish and German Painting before 1800, Städel Museum) and Prof Dr Stephanie Dickey (Guest Curator at the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa)
With support from: ING AG, Dagmar-Westberg-Stiftung
Exhibition titles and dates subject to change
PRESS INFORMATION
MODERNIST ICON FOR FRANKFURT – ACQUISITION OF MAX BECKMANN’S SELF-PORTRAIT WITH CHAMPAGNE GLASS
OUTSTANDING ACQUISITION FOR THE STÄDEL MUSEUM / PAINTING TO BE FOCUS OF SPECIAL PRESENTATION STARTING 9 DECEMBER
It is one of the most prominent acquisitions in the more than two hundred years of the Städel Museum’s history. Support from the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, the Städelscher Museums-Verein, the Ernst von Siemens Kunststiftung, the Kulturstiftung der Länder and five private patrons has made the acquisition of Max Beckmann’s Self-Portrait with Champagne Glass for the Städel Museum possible. Executed in 1919, the painting is one of the artist’s most well-known and important works. It has been on loan to the museum since 2011. Thanks to the acquisition, it will now remain in the Städel permanently.
The Self-Portrait with Champagne Glass is among the artist’s most striking self-likenesses. What is more, within a small group of self-portraits meanwhile considered iconic, it is the only one to have remained in private German ownership until now. The artwork was in the legendary collection of Hermann Lange of Krefeld, who acquired it in the 1920s. After Lange’s death, it remained in the possession of his descendants, from whom it has now been acquired for the Städel Museum. Max Beckmann is today the most well-known German exponent of Classical Modern art, primarily on account of his early reception in the USA.
It was three years ago that Städel director Philipp Demandt first signalled his interest in the work to Hermann Lange’s heirs. Extensive negotiations ensued, leading to a generous concession by the owners that paved the way for initial inquiries with institutional sponsors. The latter responded with pledges as spirited as they were substantial, and five private patrons followed suit by committing to similarly exceptional contributions. The artwork is currently on view in the Städel Museum’s Beckmann room. From 9 December 2020 to 5 April 2021 it will be the focus of a special presentation at the museum entitled “STÄDEL’S BECKMANN – BECKMANN’S STÄDEL: The Frankfurt Years”.
“The Self-Portrait with Champagne Glass is not only one of the most prominent paintings by our ‘in-house artist’ Max Beckmann, but also an icon of the twentieth century. It has been my fervent wish to acquire this key Beckmann artwork since I took office in Frankfurt. A dream that initially seemed impossible in view of the painting’s sheer value, but also its status as a work coveted worldwide, has now – three years later – come to happy realization. Never before has the Städel Museum succeeded in making an individual acquisition of this magnitude. We are as grateful to the entire community of private and public contributors for their overwhelming support as we are to the owners for the great confidence they have placed in the Städel Museum. Thanks to this concerted effort, Beckmann’s masterpiece is returning to Frankfurt – its place of origin – forever”, commented Städel director Philipp Demandt.
Download the complete press text here.
PRESS INFORMATION
STÄDEL’S BECKMANN / BECKMANN’S STÄDEL:
THE FRANKFURT YEARS
Extended until 29 August 2021
Max Beckmann (1884–1950) is associated with Frankfurt and the Städel Museum like scarcely any other artist. He spent the longest and most important phase of his life in Frankfurt, and it was here that he produced a large share of his most important works and developed his characteristic style. The Städel Museum has been dedicated to collecting and studying his oeuvre for more than a century. It has continually acquired works by the artist since 1918 and today has one of the world’s most extensive Beckmann collections to call its own.
One of the artist’s most well-known and most important works, the Self-Portrait with Champagne Glass (1919), has recently been secured for the Städel. This icon of modern art was acquired with support from the Städelscher Museums-Verein, the Ernst von Siemens Kunststiftung, the Federal Republic of Germany and the Cultural Foundation of the German Federal States as well as five private donors. In honour of the new acquisition, the museum is devoting a special presentation of selected paintings, works on paper and documentary material to its Beckmann holdings and the artist’s Frankfurt years. The Self-Portrait with Champagne Glass will be the exhibition’s centrepiece.
Max Beckmann came to the city on the Main in 1915, traumatized by his experiences as a medical orderly in World War I. In 1925, the city appointed him head of a master class at the municipal school of arts and crafts. Numerous views of Frankfurt, self-portraits and portraits of friends and acquaintances testify to his close ties to the city. During his Frankfurt phase, his works were presented here in eighteen solo and group exhibitions, and in 1929, the city awarded him its Grand Prize of Honour. After the National Socialists came to power in 1933, Beckmann was dismissed from his teaching position and compelled to leave Frankfurt. In 1933, vilified as a “degenerate artist”, he fled to Amsterdam. He died in New York in 1950.
“The collection and study of the art of Max Beckmann has been a tradition at the Städel Museum for more than a hundred years. It is an extraordinary stroke of fortune that, thanks to the overwhelming joint dedication of private and public sponsors, his Self-Portrait with Champagne Glass has recently been purchased for the museum. The unique acquisition of this once-in-a-century work is one more testimony to the Städel’s deep sense of obligation to Beckmann’s work. With our special presentation, we would like to offer our visitors insights into the close bond that connects the Städel Museum and the city of Frankfurt with Max Beckmann”, commented Städel director Philipp Demandt.
A preview of the special presentation
The show “STÄDEL’S BECKMANN / BECKMANN’S STÄDEL: The Frankfurt Years” is divided into three sections, of which the first revolves around a theme of key importance to the artist: the self-portrait. Beckmann’s profound preoccupation with this genre is virtually unmatched among the exponents of classical modern art. He produced self-portraits in mediums ranging from painting and drawing to printmaking and even sculpture. As is evident in the selected examples on view here, self-likenesses accompanied his artistic career from his early to his late work and mirror decisive phases of his development. The highlight of this section is the Städel’s most recent acquisition, the Self-Portrait with Champagne Glass. Painted in 1919, it is an allegory of the interwar period and the Weimar Republic. It is the first of the artist’s self-likenesses to show him as an elegant dandy in a tuxedo at the bar of a nightclub, presumably in the Hotel Frankfurter Hof, where, according to his contemporaries, his drink of choice was champagne.
In addition to the many self-portraits depicting Beckmann as the main figure, there are also a large number of scenic depictions. Like an actor, he performs on the stages of his enigmatically symbolic compositions, playing a circus director as in the painting The Circus Carriage (1940), a barker as in the Hell series (1919), the biblical Adam as in the sculpture Adam and Eve (1936/1979), a casual observer, etc. In these works he combined contemporary events with general, timeless and existential themes, because self-portraiture meant more to Beckmann than just the portrayal of his personal frame of mind. It also helped him define his role as an artist in society and served him as a means of addressing philosophical issues and fundamental human conflicts, as in the drypoint etching Evening (Self-Portrait with the Battenbergs) (1916). The print shows the couple Heinrich (Ugi) and Frieda (Fridel) Battenberg, who gave the artist shelter when he came to Frankfurt after serving in the war. Beckmann’s demonic-looking face pushes itself between them like a wedge in their peaceful togetherness as a twosome.
This special function of the self-portrait is also evident in the artist’s key work of printmaking, Hell (1919), featured in the second section of the show. By way of drawing, etching and lithography, Beckmann had found his way to a distinctive new formal language. Angular, reductive forms had come to define the pictorial structure. The artist broke up the space in virtually cubist manner, introducing perspectival warps and distorted dimensions that create a quality of dynamic instability. Executed the same year as the Self-Portrait with Champagne Glass – and exhibiting close formal links to that work –, the lithographic cycle Hell reflects Beckmann’s experience of a post-war world come apart at the seams. The title page, displaying a self-portrait of the artist as a funfair crier, is followed by ten enigmatic scenes of a manmade ‘hell’ interweaving symbolic/allegorical elements with references to real contemporary events and venues, for example the assassination of Rosa Luxemburg and the Frankfurt nightclub “Malepartus”. Beckmann executed the unusually large-scale Hell compositions in chalk on paper. These drawings were then transferred to lithographic stones by way of a special process and, on commission from the gallerist J. B. Neumann, printed by the C. Naumann company in Frankfurt.
The third section of the presentation is devoted to Beckmann’s life in Frankfurt. A map of the city shows not only where Beckmann lived and worked, but also where he liked to spend leisure time and where his most important contacts were to be found. It was in the city on the Main that the artist developed to become an artist of international standing. He had connections to leading figures of Frankfurt’s press, industry and cultural politics. His circle of friends and collectors included the industrialists Walter and Käthe Carl, the publisher Heinrich Simon, then Städel director Georg Swarzenski, the journalist and author Benno Reifenberg, the journalist Käthe von Porada, the patron of the arts Lilly von Schnitzler, the art historian Fritz Wichert and many others. This section of the show accordingly features such works as the painted Portrait of the Carl Couple (1918), the lithograph Portrait of Georg Swarzenski (1921) and historical photographs of sites in Frankfurt. On his daily walks, the artist moreover explored the city, which he portrayed in a striking series of townscapes such as Ice on the River (1923) and The Synagogue in Frankfurt am Main (1919).
During the artist’s years in Frankfurt, the Städel Museum amassed the world’s largest public Beckmann collection. It acquired the majority of the works directly from his studio and with municipal funds. Georg Swarzenski, the director of the Städel at the time, first purchased works by Beckmann in 1918 for the Städtische Galerie – the municipal gallery affiliated with the Städel. By 1931, Swarzenski had expanded the contemporary collection to encompass a total of thirteen paintings and more than a hundred works on paper by the artist. Once the Nazis were in power, however, the museum was compelled to remove Beckmann’s paintings from its walls and relegate them to storage. Then, in the summer of 1937, nearly the entire Beckmann holdings were confiscated by the Reich ministry of propaganda as part of the “Degenerate Art” campaign. After World War II, Swarzenski’s successor Ernst Holzinger and Günther Franke – Beckmann’s gallerist at the time – assembled works from private collections to stage a Beckmann exhibition. Franke donated several prints to the Städel on the occasion. A major milestone in the museum’s endeavour to reconstruct its lost Beckmann holdings was the acquisition of nearly 170 works on paper from the large print collection of the artist’s friends Fridel and Ugi Battenberg in 1949. One year after the artist’s death, the city of Frankfurt made its first post-war purchase of a Beckmann painting – the Circus Carriage (1940). The Städel has continued to expand its Beckmann collection ever since. Comprising 11 paintings, 2 sculptures, and several hundred works on paper, this collection is today once again one of the world’s largest.
Curators: Dr. Alexander Eiling (Head of the Collection of Modern Art, Städel Museum), Dr. Regina Freyberger (Head of the Department of Prints and Drawings from 1750, Städel Museum), Dr. Iris Schmeisser (Head of Provenance Research and the Historical Archive, Städel Museum)
STÄDEL’S BECKMANN / BECKMANN’S STÄDEL:
THE FRANKFURT YEARS
Exhibition dates: 9 December 2020 to 5 April 2021 - extended to 29 August 2021
Curators: Dr. Alexander Eiling (Head of the Collection of Modern Art, Städel Museum), Dr. Regina Freyberger (Head of the Department of Prints and Drawings from 1750, Städel Museum), Dr. Iris Schmeisser (Head of Provenance Research and the Historical Archive, Städel Museum)
Location: Städel Museum, Schaumainkai 63, 60596 Frankfurt am Main
Information: www.staedelmuseum.de
Visitor services: +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
Admission: 14 EUR; free for children under 12
Advance ticket sales: shop.staedelmuseum.de
Catalogue A catalogue edited by Alexander Eiling, Regina Freyberger and Iris Schmeisser is being published in conjunction with the exhibition. With forewords by Sylvia von Metzler and Philipp Demandt, 94 pages, 15 EUR
Podcast STÄDEL MIXTAPE: The first episode of the new podcast STÄDEL MIXTAPE is dedicated to art and cultural historical questions concerning Beckmann's "Self-Portrait with Champagne Glass" and combines them with a suitable soundtrack. To be found everywhere where podcasts are available and on mixtape.staedelmuseum.de (in German)
Audio tracks on Max Beckmann: Learn more about the six most important Beckmann works in the Städel collection with the aid of texts, images and audio tracks available now on our Highlight App, staedelmuseum.de/app-offer
@staedelmuseum on social media: #Staedel auf Instagram / Facebook / Twitter / YouTube / Pinterest
Städel Blog: Background, stories and more about the collection and the special exhibitions at blog.staedelmuseum.de / Don’t miss a post; subscribe to blog.staedelmuseum.de/blog-abonnieren (in German)
PRESS RELEASE
EN PASSANT
IMPRESSIONISM IN SCULPTURE
Städel Museum, Exhibition Annex
Even today, a century and a half after its emergence, impressionism still fascinates people worldwide. Especially the paintings, with their loose, sketchy brushwork, bright palette and depictions of everyday scenes, are familiar to us all. The diversity of impressionism in sculpture, on the other hand, is a subject that has received far less scholarly attention to date and is unknown to the broad public. The Städel Museum will present the first major exhibition ever to explore the question of how the attributes of impressionist painting – such as light, colour, movement and even ephemerality – found expression in sculpture. The show will revolve primarily around five artists – Edgar Degas (1834–1917), Auguste Rodin (1840–1917), Medardo Rosso (1858–1928), Paolo Troubetzkoy (1866–1938) and Rembrandt Bugatti (1884–1916) – whose oeuvres represent the various manifestations of impressionist sculpture.
Download the complete press text here.
PRESS RELEASE
Städel’s Legacy: Master Drawings from the Founder’s Collection
13 MAY TO 16 AUGUST 2020
Exhibition Hall of the Department of Prints and Drawings
With the bequest of his private art collection, the businessman and banker Johann Friedrich Städel (1728–1816) founded a public art museum of international stature, accessible to all – the Städel Museum. The collector left behind an art treasure encompassing not only paintings and prints but also more than 4,600 drawings. For a long time, it was not possible to determine which of the drawings in the museum’s present-day holdings were originally in his collection. At the time of the bequest, no complete inventory was compiled. Furthermore, in the course the collection’s reorganization in the 1860s, many drawings were sorted out and sold. For the first time, the Städel Museum has now succeeded in reconstructing the founder’s drawing collection to a large extent, and identifying the roughly 3,000 works still in the collection today. From 13 May to 16 August 2020, the Städel Museum is presenting a selection of 95 master drawings providing a representative impression of the character, organization and artistic significance of the former drawing collection of Johann Friedrich Städel. Following the founder’s tradition, the outstanding works by Raphael, Correggio and Primaticcio, Watteau, Boucher and Fragonard, Dürer, Roos and Reinhart, Goltzius, Rembrandt, De Wit and many others are here arranged according to “European schools”. They are moreover discussed in detail in an accompanying catalogue. A portion of these drawings are already known among scholars; others are here being published for the first time.
Curator: Joachim Jacoby
With support from: Stiftung Gabriele Busch-Hauck, Wolfgang Ratjen Stiftung, Tavolozza Foundation, Georg und Franziska Speyer’sche Hochschulstiftung
Download the complete press release here.
WALL TEXTS
Download the complete wall texts for the exhibition "EN PASSANT: Impressionism in Sculpture" here.
WALL TEXTS
Download the complete wall texts for the exhibition "Städel’s Legacy: Master Drawings from the Founder’s Collection" here.
PRESS INFORMATION
CORONA PRECAUTIONS: STÄDEL MUSEUM TEMPORARILY CLOSED FROM 2 NOVEMBER 2020
The Städel Museum will be closed from 2 November 2020, prospectively until and including 7 March 2021. The Städel is thus observing the official precautionary measures to contain the corona pandemic.
We will inform you of further developments in due time.
Tickets already purchased for the Städel Museum collection and the exhibition “Passion for Pictures: Netherlandish Drawings of the Eighteenth Century” (until 18 April 2021) will retain their validity. If you wish to return your tickets, please contact the museum by e-mail at besucherdienst@staedelmuseum.de.
Over the coming weeks, you can enjoy the Städel in the comfort of your own home. Use our wide range of digital offers: from the online course on modern art and the digital collection to a tablet game for kids and the podcast series FINDING VAN GOGH. For further information, see digital.staedelmuseum.de.
Stay in contact with us by way of the social media channels Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube: @staedelmuseum #StaydelAtHome.
Publications and selected gift items from our museum shop are available at: shop.staedelmuseum.de.
STÄDEL MUSEUM
Information: www.staedelmuseum.de
Visitor services: +49(0)69-605098-200, besucherdienst@staedelmuseum.de
Location: Städel Museum, Schaumainkai 63, 60596 Frankfurt am Main
PRESS RELEASE
NEW WAYS OF SEEING:
THE PHOTOGRAPHY OF THE 1920S AND ‘30S
30 JUNE TO 24 OCTOBER 2021
Exhibition Hall of the Department of Prints and Drawings
Press preview: 29 June 2021, 11:00 am
The Weimar Republic (1918–1933) was an era of great innovation in modern photography. There was a growing demand for press and advertising images—and numerous photographers to cater to it. Their works also appeared in elaborate photo books they published on their own initiative. One catalyst for these developments was the advent of the 35mm camera in the 1920s, an invention permitting unprecedented freedom of movement. Unusual perspectives, steep-angled views from above and below, and close-ups of details testify to a new enthusiasm for photographic experimentation. This modern aesthetic came to be known as Neues Sehen (New Ways of Seeing), a catchword that can be understood as a call for a new visual approach on the part of the photographer and the viewer alike. Pictorial language now became clearer, more direct, and in many cases more linear. In its matter-of-fact rigour it corresponded to the needs of a society that, after the disaster of World War I, had come to favour realistic depiction.
From 30 June to 24 October 2021, the Städel Museum will shed light on modern photography’s wide-ranging trends. In an introduction and seven theme-oriented sections, the exhibition ‘New Ways of Seeing: The Photography of the 1920s and ’30s’ will convey an impression of the medium’s various uses in the interwar period. Some of the works on view will also offer visual presentiments of the 1930s, in which the Nazis increasingly instrumentalized photography as a means of communication for political propaganda purposes. The show’s themes will encompass photography’s establishment at vocational training institutes and art academies, photographic illustration and photojournalism, the employment of photography in science and research, portrait photography, and the use of the medium in advertising, industry, and political propaganda. Historical magazines, photo books, and posters will supplement the works on view.
Curator: Kristina Lemke (Head of the Photography Collection)
Supported by: FAZIT-STIFTUNG, Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach-Stiftung, Dr. Hans Feith und Dr. Elisabeth Feith-Stiftung
Download the complete press release here.