calendario eventi  :: 

X

23/9/2014

August Macke and Franz Marc

Kunstmuseum Bonn, Bonn

On 6 January 1910, August Macke visited Franz Marc in his Munich studio for the first time. This was the beginning of a friendship that presents one of the special events in the history of early modern art both from a social and, above all, artistic point of view. The insights gained through this acquaintance are not limited to the lives of the two artists, but also point out the effect this friendship had on the artistic discussion of that time in general. August Macke died at the beginning of the First World War in 1914, Franz Marc fell only two years later.

On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of August Macke’s death Kunstmuseum Bonn and Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich, present for the first time an exhibition that exclusively deals with the friendship between August Macke and Franz Marc and their art. A comprehensive selection of 185 paintings, watercolors, drawings, sketchbooks, objects and other documents will bring together the works of the two artists.

Apart from the collection of Kunstmuseum Bonn and Lenbachhaus, Munich, numerous loans from international museums and private collections illustrate how Macke and Marc despite their very different characters found their artistic ways by inspiring each other, how they developed their subjects, forms of color and determined painting’s relation to the world both from a perceptive and aesthetic point of view.

The introductory section containing works by Macke and Marc from 1910 already makes clear the different links that connect their respective oeuvres, these becoming decisively stronger as their friendship intensified. A first coming toge ther occurred in the friends’ discussions on color theory beginning in 1910/11, whose results are directly reflected in famous works by France Marc, such as Dog Lying in the Snow or Blue Horse I, displaying parallels to works by Macke, who initially emerged here as a provider of ideas. Next, in rapid succession, the close relationships will be revealed in the sections dealing with the Blaue Reiter (Blue Rider) of 1911/12, and the Paradise Fresco, which the two artists had painted together in Macke’s studio, and which ultimately led in their works to the important theme of exoticism and Macke’s Zoological Garden. At times, it is quite astonishing to recognize the common characteristics the two artists share.

The parallel development of the two friends be comes entirely obvious when we look at the impulses the two artists received from Cubism, Orphism, Futurism, and abstractionism of the kind propagated by Delaunay, and then implemented in their own art– and in this respect, they assume a special position not only among the artists of the Blaue Reiter. In this development, the cultural and political activities of the two friends also played a role, for example Marc’s involvement in organizing the tours of the Blaue Reiter and Macke’s similar role with respect to the Rhenish Expressionists. Moreover, there was their mutual participation in the Cologne Sonderbund Exhibition in 1912 and the First German Autumn Salon in 1913 at the gallery Sturm, for which both artists each came to Berlin for two weeks to support the gallery owner Herwarth Walden in setting up the exhibition.

An extensive catalogue featuring essays by renowned writers, 210 color plates, and numerous additional illustrations, will be published in conjunction with the exhibition. 360 pp., Hatje Cantz Verlag, 34 €, available from the end of September in the museumshop.

A collaboration between the Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus and the Kunstmuseum Bonn

Image: Franz Marc, Der Tiger, 1912, Öl auf Leinwand, 115 x 101,5 cm, Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus und Kunstbau, München © Foto Lenbachhaus

Press contact:
Theresa Viehoff-Heithorn, Tel: 0049-(0)228-776223 theresa.viehoff-heithorn@bonn.de

Opening: Wednesday, 24.9.2014, 8 p.m.

Kunstmuseum Bonn l Museumsmeile
Friedrich-Ebert-Allee 2 l 53113 Bonn l Germany
Hours
Tues – Sun 11 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Wed 11 a.m. – 9 p.m.
Closed on 24, 25 and 31 December 2014
Admission
Adults: € 12
Reduced: € 7 (for juveniles up to 17 years, students, apprentices, disabled persons according to the German disabilities act, persons participating in the Federal Volunteer Service, Bonn-Card holders)
Groups: € 10 (groups of 10+ persons)
Reduced: € 6 (groups of 10+ persons)

stampa

permanent link