November Issue 2000
Hickory Museum of Art in Hickory, NC, Exhibits German Artworks
The Hickory Museum
of Art in Hickory, NC, celebrates Germany's rich cultural heritage
with the exhibition, Conrad Felixmüller and the Art Scene
in Dresden: Graphic Works From 1913-1933, a collection of
62 artist prints from the Lindenau Museum of Altenburg, Germany.
The exhibit is on view through Dec. 31, 2000.
The exhibition makes its first and only US appearance at HMA thanks
to a collaboration between the Museum and the Western Piedmont
Sister Cities Association. Altenburg is the "Sister City"
of the Unifour - a region that includes Alexander, Burke, Caldwell
and Catawba counties - and the WPSCA has cultivated a relationship
with Altenburg for several years.
"This collaboration between the Museum and the Western Piedmont
Sister Cities Association is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity
to celebrate our Germanic heritage and enjoy works of art that
have never been exhibited in this country," said HMA Executive
Director Arnold Cogswell Jr. "This exchange will allow residents
of the Unifour to learn more about German art and culture and
get acquainted with the region's 'Sister City'."
Cogswell said various educational and cultural programs planned
in conjunction with the exhibition will help Museum visitors immerse
themselves in German culture.
"We've planned performances by Alpenländer, a duo that
plays German 'oompah" music, and Viva Klezmer!, a Charlotte-based
group that plays Jewish jazz from the 1920s," Cogswell said.
"The Museum will also offer several programs and gallery
talks about German art and culture, and we will conclude the exhibition
with a special German beer and wine tasting. Various aspects of
German heritage will be presented and discussed throughout the
exhibition."
The collection of artworks that inspired these cultural and educational
programs consists of 62 etchings, woodcuts and lithographs by
13 artists who lived and worked in Dresden, Germany, during the
early Modernist period. Arranged by Dr. Thomas Matuszak, the Lindenau
Museum's curator, the exhibition explores a previously underrepresented
pocket of art activity in Dresden, a city known as the birthplace
of the legendary Expressionist art movement called "Die Brücke"
(The Bridge). The movement continued in Dresden until 1910; its
founders then relocated to Berlin but left behind fertile ground
for continued artistic development.
"These rarely-seen artworks present a unique opportunity
to learn more about Germany's cultural transition in the years
that followed World War I," said HMA Curator Mary Agnes Beach.
"Basic assumptions about the art impulse shifted during that
period; one such shift that had worldwide effect throughout the
20th century involved the art styles collectively referred to
as Expressionism."
From the start of the Modernist period in 1903, Beach said, German
artists and their innovations in Expressionism made what have
turned out to be earth-shaking changes in the course of art. Unlike
the Impressionists who came before them, Expressionists wanted
to illustrate inner reality through their interpretations of outer
reality. "The Expressionists tried to correct what they considered
a shortcoming in art. They believed authentic art should depict
real life as it exists on the street, or in erotic or religious
subjects, or even in portraits," said Beach.
The works assembled in the exhibition are artist prints - etchings,
lithographs and woodcuts. While it is easy to confuse the term
"artist prints" with commercial reproductions or posters
commonly described as prints, Beach said the public should recognize
the difference between the two terms before visiting the exhibition.
"The prints assembled here were created through the application
of ink to a block of wood or a plate of stone or metal,"
she said. "A piece of paper was placed over the block or
plate and pressure was applied so the paper, soon to be a print,
picked up the ink. Generally, prints are signed and numbered by
the artist, who decides how many to make. "These are original
artworks, not reproductions," Beach stresses.
Artists' whose works are included in the exhibition are: Peter
August Boeckstiegel, Otto Dix, Conrad Felixmüller, Curt Grosspietsch,
Wilhem Heckrott, Walter Jacob, Edmund Kesting, Georg Kind, Bernhard
Kretschmar, Otto Lange, Reinhold Langer, Constantin von Mitschke-Collande,
and Lasar Segall.
Major support of Conrad Felixmüller and the Art Scene
in Dresden: Graphic Works From 1913-1933 was received from
Corning Cable Systems. Additional support and assistance was given
by Klingspor Abrasives. Support was also given by Bank of America;
BASF; BB&T; Bernhardt Furniture Company; Broyhill Family Foundation,
Catawba Valley Bank; CT Group; William Hairston; Null Industries;
Saft America; The Unifour Foundation; Dr. and Mrs. Charles Wakeman;
and Whisnant & Co.
This project also received support from the North Carolina Arts
Council, an agency funded by the State of North Carolina and the
National Endowment for the Arts, and the Catawba County Council
for the Arts. Support also was provided by the counties of Alexander,
Burke, and Catawba, and the communities of Hickory, Taylorsville,
Lenoir, Claremont, Valdese, Morganton, Newton and Conover.
For further information check our NC Institutional Gallery listings
or call the Museum at 828/327-8576 or at (http://www.hickorymuseumofart.org).
Mailing Address: Carolina Arts, P.O. Drawer
427, Bonneau, SC 29431
Telephone, Answering Machine and FAX: 843/825-3408
E-Mail: carolinart@aol.com
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