Alfred Kuhn (art historian)
Alfred Kuhn (born February 1, 1885 in Mannheim ; died September 2, 1940 in Kappel near Freiburg ) was a German art historian .
After he dealt primarily with the romantic Peter von Cornelius at the beginning of his activity , he later became known as the author of numerous writings on contemporary art. In the 1920s he was one of the most productive art historians in Berlin, along with Adolf Behne , Paul Westheim , Carl Einstein and Max Osborn . He also organized several exhibitions of German art for museums abroad. After the National Socialists came to power in Germany, his publishing activities were increasingly restricted and finally came to a complete standstill. Only a few works are known after 1933, and he was largely forgotten after his death.
life and work
Education and early publications
Alfred Kuhn was born in Mannheim in 1885 as the son of a Jewish family who had converted to Christianity. From 1905 he studied art history , history and Romance philology in Berlin, Munich, Halle, Vienna, Paris and Freiburg. In 1910 he received his doctorate at the University of Freiburg with a thesis on The Illustration of the Rose Novel . After receiving his doctorate, he worked as a research assistant at the Freiburg Municipal Collections from 1911 to 1912 and as a research assistant at the Royal Museums in Berlin from 1912 to 1917 . From 1917 to 1919, he did alternative military service as a high school teacher in Berlin, as he was unsuitable for military service.
offer my arm and escort to her?" -
"I am neither Fraulein, neither beautiful,
can go home unaccompanied."
Faust offers Gretchen the arm, by Peter von Cornelius (1811)
Shortly before the beginning of World War I in 1914, Kuhn published an article in the specialist journal Museumskunde about museums as forums for international understanding and instruments for popularizing art. From 1914 he dealt with the painter Peter von Cornelius and above all his illustration of Goethe's Faust . In 1916 he wrote the introduction to a reprint of the original engravings under the title “The Faust Illustrations of Peter Cornelius in their Relationship to the German National Movement”, followed in 1920 by the foreword to the illustrated edition of Faust. A tragedy. Finally, in 1921, his monograph on Peter Cornelius followed with the title “Peter Cornelius and the spiritual currents of his time. With letters from the master to Ludwig I of Bavaria and to Goethe. "
Concentration on contemporary art
After the First World War, Kuhn concentrated on contemporary art, although he was critical of developments in the modern era. In the book “Die neuer Plastik von 1800 bis zur Gegenwart” from 1921 he presented the development of contemporary and modern sculpture for the first time, and he also published on Rudolf Belling and other contemporary sculptors.
Alfred Kuhn subsequently wrote reviews of current art exhibitions for the magazine Feuer . In 1922/23 he worked as the editor-in-chief of the journal Kunstchronik und Kunstmarkt , and in 1925/26 as its editor. He wrote primarily as a chronicler and critic of contemporary art. In popular book series he published introductions to various artists, including Käthe Kollwitz (1921), Emy Roeder (1921), Anselm Feuerbach (1922) and Asmus Carstens (1924). Also in 1924 he wrote the introduction to “Max Liebermann. Thoughts and Images ”for the series of“ Delphin Art Books ”by Delphin Verlag . A year later he published a monograph on the artist Lovis Corinth , which appeared shortly after his death; Corinth himself portrayed Alfred Kuhn in 1923.
The artist monographs “ Aristide Maillol . Landscape, Works, Conversations ”also appeared in 1925 and“ The Sculptor Hermann Haller ”in 1927 as the result of several studio visits in France and Switzerland. A trip to Spain was the basis of the book “The old Spain. Landscape, history, art. ”Kuhn subsequently published in various magazines, ranging from“ Kunstblatt ”and“ Horen ”to“ Der Cicerone ”, where he was briefly employed, to“ Leipziger Illustrierte Zeitung ”and " The week " was enough. At the same time, he supplied several daily newspapers such as the " Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung ", the " Tag " and the " Berliner Tageblatt " with articles on exhibition. From 1927 to 1929 he was an art market advisor for the “ Frankfurter Zeitung ” and after 1928 the author of the “ art auction ”.
Kuhn also dealt with cultural-political work, in particular for his concerns about the further development of museums and the self-presentation of German art abroad. His endeavor was to rehabilitate Germany as a cultural nation after the World War and to counter the French dominance in the art market. He published articles on foreign art policy and organized exhibitions of German art abroad on behalf of the art department of the Foreign Office. In 1926 he put together exhibitions of graphics by German artists for Spain and Switzerland. In 1927 he took over the press work of the German section of the International Art Exhibition in Monza, which was put together by Bruno Paul , and in 1929 he organized an exhibition of German contemporary art in Warsaw . A counter-exhibition of Polish art in Germany was planned, but this did not take place for political reasons - however, based on his preoccupation with the topic, Kuhn published his book “Polish Art from 1800 to the Present” in 1930 2nd edition appeared. On behalf of the Leipzig Stock Exchange Association of German Booksellers, he subsequently oversaw an exhibition of German graphics for South America and from 1931 to 1933 he organized exhibitions of German art and architecture in Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union for the German Art Society.
Alfred Kuhn also published occasional publications on contemporary architecture, for example in 1922 he was very critical of the Expressionist phase of Bruno Taut in Magdeburg and praised the tendency to objectify the architecture of the November Group in his reporting in 1923. In 1925/26 he reported on the Bauhaus and was in close correspondence with Walter Gropius . In 1932 he published the first monograph on the architect Max Taut , Bruno Taut's brother, which was also to be his last major publication.
Effects of the Nazi era
Due to financial difficulties during the economic crisis, his completed manuscript on bronze sculptures could not be published in 1932, after which the takeover of power by the National Socialist German Workers' Party in Germany had a major impact on his publications. Kuhn was regarded as a journalistic patron of the art of the system time and as a representative of Jewish art criticism, although he had neither expressed himself politically nor avant-garde during the Weimar Republic and instead pursued a more conservative view of art. Due to his Jewish descent, he was a non-Aryan according to the National Socialist view and his publication opportunities were increasingly restricted.
In 1935, Alfred Kuhn withdrew from Berlin and tried, despite the resistance, to regain his freedom to publish. He marginalized his commitment to modern art and emphasized his national stance in his work on German art abroad. In order to be able to write, he had to submit his articles to the Reichsschrifttumskammer and published mainly under the protection of Catholic organs. In March 1935 he was excluded from the Reichsschrifttumskammer on the basis of the so-called " Aryan Paragraph " and his opposition to this measure was rejected in 1936. He was forbidden from any publication of a literary nature and was only allowed to publish purely scientific works, especially the second edition of his book on Polish art, with special permission. Kuhn repeated his objection several times and in 1938 was classified as a typical representative of a liberalist view of art. In 1939, the Reich Minister for Public Enlightenment ordered that any further activity by Kuhn would be viewed as undesirable. Publishers were ordered to stop accepting manuscripts from him, and the Secret State Police monitored compliance with the order.
Alfred Kuhn died on September 2, 1940 in Kappel near Freiburg at the age of 55.
Fonts
- The illustration of the rose novel. Tempsky, Vienna 1912
- Peter Cornelius's illustrations of Faust in their relationship to the German romantic movement. D. Reimer, Berlin [1916]
- Peter von Cornelius - Pictures to Goethe's Faust. D. Reimer, Berlin [1916]
- Peter Cornelius and the spiritual currents of his time. D. Reimer, Berlin 1921
- The newer sculpture from eighteen hundred to the present. Delphin-Verlag, Munich 1921
- Emy Roeder. Klinkhardt & Biermann, Leipzig 1921
- Käthe Kollwitz. Neue Kunsthandlung, Berlin 1921
- Anselm Feuerbach. EA Seemann, Leipzig 1922
- The newer sculpture from eighteen hundred to the present. 2nd ext. Edition, Delphin-Verlag, Munich 1922
- Max Liebermann. Thoughts and images. Delphin-Verlag, Munich [1924]
- Jacob Asmus Carstens. EA Seemann, Leipzig 1924
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe - Italian journey. Munich, Bruckmann, 1925 (reprint Bruckmann, Munich 1999)
- Aristide Maillol. EA Seemann, Leipzig 1925
- Lovis Corinth. Propylaea Publishing House, Berlin 1925
- A curious commemorative publication in the Bauhaus style and in the style of constructivism, as a symbol of absurd typography in 1925 Leipzig: [sn], 1925
- The sculptor Hermann Haller. Art. Orell Füssli Institute, Zurich 1927
- Wystawa Niemieckiej Sztuki Współczesnej. Warsaw 1929 [sl]: [sn] Berlin (: HS Hermann), 1929
- Graphics catalog. Publishing house [branch] of the German Booksellers Association, Leipzig 1930
- The German graphics of the present. Leipzig: [sn], 1930
- Polish art from 1800 to the present. Klinkhardt & Biermann, Berlin 1930
- Max Taut - Buildings. Berlin, Leipzig, Deutsche Architektur-Bücherei 1932 (Reprint: Gebr. Mann, Berlin 2002, ISBN 3-7861-2409-4 )
- Ferdinand von Stumm - antiques and old paintings. Berlin W 9, Bellevuestr. 13: Dr. G. Deneke, 1932
- Polish art from 1800 to the present. 2. change Edition, Klinkhardt & Biermann, Berlin 1937
literature
- Roland Jaeger: A document of contemporary objectivity. The Max Taut monograph by Alfred Kuhn, in it "Alfred Kuhn (1885–1940)" In: Alfred Kuhn: Max Taut - Buildings. Newly published by Roland Jaeger, Gebr. Mann Verlag, Berlin 2002. ISBN 3-7861-2409-4 (Revised reprint of the edition of Deutsche Architektur-Bücherei GmbH, Berlin and Leipzig 1932).
- Roland Jaeger: Alfred Kuhn (1885-1940). A forgotten Berlin art historian of the twenties . In: From the Antiquariat 2004, No. 1, pp. 21–32.
Web links
- Literature by and about Alfred Kuhn in the catalog of the German National Library
Individual evidence
- ^ German contemporary visual arts and architecture. Exhibition catalog. Berlin 1931 ( hazu.hr [accessed on February 2, 2017]).
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Kuhn, Alfred |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German art historian and author |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 1, 1885 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Mannheim |
| DATE OF DEATH | September 2, 1940 |
| Place of death | Kappel near Freiburg |