German Academy Rome Villa Massimo

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German Academy Rome Villa Massimo
logo
founding 1913
Sponsorship Federal Republic of Germany
place Rome
Director Julia Draganović
Website https://www.villamassimo.de/
The main house of Villa Massimo (2005)

The German Academy Rome Villa Massimo , or Villa Massimo for short , ( Italian Accademia Tedesca Roma Villa Massimo ) is a cultural institution in Rome . It belongs to the Federal Republic of Germany and is the most important institution for top-class promotion of German artists through study visits abroad. It is located in the division of the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media . The Villa Massimo was donated by Eduard Arnhold , a Jewish entrepreneur. The first scholarship holders were accepted in 1913. The facility consists of the main house in Rome on Largo di Villa Massimo in the Nomentano district and the Casa Baldi in Olevano Romano . The Villa Serpentara , also located in Olevano Romano, is part of the Academy of Arts in Berlin. It is managed by Villa Massimo, which also supports the scholarship holders.

history

Founding history and idea

The grounds of Villa Massimo, part of the extensive Vigna Massimo, were acquired by the Berlin entrepreneur and patron Eduard Arnhold (1849–1925) in December 1910 and given to the Prussian state in the same year. With this, Arnhold anticipated the hesitant behavior of Prussia , which could not decide to found an artist house. Following the example of the French Academy Villa Medici founded in 1666, the precarious living and working conditions of the German Rome Prize scholarship holders were to be improved. In addition, Germany should gain importance in the international competition for cultural presence in the Eternal City with its own institution of the arts.

The foundation of the Deutsche Akademie coincides with the preparations for the 50th anniversary of the existence of the Kingdom of Italy , which in Rome, on the initiative of the mayor at the time, Ernesto Nathan, was to be dominated by art, archeology and history. The Valle Giulia, together with the newly built Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna , was to become a "Città d'arte". This laid the foundation stone for a dense network of foreign academies in Rome, which still exists today in this globally unique form.

Villa Massimo was built 1910–1913

Ateliers and Park of Villa Massimo (2019)

The buildings of the Villa Massimo, the main house and the ten artist studios, were built from 1910 to 1913. Eduard Arnhold appointed the Swiss artist Maximilian Zürcher to be the architect of the facility. Zürcher had proven his talent in Florence, where he had already converted historic country estates into artist residences. In addition to Zurich residents, artists, above all Ludwig von Hofmann and the sculptor Luis Tuaillon , were always involved in the planning. Tuaillon's proposal to separate the main building from the studios was finally implemented.

The facility was conceived as an artist 's house: the main house, in which z. B. an exhibition and a dining room as well as a library were planned, has only barely the floor space of three studios. The requirements of the artists who should have access to the best possible workplaces were in the foreground during the planning. The design of the studios meant that ideas of a “social architecture” were implemented early on. At the client's request, they were designed to be functional and identical with the exception of minor deviations. The objective, row house-like aesthetics meant that all artists were to be treated equally and social injustices were to be avoided. In addition, the spacious rooms should allow the realization of large canvases and equestrian statues.

The main house was designed by Zürcher in such a way that the impression of a Roman Villa Suburbana from the late Cinquecento is created, with Villa Giulia serving as a model for the facade design. The building is optically broadened by open terrace annexes and gives it a stately appearance. Zürcher used this design trick in order to simulate a much larger building volume. Because although the main house of Villa Massimo is only a few meters deep, the impression on the visitor when entering the main square is majestic.

In contrast to other foreign academies, which are reminiscent of the country of origin in their architectural design, Zürcher did not use a “national style”, but deliberately used Italian and Roman models. Travertine and country house plaster determine the facade's materials, while the entrance portal takes up a triumphal arch motif . A Latin slogan from the classical philologist Onorato Occioni adorns the cornice frieze: Ingenuas.testor.studio.quo.prosequar.artes (I call the noble arts a witness for the study which I will follow).

The park of Villa Massimo, which was planned and furnished by Maximilian Zürcher as the southern arcadia , is almost four hectares in size, with 27,000 square meters acquired in 1910. The 9,600 square meter property behind the artists' studios was acquired in 1928. Zürcher included existing artificial ruins and the two monumental cypress avenues in the design of the park. He furnished the complex richly with ancient spoilage , which come from the graves of the nearby Roman consular street Via Nomentana . He designed a typical Italian garden - usually grown over centuries elsewhere - which was to serve the Rome Prize winners as a motif-rich picture template for plein-air painting , studying antiquity and as a picturesque background for nude painting. Eduard Arnhold was apparently extremely satisfied with the result, because in a letter from 1912 he wrote: "Zürcher has turned the fallow land into a magic garden."

The Rome price of Villa Massimo, commissioning of the German Academy

In 1913, after the construction work was completed, the first Rome Prize winners could be accepted in the Villa Massimo. Although the Rome Prize had been advertised by the Prussian Academy of the Arts since 1828, this was the first time that German artists had their own house in Rome. The selection process for the twelve scholarship holders envisaged the participation of the Ministry, the Prussian Academy of the Arts and Eduard Arnholds. Arnhold and his wife were to keep a lifelong right of residence in the main building of Villa Massimo while the academy was running, to use the garden and to receive guests. In addition to numerous sculptors and painters, the first year of scholarship recipients in 1913/14 included a first architect, Xaver Henselmann .

The Rome Prize was intended to give young German artists (up to around 32 years of age) a free nine-month stay. Older artists could also apply, but had to bear the costs of 250 Reichsmark themselves as "student guests". The members of the Senate of the Prussian Academy of the Arts decided on the recommendation to the Prussian Ministry of Culture , which made the actual decision to receive the scholarship.

First sequester administration

Shortly after it was founded, in 1915, the academy, which had only just started operations, had to close again in the wake of the outbreak of the First World War. Maximilian Zürcher handed the villa over to the Swiss embassy and left the country himself. During the war years, the villa was used as a home for the disabled and a prosthesis manufacture, and in 1918 it was sequestered as enemy property .

The time between the world wars

Although the first German institutes, above all the Bibliotheca Hertziana , were able to resume operations from 1920 , the return of the Villa Massimo u. a. difficult due to the accommodation of the war invalids and the very short existence of the institution. In addition, inflation had wiped out the foundation capital made available by Eduard Arnhold. Eduard Arnhold died in 1925 without any hope of reopening the institution he founded and without ever having made use of the right to live in the main building. The reopening took place after the return of the property in 1928. At the request of Arnhold's widow and the Prussian minister of education Carl Heinrich Becker , Herbert Gericke, then a professor at the United State School for Free and Applied Arts in Berlin, married Arnhold's granddaughter Erika Kunheim was appointed as director. This appointment was, on the one hand, an honor for the services of the Arnhold family, and on the other, a clear sign against growing anti-Semitism.

In 1930, the Rome Prize was awarded to a woman for the first time, the sculptor Hanna Cauer . As the 1930s progressed, it became increasingly difficult to keep politics away from Villa Massimo. Some members of the selection committee of the Prussian Academy resigned or were expelled. After the seizure of power , the pressure on the institution from the Reich Chamber of Culture increased . A certain amount of freedom could be defended for a few years, but the influence of the National Socialists increased. In 1933 two very different scholarship holders met: Arno Breker , who stands for the art of National Socialism like no other, and the Jewish painter Felix Nussbaum , who was killed in 1944 in Auschwitz-Birkenau . Both were also present when Goebbels visited the Villa Massimo. Nussbaum had to leave the Deutsche Akademie prematurely after a fight broke out between himself and his fellow fellow Hanns Hubertus Graf von Merveldt , in which mainly Nussbaum was physically injured. Together with Nussbaum, Merfeldt was also expelled from the academy. Whether the reason for the difference of opinion was ideological or artistic has not yet been clearly clarified. Felix Nussbaum then settled in Alassio and stayed in contact with the director of the Villa Massimo at the time, Herbert Gericke .

Prof. Gericke himself was dismissed without notice in 1938 because of Jewish "sipping" shortly before Hitler's visit to Rome. The stele , which reminded of the founder Eduard Arnhold, was removed. So the memory of the Jewish founding of the institution should be erased. Fred (erick) Charles Willis , who worked in the NSDAP 's foreign organization , was appointed as the new director . This directorate lasted only eight months, however, from April 1, 1939, the oldest scholarship holder, Hans Stangl , became acting director of the German Academy. In 1943 the institution was closed.

Second sequester management - the “Italian years” of Villa Massimo

In the course of the Second World War , the main building of Villa Massimo was converted from 1942 into an officers' mess and a radio station for the German Air Force . In 1944, after the withdrawal of the German troops from Rome, the institution was sequestered for the second time - this time by the Allies, who initially set up a refugee camp in the villa. Palmiro Togliatti , Minister of the Italian Transitional Government, took up the suggestion of the painter Renato Guttuso immediately after the war : the studios were made available to anti-fascist Italian artists who had been damaged by the war or who had made a living in the Resistancea . In addition to Guttuso, artists such as Leoncilo, Marino Mazzacurati, Vittoria Lippi, Emilio Greco and Aldo Caron moved into the beautiful but war-worn studios alongside Guttuso . The Villa Massimo became the meeting point of the Roman avant-garde scene and personalities such as Pablo Neruda , Gina Lollobrigida and Sophia Loren were among the frequently seen visitors.

Summer party at Villa Massimo (2018)

The scholarship is one of the most important awards in Germany for outstanding artists in the fields of fine arts , literature , music (composition) and architecture . The study stays include ten months in the Villa Massimo or three months in the Casa Baldi , located southeast of Rome in Olevano Romano . There they can live and work free of charge in ten studios (Casa Baldi: two) as scholarship holders . In addition, the artists will receive 2,500 euros per month for the duration of the scholarship. An important thought during the stay is mutual stimulation. Every year the academy organizes numerous concerts, excursions, readings and symposia and presents the works of the artists in various exhibition formats. The scholarship holders of the Akademie der Künste Berlin , who are also housed in the Villa Serpentara in Olevano Romano, are also looked after by the Villa Massimo and are involved in all activities of the Deutsche Akademie Rome . The director of the academy was Joachim Blüher from 2002 to the end of July 2019 . Since then, the literary and art scholar Julia Draganović has been running the house.

Casa Baldi

The scholarship from the Deutsche Akademie Rome also includes three-month stays at Casa Baldi in Olevano Romano , a mountain town about an hour south-east of Rome. The scholarship has the same status, but is fundamentally different due to the special location of the place and the shorter duration of the stay. This scholarship impresses with its remoteness, but also with its contact with the residents of Olevanos. International encounters occur again and again through the events of the artists who are supported by the city of Olevano. In addition, the scholarship holders of Casa Baldi take part in the events and activities of Villa Massimo .

Villa Serpentara

The Villa Serpentara is also in Olevano Romano , in the neighborhood of Casa Baldi , and offers artists sent by the Berlin Academy of the Arts a three-month stay. The Deutsche Akademie Rome Villa Massimo manages the property and supports the scholarship holders in their projects. In addition, due to the similarity of the scholarship and the intensive artistic and human exchange among the scholarship holders, the scholarship holders will be included in the activities of Villa Massimo .

Well-known scholarship holders and students

see: List of scholarship holders of the Deutsche Akademie Rome Villa Massimo

See also

literature

  • Michael Dorrmann: Eduard Arnhold (1849-1925). A biographical study of entrepreneurship and patronage in the German Empire. Academy, Berlin 2002, ISBN 3-05-003748-2 .
  • Michael Matheus (ed.): German research and cultural institutes in Rome in the post-war period. Niemeyer, Tübingen 2007, ISBN 3-484-82112-4 (= Library of the German Historical Institute , 112).
  • Angela Windholz: Et In Academia Ego , Schnell & Steiner, Regensburg 2008, ISBN 978-3-7954-2060-4 , complete pdf for download from Academia.edu
  • Angela Windholz: Villa Massimo. On the founding history of the German Academy in Rome and its buildings. Imhof, Petersberg 2003, ISBN 3-935590-93-8 .
  • Angela Windholz: The German Academy Rome - Villa Massimo , Kunstverlag Josef Fink, Lindenberg 2009, ISBN 978-3-89870-606-3 .
  • Joachim Blüher (Ed.): Villa Massimo - German Academy Rome 1910–2010. Wienand, Cologne 2011, ISBN 978-3-86832-047-3 .
  • Joachim Blüher (Ed.): Olevano. Casa Baldi / Villa Serpentara . German Academy Rome, 2017.
  • Jobst C. Knigge : The Villa Massimo in Rome 1933–1943 - struggle for artistic independence. Humboldt University of Berlin 2013 ( online , PDF; 26.3 MB).
  • Jobst C. Knigge: Italian artists in the Villa Massimo 1947 to 1957, Humboldt University Berlin 2018 (online: edoc.hu-berlin.de/handle/18452/19657).
  • Foundation / Villa Massimo . In: Der Spiegel . No. 43 , 1956, pp. 56-57 ( Online - Oct. 24, 1956 ).
  • Peter Goßens : "The decision for Rome". Uwe Johnson and the Villa Massimo. In: Johnson Yearbook. Volume 25 (2018). Göttingen: Wallstein, 2018, pp. 197–217.

Web links

Commons : Villa Massimo (Rome)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media: Statute of the German Academy Rome Villa Massimo and the German Academy Rome Casa Baldi in Olevano Romano. (PDF) In: Federal Government website. Press and Information Office of the Federal Government, accessed on April 15, 2019 .
  2. ^ Villa Serpentara. In: Website of the Villa Massimo. German Academy Rome Villa Massimo, accessed on April 15, 2019 .
  3. ↑ Angela Windholz: Et In Academia Ego . Schnell & Steiner, Regensburg 2008, ISBN 978-3-7954-2060-4 , pp. 317 .
  4. ↑ Joachim flowering, Julia Trolp: 100 years German Academy Rome. 1910-2010. Villa Massimo. Wienand Verlag, Cologne 2010, ISBN 978-3-86832-047-3 , pp. 68 .
  5. ↑ Angela Windholz: Et In Academia Ego . Schnell & Steiner, Regensburg 2008, ISBN 978-3-7954-2060-4 , pp. 14, 281 .
  6. ↑ Joachim flowering, Julia Trolp: 100 years German Academy Rome. 1910-2010. Villa Massimo . Wienand Verlag, Cologne 2010, ISBN 978-3-86832-047-3 , pp. 7, 22, 68 .
  7. ↑ Angela Windholz: Et In Academia Ego . Schnell & Steiner, Regensburg 2008, ISBN 978-3-7954-2060-4 , pp. 15th ff .
  8. ↑ Unione Internazionale | Istituti Membri Non Italiani. In: Unione Internazionale degli Istituti di Archeologia Storia e Storia dell'arte in Roma. Retrieved May 21, 2020 (Italian).
  9. ↑ Angela Windholz: Et In Academia Ego . Schnell & Steiner, Regensburg 2008, ISBN 978-3-7954-2060-4 , pp. 15, 84 ff .
  10. ↑ Angela Windholz: Et In Academia Ego . Schnell & Steiner, Regensburg 2008, ISBN 978-3-7954-2060-4 , pp. 318 f .
  11. ↑ Julia Draganović and Theresa Brüheim: "In Rome you are never in the wrong place". In: German Cultural Council. November 28, 2019, accessed May 7, 2020 .
  12. ↑ Joachim flowering, Julia Trolp: 100 years German Academy Rome. 1910-2010. Villa Massimo . Wienand Verlag, Cologne 2010, ISBN 978-3-86832-047-3 , pp. 36, 68 f .
  13. ↑ a b Angela Windholz: Et In Academia Ego . Schnell & Steiner, Regensburg 2008, ISBN 978-3-7954-2060-4 , pp. 319-323 .
  14. ↑ a b Angela Windholz: Et In Academia Ego . Schnell & Steiner, Regensburg 2008, ISBN 978-3-7954-2060-4 , pp. 324 .
  15. ↑ Joachim flowering, Julia Trolp: 100 years German Academy Rome. 1910-2010. Villa Massimo . Wienand Verlag, Cologne 2019, ISBN 978-3-86832-047-3 , pp. 36 .
  16. ^ A b Joachim Blüher, Julia Trolp: 100 Years of the German Academy in Rome. 1910-2010. Villa Massimo. Wienand Verlag, Cologne 2010, ISBN 978-3-86832-047-3 , pp. 37, 40 .
  17. ↑ Angela Windholz: Et In Academia Ego . Schnell & Steiner, Regensburg 2008, ISBN 978-3-7954-2060-4 , pp. 326 .
  18. ↑ Joachim flowering, Julia Trolp: 100 years German Academy Rome. 1910-2010. Villa Massimo. Wienand Verlag, 2010, ISBN 978-3-86832-047-3 , pp. 37 .
  19. ↑ Joachim flowering, Julia Trolp: 100 years German Academy Rome. 1910-2010. Villa Massimo. Wienand Verlag, Cologne 2010, ISBN 978-3-86832-047-3 , pp. 34, 42 .
  20. ↑ Joachim flowering, Julia Trolp: Joachim flowering, Julia Trolp: 100 years of German Academy Rome. 1910-2010. Wienand Verlag, Cologne 2010, ISBN 978-3-86832-047-3 , pp. 34 .
  21. ↑ Angela Windholz: Et In Academia Ego . Schnell & Steiner, Regensburg 2008, ISBN 978-3-7954-2060-4 , pp. 327 .
  22. ↑ a b c d Information on villamassimo.de (accessed on January 24, 2017).
  23. ^ A b c d Angela Windholz: On the history of the German Academy in Rome. In: Website of the Villa Massimo. German Academy Rome Villa Massimo, accessed on July 2, 2020 .
  24. ↑ Joachim flowering, Julia Trolp: 100 years German Academy Rome. 1910-2010. Villa Massimo . Wienand Verlag, Cologne 2010, ISBN 978-3-86832-047-3 , pp. 39 .
  25. ↑ Angela Windholz: Et In Academia Ego . Schnell & Steiner, Regensburg 2008, ISBN 978-3-7954-2060-4 , pp. 268 .
  26. ↑ Angela Windholz: Et In Academia Ego . Schnell & Steiner, Regensburg 2008, ISBN 978-3-7954-2060-4 , pp. 331 .
  27. ↑ Scholarships. In: Website of the Villa Massimo. German Academy Rome Villa Massimo, accessed on July 2, 2020 .
  28. ↑ Jobst Knigge : The selection process for scholarship holders and students. In: Jobst Knigge: The Villa Massimo in Rome 1933–1943. Struggle for artistic independence. Humboldt University, Berlin 2013, p. 13f. ( edoc.hu-berlin.de , PDF; 26.3 MB)
  29. ↑ Joachim flowering, Julia Trolp: 100 years German Academy Rome. 1910-2010. Villa Massimo . Wienand Verlag, Cologne 2010, ISBN 978-3-86832-047-3 , pp. 11 .
  30. ↑ Joachim flowering, Julia Trolp: 100 years German Academy Rome. 1910-2010. Villa Massimo . Wienand Verlag, Cologne 2010, ISBN 978-3-86832-047-3 , pp. 41 f .
  31. ^ A b Joachim Blüher, Julia Trolp: 100 Years of the German Academy in Rome. 1910-2010. Villa Massimo . Wienand Verlag, Cologne 2010, ISBN 978-3-86832-047-3 , pp. 45 .
  32. ^ Jobst C. Knigge: The Villa Massimo in Rome 1933-1943 . Humboldt University, Berlin August 19, 2013, p. 14 ( hu-berlin.de ).
  33. ^ Jobst C. Knigge: The Villa Massimo in Rome 1933-1943 . Humboldt University, Berlin August 19, 2013, p. 29 ( hu-berlin.de ).
  34. ↑ Joachim flowering, Julia Trolp: 100 years German Academy Rome. 1910-2010. Villa Massimo . Wienand Verlag, Cologne 2010, ISBN 978-3-86832-047-3 , pp. 45-46 .
  35. ↑ Joachim flowering, Julia Trolp: 100 years German Academy Rome. 1910-2010. Villa Massimo. Wienand Verlag, Cologne 2010, ISBN 978-3-86832-047-3 , pp. 46, 74 .
  36. ↑ Dr. Joachim Blüher and Angela Windholz: Back in Arcadia! In: Website of the Villa Massimo. German Academy Rome Villa Massimo, accessed on July 7, 2020 .
  37. ↑ Joachim flowering, Julia Trolp: 100 years German Academy Rome. 1910-2010. Villa Massimo . Wienand Verlag, Cologne 2010, ISBN 978-3-86832-047-3 , pp. 46-47, 73 .
  38. ↑ Villa Massimo in villamassimo.de, accessed on 19 January 2016th
  39. ↑ Press release of March 5, 2019 [1] accessed on March 5, 2019.
  40. ^ At the summit cross of German romanticism in FAZ of November 3, 2017, page 12


Coordinates: 41 ° 55 ′ 0 ″  N , 12 ° 31 ′ 9 ″  E