the abstract hannover

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The abstract hannover was an association of artists in Hanover who further developed abstract art in various forms in the 1920s and wanted to help this then new art direction to gain more attention and reputation. The association existed until the early 1930s. The activities were severely restricted after the Nazis came to power in 1933. Three group members went into exile, three others were banned from painting. In 1935 the group officially expired.

Foundation, naming and goals

The artist group was founded in 1927 as a local branch of the "International Association of Expressionists, Futurists, Cubists and Constructivists eV". The initiative came from Kurt Schwitters , who invited the four artists Carl Buchheister , Rudolf Jahns , Hans Nitzschke and Friedrich Vordemberge-Gildewart to the founding meeting on March 12, 1927 in his Hanover apartment at Waldhausenstrasse 5 in the Waldhausen district .

The five artists had known each other for years. Nitzschke and Vordemberge-Gildewart had completed training in interior design, architecture and painting. In 1924 they moved into a joint studio in the Kestnergesellschaft and wanted to help constructivism to break through, after this new style had been further developed by El Lissitzky in the same house in previous years. Contact with the self-taught Rudolf Jahns came about in February 1927, when Schwitters was visiting him in Holzminden as part of his MERZ evenings. As a further member, César Domela , who came from Amsterdam and was living in Berlin at the time, was accepted as an "external member". He established the connection with the internationally known Dutch De Stijl group.

With its name, the artist group underlined on the one hand its independence as a local group within the "International (n) Association of Expressionists, Futurists, Cubists and Constructivists eV", the Berlin artists' association founded by Herwarth Walden and the " magazine" Der Sturm " ", and on the other hand with the explicit lower case of her name supports the progressive efforts of the Bauhaus in Weimar. It had already said in October 1925:

"From now on, the bauhaus will write everything down."

- Bauhaus Weimar

In a statement to the head of the Lower Saxony Provincial Museum Alexander Dorner , who later became a sponsoring member of the abstract hannover , it says:

“We write everything in lower case, because we save time, and also: why two alphabets when one achieves the same thing? why write big when you can't speak big. "

- Laszlo Moholy-Nagy

With the establishment of the artist group, the Kunstverein Hannover granted them their own space in the annual exhibition, which enabled them to reach a wider audience. Another focus of the group activities was the search for and connection of supporting members from open-minded circles of the city of Hanover, with which a modest patronage could be developed.

During the period of the artist group's existence, the members deepened their artistic focus and developed them further through mutual exchange. The artistic activities were varied and span the areas:

  • Collage,
  • Reliefs and plastic,
  • Architecture,
  • Interior design and furniture designs,
  • Photography and photo montage,
  • Typography with uses in advertising and product design.

During the time they worked together, the group experienced a "fruitful confrontation" with each other, which "further developed the basic constructive trait in all of their work". There was enough room for your own characteristics, as no common design theory was developed and specified. Here the abstract hannover differed fundamentally from the pioneers of constructive, non-representational art such as Kasimir Malewitsch and his students or the de Stijl group around Piet Mondrian and Theo van Doesburg .

The purpose of the association was the ideal and material support of the artists. Elisabeth Buchheister , wife of Karl Buchheister, described the beginnings of the artist group as a “cramp”, as “an immeasurable struggle” to sell anything at all.

Carl Buchheister was chairman from 1928 to 1932.

When the artists' association with 50 participants met in the apartment of Käte Steinitz , a friend of Schwitters and a sponsor of the abstract, the abstract were already on their way to becoming internationally acceptable with their arts such as Dada .

But some Hanoverian did still heavy with the group: "If Kurt Schwitters on one of the social events of the abstract his" Choir Sonata "lectured" recalled Elizabeth Buchheister in an interview on NDR 1 ,

"... people took their handkerchiefs in front of their faces and disappeared outside and laughed themselves to death because they had no idea what was meant by that."

Samuel Caumann, who later became the biographer of Alexander Dorner, summarized the special optimism of the 1920s:

“This Germany, liberated from the total ideal of the empire, a closed, static order, a rigid caste system with semi-military discipline for the whole people, became free like no other country had ever been free. Any claim that asked people to believe or to do something met with open ears, but everyone was also called upon to show their credibility. With the strictest examination of all aspects, all aspects and expressions of life were examined and questioned: religion, politics, economy, art, family ties, upbringing, etiquette, behavior, right down to the question of clothing. The whole world was seen anew. "

- Samuel Caumann

Focus of the artist

With their works - mostly drawings and pictures - Buchheister and Jahns were closely connected to nature, from which they gained inspiration for non-representational concepts. Jahns initially implemented the influences of Cubism and non-representationalism in softly curved, rounded and straight, jagged shapes. In the mid-1920s he came up with a “constructive approach, for building a composition from geometric or at least geometrizing elements.

Domela, Nitzschke and Vordemberge-Gildewart were seen more as rational designers.

"Nature and art are two worlds that are absolutely contradicting each other."

- Friedrich Vordemberge-Gildewart

He admires nature, but art is created through calculation. Even when Nitzschke and Vordemberge-Gildewart started painting, they were characterized by non-representational elements, such as flat horizontal-vertical compositions (see also constructivism and elementarism ). They later switched to geometric, overlapping constructions in the style of El Lissitzky .

At the end of the 1920s, activities for typography, advertising and product design became more important for members of the group, also for economic reasons - as it was called, to "earn a living".

resonance

The artists found recognition at home and abroad. In the international art world there was interest in individual or several artists who were brought in for events or publications, but hardly in the grouping as such.

They received local support primarily from the commitment of the Kestnergesellschaft and the Garvens Gallery, as well as from the director of the Hannover Provincial Museum, Alexander Dorner, who reorganized and reoriented the painting department during this period (1927 establishment of the "Cabinet of Abstracts" ). The local press and influential sections of the public were deeply staid. The Kunstverein Hannover blocked itself against abstracts. It was only when the group was founded that the way to the annual exhibition opened.

Lectures, social evenings

Social evenings and lectures played an essential role in the search for and connection of supporting members from open-minded circles in the city of Hanover, mostly held in the rooms of the group members. Between 1927 and the end of 1931 there were 21 lecture evenings with a wide range of topics with the participation of well-known international speakers.

The accompanying activities included the raffle for works of art by the group members, which they donated alternately to the lecture evenings at a fraction of their estimated value.

Topics and lectures of the social evenings of the abstract hannover
1st evening Oct. 4, 1927  Cornelis van Eesteren , architect from Holland Architecture of the Stijl Group
2nd evening Nov 12, 1927  Ernesto G. Caballero, writer from Madrid Subject unknown
3rd evening Date unknown  Alexander Dorner Subject unknown
4th evening Feb 16, 1928  VC Habicht, TH Hannover Abstraction in art
Exhibition opening of the abstract hannover ,

Art and Katzer auction rooms, Georgstrasse 35, Han.

5th evening March 5, 1928  Walter Kraul, pianist about abstract music
6th evening March 15, 1928  Herwarth Walden Abstract art
7th evening Date unknown  Carl Buchheister and Kurt Schwitters The importance of abstract art
and their validity at home and abroad
and Parisian impressions
8th evening June 6, 1928  Ernesto G. Caballero, writer from Madrid New literature in Spain
9th evening Oct. 19, 1928  Friedrich Vordemberge-Gildewart tired people,
belated art and creation
10th evening Nov 29, 1928  Albert Renger-Patzsch , photographer from Bad Harzburg The discovery of photography
11th evening April 8, 1929  Alide van Uytranck, pianist from Amsterdam New music
12th evening May 9, 1929  Katherine Dreier , New art in America
President of the “Société Anonyme” / New York
13th evening June 17, 1929  Henry Cowell composer and pianist Presentation of own compositions
from the USA (Menio Park / Cal.)
14th evening Dec 5, 1929  Herwarth Walden Fonts. Seals. music
15th evening Feb 11, 1930  Walter Wickop, Hanover New urban issues of the time
16th evening March 2, 1930  Magistrats-Oberbaurat Damm, Hanover Advertising as urban
artistic sub-problem
17th evening March 3, 1930  Katherine Dreier , Subject unknown
18th evening April 11, 1930  Naum Gabo , Berlin Theory and Practice of constructivism
19th evening May 5, 1930  Justus Bier , Artistic Director Nürnberger u. Vienna stadiums
of the Kestner Society of the architect Schweizer
20th evening Nov 15, 1930  Kestner-Gesellschaft eV in association with Discussion about abstract art
the abstract
21st evening December 1931  Ernst Kallai, editor of the magazine "bauhaus" Subject unknown

.

Exhibitions

In the run-up to the founding of the group, participation in major international exhibitions resulted in work impulses and personal contacts:

  • Dec. 1925 “L'art d'aujourd'hui” (about: 'Today's Art') in Paris, participation of Nitzschke and Vordemberge-Gildewart, a. a. including Sophie Taeuber-Arp , Theo van Doesburg , Piet Mondrian , Pablo Picasso
  • Late 1926 / early 1927 "International Exhibition of Modern Art" in New York, participation of Buchheister, Nitzschke, Schwitters and Vordemberge-Gildewart.

In the period after the Second World War , two exhibitions were held that were exclusively devoted to the abstract hannover :

  • In 1975 an early exhibition on "the abstract hannover" took place in the Bargera Gallery in Cologne .
  • In 1987/88 - and thus 60 years after the group was founded - the exhibition "the abstract hannover - international avant-garde 1927–1935" took place, which included not only works by the abstract hannover but also associated international works. The double exhibition - first in Hanover, then in Ludwigshafen - was developed under the first director of the Sprengel Museum Hanover , Joachim Büchner , and received regional and international attention.

Works of the abstract hannover (focus: Schwitters, Vordemberge-Gildewart, Buchheister and Jahns as well as tubular steel chair by Nitzschke) can be found today especially in the Sprengel Museum Hannover.

End of the group

At the beginning of the 1930s the political and social situation for the members of the abstract hannover became more threatening. Meetings rarely took place, and there was no written exchange either. The last lecture evening took place in December 1931 as the 21st evening with Ernst Kallai on the subject of “Bauhaus”. Significantly, no further documents and records have been preserved about this event.

Work and exhibition opportunities - even in the applied field - decreased drastically. The previous sponsors could hardly give any support. In 1932 the group disbanded. The organizational cohesion had disappeared more and more after Schwitters stayed frequently in Norway, Vordemberge-Gildewart joined the still existing Hanover Secession and Carl Buchheister took on a prominent position in the Reich Association of Visual Artists .

Schwitters went into exile in Norway in 1937. Domela emigrated to Paris in 1933. Vordemberge-Gildewart emigrated to Amsterdam in 1938. Buchheister, Jahns and Nitzschke stayed in Germany. Nitzschke restricted his activities to architecture and furniture designs. Significant for the increasing influence of the National Socialists is a building draft for the Bode House in Steinhude, in which he had to replace the originally designed flat roof with a gable roof in order to get the building permit. He was able to continue his activities until the beginning of the war, was drafted in 1942 and fell near Paris in 1944.

Buchheister and Jahns were banned from painting in 1933. They ceased their artistic activities and took them up again in various ways after the Second World War. During this late period, these artists created a large body of work, mainly abstract pictures, drawings and graphics.

Works of the artist

  • Works by Carl Buchheister [1]
  • Works by César Domela [2]
  • Works by Rudolf Jahns [3]
  • No pictures, graphics or sculptures by Hans Nitzschke have survived, for other works see Hans Nitzschke
  • Works by Kurt Schwitters [4] and [5]
  • Works by Friedrich Vordemberge-Gildewart [6]

literature

  • Ines Katenhusen : Art and Politics. Hanover's struggles with modernity in the Weimar Republic . at the same time dissertation at the University of Hanover under the title The understanding of a time is perhaps best gained from her art . in the series Hannoversche Studien , series of publications by the Hannover City Archives, Volume 5, Hannover: Hahn, 1998, ISBN 3-7752-4955-9 , passim.
  • Hugo Thielen : abstract hannover - the ah in: Stadtlexikon Hannover . P. 10.
  • the abstract hannover. Local group of the International Association of Expressionists, Futurists, Cubists and Constructivists eV, Central Berlin; Buchheister… Catalog and accompanying brochure for the exhibition from February 25th to the end of April 1975 in the Bargera Gallery, Cologne, Bargera Verlag Interprint, Cologne 1975.
  • Landeshauptstadt Hannover, Der Oberstadtdirektor (Hrsg.): Didactic and other visitor information . Part 1, Classic Modern Collection . Volume 14: Abstract - Concrete. the abstract hannover , 1st edition, 1st – 3rd Th., Sprengel-Museum Hannover, Hannover 1987.
  • Magdalena M. Moeller, Christian Grohn (collaborators): the abstract hannover - international avant-garde 1927–1935 . Catalog and accompanying documents for the exhibitions in the Sprengel Museum Hanover from November 8, 1987–6. January 1988 and in the Wilhelm Hack Museum in Ludwigshafen am Rhein from June 26, 1988-14. August 1988, Sprengel-Museum Hannover 1987, ISBN 3-89169-038-X .
  • Arta Valstar: the abstract hannover inaugural dissertation . Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn, self-published, 1987.

Literature citations

  1. ^ Arta Valstar: the abstract hannover - Inaugural dissertation (p. 23) . Bonn 1987.
  2. ^ Arta Valstar: the abstract hannover - Inaugural dissertation, reference to the letter in the Sprengelmuseum Hannover . Bonn 1987.
  3. ↑ Samuel Caumann: The Living Museum - experience of an art historian and museum director Alexander Dorner (p.23) . Torchbearers, Hanover 1960.
  4. ↑ Friedrich Vordemberge-Gildewart: quote. after: Dietrich Helms : Friedrich Vordemberge-Gildewart - writings and lectures (p. 15) . St. Gallen 1975.

Web links

References and comments

  1. ↑ a b c d Arta Valstar: the abstract hannover - Inaugural dissertation, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn, self-published, 1987
  2. ↑ 1900–1982, see fr: César Domela in the French-language Wikipedia
  3. ↑ a b Klaus Mlynek: Art and Culture of the Weimar Years , in: History of the City of Hanover , Vol. 2, From the beginning of the 19th century to the present ', ed. by Klaus Mlynek and Waldemar R. Röhrbein , with the collaboration of Dieter Brosius , Carl-Hans Hauptmeyer , Siegfried Müller and Helmut Plath , Schlütersche , Hannover 1994, ISBN 3-87706-364-0 , p. 461 ff., here: p. 465 f.
  4. ↑ Ulrike Müller: Rudolf Jahns (1896–1983). The painter and his themes: nature - figure - music , also dissertation in 1996 at the University of Marburg, in the series Theory of Contemporary Art , Vol. 9, Münster: Lit [1998], ISBN 3-8258-3295-3 , p. 33 u.ö .; partly online via Google books
  5. ↑ a b c Sabine Seitz and others: March 12, 1927: Foundation of the artists' association “Die Abstrakten” , radio broadcast on NDR 1 [no date], (accessed on January 29, 2013)
  6. ^ A b Hugo Thielen: BUCHHEISTER, Carl , in: Hannoversches Biographisches Lexikon , p. 76; online through google books
  7. ↑ a b c Arta Valstar: 'the abstract hannover' - abstraction as a worldview ”in: Magdalena M. Moeller, Christian Grohn (collaborator): The abstract, Hanover. International avant-garde 1927–1935 , exhibition catalog and accompanying documents for the exhibitions in the Sprengel Museum, Hanover from November 8, 1987 - January 6, 1988 and in the Wilhelm-Hack-Museum , Ludwigshafen am Rhein from June 26, 1988 - August 14, 1988, Sprengel -Museum, Hanover, 1987, ISBN 3-89169-038-X
  8. ^ A b c d Magdalena M. Moeller, Christian Grohn (collaborators): die abstract hannover - Internationale Avantgarde 1927–1935 , exhibition catalog and accompanying documents (Sprengel Museum, Hanover from November 8, 1987 to January 6, 1988 and Wilhelm-Hack- Museum , Ludwigshafen am Rhein from June 26, 1988 to August 14, 1988), Sprengel-Museum, Hanover, 1987, ISBN 3-89169-038-X
  9. ↑ 1899–1988, see Ernesto Giménez Caballero in the Spanish-language Wikipedia
  10. ↑ 1877–1952, see also en: Katherine Sophie Dreier in the English language Wikipedia
  11. ↑ 1897-1965, see also en: Henry Cowell in the English language Wikipedia
  12. ↑ Anonymous: the abstract hannover. Local group of the International Association of Expressionists, Futurists, Cubists and Constructivists eV, Central Berlin; Buchheister ... , catalog and accompanying brochure for the exhibition from February 25 to April 1975 in the Bargera Gallery, Cologne, Bargera Verlag Interprint, Cologne 1975
  13. ^ A b Hugo Thielen: Büchner, Joachim , in: Stadtlexikon Hannover , p. 92
  14. ↑ Anonymous: Didactic and other visitor information , Part 1, Collection of Classical Modernism , Volume 14: Abstract - concrete. the abstract hannover , 1st edition, 1st - 3rd thousand, ed. from the state capital Hanover, The Oberstadtdirektor, Sprengel-Museum Hanover 1987
  15. ↑ Note: In the city lexicon of Hanover, under abstract hannover - die ah, the year 1930 is given