Hamburg artist club
The " Hamburg Art Club " was an artists' association founded in Hamburg in spring 1897 . According to Arthur Illies , it even came into being in the fall of 1896 as an amalgamation of the so-called " Young Hamburgers ". The spelling of the name, for example on the graphic portfolios, often varied from the “artist club” with c .
The goal was next to an exchange among artists a stronger voice in public, especially after the Kunsthalle director Alfred Lichtwark was officially banned in its premises the Kunsthalle to show pictures of the later artists clubs and sell. However, Lichtwark had Wilhelm Suhr - owner of the Commeter Gallery in Hermannstrasse - set up an exhibition space in his shop, in which he was prepared to exhibit the “Young Hamburgers” twice a year (spring and autumn) for one month each.
founding
The Hamburg Artists ' Club was founded, not to be confused with the Hamburg Artists' Club , in Café Felber on Steindamm , which was also used as a club bar for weekly get-togethers.
The founding members included Julius von Ehren , Thomas Herbst , Ernst Eitner , Arthur Illies , Paul Kayser , Alfred Mohrbutter , Friedrich Schaper , and Arthur Siebelist . Julius Wohlers is not listed among the founding members of Arthur Illies, but his name appeared in Eitner's handwritten statutes from autumn 1897 instead of Mohrbutter's. Arthur Illies initially took over the management and writing.
In the articles of association, participation in the regular exhibitions at Commeter was primarily agreed, the repeated non-participation of which should constitute a reason for exclusion. In addition, the publication of graphic portfolios was agreed. Non-club members, for example Lichtwark, or the sisters Molly and Helene Cramer , to whom the club was invited from time to time , also took part in the regular get-togethers . With their open-air painting, unfamiliar to the Hamburg public , the “Young Hamburgers” caused a scandal.
Expansion and end of the union
In 1903 the Siebelist students Friedrich Ahlers-Hestermann , Franz Nölken , Fritz Friedrichs , Walter Alfred Rosam and Walter Voltmer joined them. The Siebelist students were sponsored by the Hamburg merchant and art collector Ernst Rump and supported by purchasing their works.
The new members not only received approval; Herbst resigned - in 1909, according to Arthur Illies' records, an agreement was reached to cease the club's activities, not to dissolve it. But this was the same. The differences between the founders and the new members were too great, and, as Arthur Illies regretted, some of the old members had not developed further, and Lichtwark had lost their protection. In May 1907 the last joint exhibition of the “artist club” took place - in the rooms of the Hamburger Kunstverein on Neuer Wall - because another exhibition was to take place in the gallery Commeter.
meaning
What gives the Hamburg Artists' Club a special meaning is, among other things, the fact that at the time of its founding there were very few similar associations of artists in Germany. In two exhibitions in the centenary year 1997 in the Kunsthalle Hamburg (painting) and the Altonaer Museum (graphics), the work of the Hamburg Artists' Club was saved from being forgotten.
literature
- Arthur Illie's Records.
- see. also Carsten Meyer-Tönnesmann : The Hamburg Artist Club from 1897 . Atelier in the farmhouse, 1997, ISBN 3-88132-255-8 .
- as well as Kurt Illies: Arthur Illies - From diary and work . Christians, 1981, ISBN 3-7672-0739-7 .
Web links
- Drawing Hamburgischer Künstlerklub by Ernst Eitner in the Hamburger Kunsthalle - online collection