Cologne Art Association

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Kölnischer Kunstverein - The Bridge (2010)

The Kölnischer Kunstverein is a non-profit and legal association based in Cologne , which is dedicated to the mediation of contemporary art . It was founded in 1839 and is one of the oldest and most renowned exhibition institutions for contemporary art in Germany. He is a member of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Deutscher Kunstvereine (ADKV).

history

founding

On April 7, 1839, the statutes were approved by the President of the Prussian Rhine Province and the Kunstverein was founded. Founding members were citizens of Cologne, including Everhard von Groote as the first president of the association, Johann Maria Farina , manufacturer of Cologne water and head of the Johann Maria Farina company opposite Jülichs-Platz, and city councilor Matthias Joseph de Noël . The new institution had its first seat in the Wallrafianum at Trankgasse 7. Already in the first year more than 1,300 members were counted. Von Groote was elected the first president of the association and remained in this office for ten years. From April to September 1839 the first exhibition of European art took place in the Gürzenich , with over 500 works, many of which were for sale. Since then, the Kölnischer Kunstverein has been embedded in the city's cultural life.

1900 to 1933

Advertisement of the art association from December 1922

The program in the first half of the 20th century comprised overview exhibitions, such as art from private collections in Cologne , which was shown regularly between 1916 and 1932 , and 19th century art in 1917, 1920 and 1922 . In 1925 there was an impressionism show and another one entitled Modern Art .

The focus of the exhibitions was Impressionism, in 1906 and 1910 works by Ernst Oppler were shown in solo exhibitions , and in 1914 works by Vincent van Gogh . Modern graphics followed in 1915, including works by Käthe Kollwitz and Lovis Corinth . The New Munich Secession was presented in an exhibition in 1916 and Erich Heckel in 1917. In 1918 the KKV showed Das Junge Rheinland , in 1919 an exhibition entitled Der Strom , with Hanns Bolz , Max Ernst and Otto Freundlich and the Society of the Arts with Heinrich Maria Davringhausen , Heinrich Campendonk and Heinrich Nauen . In 1923 there was an exhibition with Klee, Feininger, Nolde and Dix, and in 1924 another with the Cologne Dada, represented by Hoerle, Jansen and Seiwert. In 1931 the Mutter Ey collection was shown. Foreign art was rarely seen and was limited to overview exhibitions such as Belgian Art 1929, Georgian Art 1930, and Danish Art 1932.

present

The Kölnischer Kunstverein promotes contemporary art as an exhibition institution. Since the 1970s he has presented current international artistic developments; so many artists have organized their first institutional exhibition on the premises of the association. Since 2003 the art association has been housed in the “Die Brücke” building on Hahnenstrasse . The house was built in 1949/50 by the Cologne architect Wilhelm Riphahn with the aim of establishing a symbolic place of dialogue in the city destroyed by the war. It initially housed the British Information Center Die Brücke (from which the name of the building is derived) and later the British Council . The Kölnischer Kunstverein is mainly financed by the membership fees of the approx. 2300 members (as of 2018), but also by public and private funding.

management

CEO

  • 1974 to 2002: Erwin H. Zander
  • April 2002 to April 2013: Wolfgang Strobel
  • since May 2013: Thomas Waldschmidt

Awards and promotions

In 2005, the Kunstverein was awarded the Art Frankfurt Prize as a "catalyst for contemporary art", which is awarded to particularly committed and innovative art associations. The Art and Culture Foundation of Sparda Bank West supported the Kölnischer Kunstverein in 2009 with 50,000 euros as an award for the wide-ranging program. In 2010 the Kölnischer Kunstverein also received the Jump Prize awarded by the Kunststiftung NRW , which honors outstanding annual programs by art associations in North Rhine-Westphalia.

From 1997 to 2008 the association awarded the Central Art Prize in cooperation with the Kölner Central Krankenversicherung . The sponsorship award enabled the award winner to spend six months in Cologne and realize a new artistic project with an associated solo exhibition. The prize was endowed with 75,000 euros. The winners were: Rirkrit Tiravanija (1997), Douglas Gordon (1998), Ernesto Neto (2000), Florian Pumhösl (2003), Trisha Donnelly (2004) and Mark Leckey (2008).

In 2010 the art association received the 8,000 euro prize from the German Art Association “for its outstanding exhibition practice and mediation activities”. Since 2011, the RheinEnergieStiftung Kultur has supported the art education project Gleis 9 3/4 , which offers schoolchildren in elementary, secondary and secondary schools in Cologne the chance to get to know art as a way of self-expression as part of the afternoon program at open all-day schools.

Special exhibitions (selection)

literature

Web links

Commons : Die Brücke (Cologne)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Willi Spiertz: Eberhard von Groote - Life and Work of a Cologne Social politician and literary critic (1789-1864) . Böhlau Verlag, Cologne / Weimar 2007, ISBN 978-3-412-20016-9 , p. 224 ff
  2. https://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/kfa1906_1907/0042/image
  3. https://koelnischerkunstverein.de/category/archiv/programm-archiv-1890ff/ .
  4. Patrons koelnischerkunstverein.de
  5. Michael Kohler: Kunstverein: Sometimes spontaneous things . In: Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger . ( ksta.de [accessed on November 11, 2018]).
  6. Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger (KStA) Kultur from May 22, 2013: Moritz Wesseler: Kölnischer Kunstverein has a new director (ksta) , accessed on May 23, 2013
  7. Personnel Art Association with new director - source: https://www.ksta.de/29266646. In: Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger (www.ksta.de). December 9, 2017, accessed May 30, 2018 .
  8. Merlin Carpenter in the English language Wikipedia

Coordinates: 50 ° 56 '9.6 "  N , 6 ° 56" 38.2 "  E