Artist necropolis

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Artist necropolis, Kassel

The artist necropolis is a cemetery , a park and a work of art in the public space with a hiking trail in the area of ​​the Kassel district of Harleshausen . The necropolis was created by documenta artists who made a testamentary commitment during their lifetime to be buried there. The documenta artist Harry Kramer initiated a new form of expression for art in public space.

Geographical location

Blue lake

The artist necropolis is located on the eastern roof of the Hohen Habichtswald in the wooded area of ​​Harleshausen, the north-western district of Kassel. It is located in the Habichtswald Nature Park on the Blue Lake , a former basalt quarry. The Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe is about 2 km south . A 1.5-km long track ( signpost  22 ) leads from the hikers parking Bergfreiheit (which at the upper end Rasenallee crossing Ahnatal road) past the Blue Lake to artist-necropolis.

history

The Kassel documenta artist Harry Kramer has been concerned with a pantheon in the rain since the early 1980s . Selected documenta artists should be given the opportunity to design their own grave monument for the necropolis on the Blue Lake . They are buried in urns .

Kramer took up the art-historical idea of ​​creating monuments in the park and graves in the forest. In the natural landscape garden, Kramer gave the artists the opportunity to create their own grave in a cemetery while they were still alive. A total of 40 tombs are planned. The landscape protection area may be disturbed as little as possible by the tomb and must be left to its own devices.

Kramer thus linked the art of the 20th century with the garden architecture of the nearby Wilhelmshöhe mountain park. With the necropolis he created a reference to the replica of the tomb of Virgil in the mountain park and the Heracles statue of Hercules , who hides the golden apples of the Hesperides in his hand.

He wrote about his motivation:

“The artists have no influence on cultural policy, museum acquisitions and programs for international exhibitions. Looked at closely, that's a good thing; otherwise they would exterminate themselves as gladiators in the arena. The competition in the vanity cemetery is bloodless. Melancholy, loneliness and the representation of this profession cannot wish for a more suitable place for self-realization and self-presentation. The artist can only be the client and patron of his own tomb. That alone is legitimation enough. "

- Harry Kramer

A foundation that emerged from Kramer's private fortune looks after the necropolis. A foundation council selects the artists who should erect their tomb here. The city of Kassel is responsible for the foundation.

Funerary monuments

  • Grave of Karl Oskar Blase

  • Heinrich Brummack, bird bath

  • Gunter Demnig, Circuitus

  • Ugo Dossi tomb

  • Grave of Rune Mields

  • Grave of Werner Ruhnau

  • Grave of Fritz Schwegler

  • Grave of Timm Ulrichs

Buried artist

The initiator Harry Kramer was the first artist to be buried in the necropolis in 1997; he renounced a tomb and was buried anonymously. Marga Blase (1930–2006), the wife of Karl Oskar Blase (1925–2016) who suffered from Alzheimer's disease, was buried next to her husband's tomb and honored with her own memorial stone. The grave of Fritz Schwegler (1935–2014) contains soil from his actual grave in Börtlingen . The urn by Werner Ruhnau (1922–2015) was buried in the artist necropolis in 2015, as was the urn by Karl Oskar Blase, who died in December 2016. Heinrich Brummack (1936–2018) was buried in the necropolis on April 28, 2018 in an urn shaped like a golden rabbit.

Hallmann memorial

Blalla W. Hallmann memorial

The work of Blalla W. Hallmann is special because it is not a tomb in the true sense of the word, but a memorial. This peculiarity has the following background: Hallmann had shown interest in a contribution to the necropolis. He died in July 1997 before he could finish his contribution. As a souvenir, the picture he painted, Evening Meeting in the clearing - Harry's Farewell (1997) was hung up. Hallmann had given the work to the widow Harry Kramer after his death in February 1997 "as a funeral gift". The artist himself was not buried in the necropolis either.

See also

Literature and Sources

  • Dirk Eckart: The Kassel artists' necropolis: a book for walkers interested in art , Kassel 2000, ISBN 3-89811-600-X .
  • Angela Landgrebe: Künstler-Nkropole Kassel , Kassel 2004, ISBN 3-933617-18-9 .
  • Artist Necropolis Foundation: Artists Necropolis Kassel . Kassel 2004
  • Cornelius Tauber: A necropolis for artists . In: Michael Willhardt (Ed.): The solo entertainer: Harry Kramer , Ostfildern 1995, pp. 158–161. ISBN 3-7757-0540-6 .
  • Michael Willhardt: How does an artist sell his cemetery? In: ders. (Ed.): A hairdresser from Lingen: Harry Kramer , Freren 1990, pp. 167–175. ISBN 3-923641-30-3 .
  • Michael Willhardt: How do I get famous? How do individual visions find their way into the social fabric? Examines the example of Harry Kramer's idea to set up a cemetery for his artist colleagues . With photographs by Dieter Schwerdtle, Kassel University Publication 1994
  • Association for the Promotion of the Artists Necropolis, Kassel (Ed.): Harry Kramer - Artists Necropolis , Kassel 1999, ISBN 3-925272-42-9 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Harry Kramer: Dying is little new in life, but living too, of course, is not newer…. In: Michael Willhardt (Ed.): The solo entertainer: Harry Kramer. Ostfildern 1995, pp. 144 f, ISBN 3-7757-0540-6 .
  2. ↑ Ecce Blalla. Crashes and highs. Life and work of Blalla W. Hallmann (1941–1997). Museum for Sepulchral Culture Kassel, 2013, accessed on March 25, 2017 (exhibition February 24 to April 21, 2013).

Web links

Commons : Artist Necropolis  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 51 ° 20 ′ 10 ″  N , 9 ° 24 ′ 10 ″  E