Künstlerhaus on Lenbachplatz
The Münchner Künstlerhaus on Lenbachplatz in the center of Munich is a former club house of Munich artists.
The listed building of the Künstlerhaus on the edge of Munich's old town and its festival culture are part of Munich's city history. The Munich Künstlerhaus , built as a meeting place between art and society, is still rooted in the sense of style and social ideal of historicism , which was already ending around 1900 ; it was built by the well-known Munich architect Gabriel von Seidl in the neo-renaissance style.
The entire complex originally framed the view from Lenbachplatz over the synagogue to the Frauenkirche . The four-gabled ballroom building and three single-storey terrace buildings emphasized at the corners by attached pavilions are grouped around an arcade courtyard. The three-way main entrance was on Herzog-Max-Straße. The side entrance with the Centaur on Maxburgstrasse led into the vestibule of the vaulted, richly stuccoed vestibule of the hall building and through a portal into the magnificently decorated reception room, the “Lenbachzimmer”. This was followed by the music room, golden reception room and library room. A triumphal arch and two richly ornamented, fairytale-like painted rooms lead to the celebratory dining room.
history
History of origin and laying of the foundation stone
The idea of the Munich artists to build their own house has a long history and occupied the numerous artist groups in Munich for four decades.
"The house should be a meeting place for all artists in Munich [...] for happiness, advice and serious action". This is the idea on which every effort in the development and planning of an artists' house in Munich was based. A house was to be created that would offer hospitality to an art-loving bourgeoisie. In 1850 these considerations were first written down in a protocol, in 1852 a building committee was founded and the senior building officer Friedrich Bürklein prepared a cost estimate showing the sum of 70,000 guilders. After years of unsuccessful search for building land and thus a standstill, the Munich painter prince Franz von Lenbach campaigned for the idea of the artist house. His clout and connections made the long-awaited work a success. A place on the former city wall was determined where the Hofbrunnenhaus stood, called "Beim Leinfelder", in the vicinity of the synagogue, the Hotel Leinfelder and the Maxburg. This place had symbolic meaning: Lorenz Gedon built the first club house of the artists 'society Allotria , founded in 1871 , which was then the most influential artists' association in Germany. The idea of the artist house arose from their midst.
Prince Regent Luitpold laid the foundation stone for the building designed by the architect Gabriel von Seidl on July 3, 1893 . A recess was provided in the foundation stone for receiving the certificate along with silver and foam coins. After the ceremonial speeches, the certificate was sunk into the stone for Ferdinand von Miller's words.
Wording of the document: In the year of the Lord 1893 on the 3rd day of July the foundation stone was laid for this house by His Royal Highness Prince Luitpold, Regent of Bavaria, the Munich artists' association Protektor, the art-loving patron, protector and friend. The artists, generous friends of the arts and the township contributed the means so that where walls and ditches once protected old Munich for Trutz and Wehr, a home for artists and art will now be established. The house should be a gathering place for all artists in Munich, no matter how social or artistic they may go their own way, a focal point for happiness and serious deed. Munich is an honor, a pride for artists, a gem for and for art. May God give happy success and his blessing to the Munich Künstlerhaus. Signed Eugen von Stieler, 1st President & Albert Schmidt, 2nd President of the Munich Artists' Cooperative Ferdinand von Miller, 1st Chairman & Franz von Lenbach, 2nd Chairman of the Künstlerhaus Building Commission Gabriel von Seidl, architect
Construction began under the leadership of Franz von Lenbach and Ferdinand von Miller . The fear that the city skyline could be impaired by the construction was allayed by relocating the building line of the main building. With the active participation of Finance Minister Emil Freiherr von Riedel , the generous help of the City of Munich, which donated part of the building site and granted a subsidy for building costs, the building commission, chaired by Ferdinand von Miller, was able to take action. The builder was the artists' cooperative. Lenbach himself was responsible for the pompous interior design in the style of the Prince Regent's time.
When the Künstlerhaus was opened on March 29, 1900 by Prince Regent Luitpold, a meeting place was created where the well-off and successful artists of Munich regularly met. Artist festivals, masked balls, concerts, drama and dance evenings were now part of the program. Franz von Lenbach, Fritz August Kaulbach and Franz von Stuck are considered to be the initiators and designers of many large events.
1911 to 1944: expropriation and destruction
The Munich Künstlerhaus not only had to be filled with joyous life, it also had to be maintained and financed. This was the Achilles' heel of the building from the start. Anton Sailer describes the history of this problem as follows: "On April 7, 1911, the Munich Artists 'Cooperative decided at an extraordinary general meeting to transfer the house on Lenbachplatz to the Munich Artists' House Association. With the notarial transfer, the association took over all obligations and mortgages [... ]. Income, however, decreased from year to year, while expenses rose. Thus, a proposal by the " Reich Chamber of Fine Arts ", which had been founded in the meantime and presented itself in an authoritarian manner, to give the artist house to her for representation purposes on a general lease was made (...). In 1937, the association regained full control of the house, but at the same time lost control of itself - because Gauleiter Adolf Wagner was its first chairman . " A contemporary report from 1938 describes what happened then: "The Gauleiter's idea of uniting all of Munich's artists belonging to the Reichskunstkammer into one great comradeship met with the full approval of the Führer, who ordered the redesign of the house. The Künstlerhaus-Verein In the General Assembly of September 2, 1938, decided to give in to the will of the National Socialists and transferred all of his valuable possessions to this “comradeship of the artists.” A noisy life now moved into all the rooms, a pseudo-bloom, far from the sociability that used to be once shaped the style of the house. " Privy Councilor Carl von Marr , long-time 2nd President of the Künstlerhaus Association, was elected President in 1930 to succeed Ferdinand von Miller. In view of the changed political situation that had set in after 1933, he resigned from office in 1934. The Munich artist house remained orphaned until further notice. The time of carefree celebrations ended with the rise of National Socialism. A ball in February 1933, initiated by the painter Anton Leidl, was the last independent event of the Künstlerhaus Association.
The history of the destruction of the Munich Künstlerhaus can be traced back to the previously unpublished diary notes of the Glaspalast director and member of the Künstlerhaus-Verein Walther Zimmermann. On November 26, 1928, an extraordinary general meeting took place in the Künstlerhaus, at which the then club president Carl von Marr was given a vote of confidence. On December 14, 1935, Walther Zimmermann took over the management of the Reich Chamber of Fine Arts and of the rooms in the Bernheimer Gallery on Ottostraße. Together with Oswald Pötzelberger, Felix Bürgers and Max Unold , he sifted through the applications and sat in the emergency union of intellectual workers until late at night. On March 13, 1935, Minister Adolf Wagner had 16 works hung up in an exhibition in the Neue Pinakothek , as they were not in the interests of National Socialism.
In 1938 Adolf Hitler ordered the renovation of the Künstlerhaus and shortly thereafter the demolition of the neighboring synagogue. At the same time, the Künstlerhaus-Verein was dissolved, expropriated and incorporated into the “ comradeship of artists ” by the National Socialists .
On July 14, 1944, the house burned down completely after an air raid.
1945 to 1955: Confiscated by the American occupation
After the American occupation moved in, the entire property was confiscated. A snack bar was opened in the basement of the ruined artist's house on December 24, 1945, and an American officers' mess was built in the still-preserved front part of the restaurant. At the end of 1948, the privy councilor Julius Diez re-established the Münchner Künstlerhaus-Verein with the aim of regaining the Künstlerhaus for its original purpose. As active members, u. a. Ernst Sedlmayr, who took care of all legal and economic issues, as well as attorney Carlo Proebst, son of the former treasurer, who played a key role in clearing the house from the American occupation, the re-establishment of the association and the restoration of the original association spirit. After long negotiations, the Americans dissolved the soldiers' club "The American Way", which was housed in the Künstlerhaus, and on September 27, 1955, released the rooms to the owners again.
1955 to 1960: reconstruction
After the house was released, an emergency roof was built to prevent further damage to the ruins of the main building. The Künstlerhaus-Verein, which as a non-profit association had no assets of its own, lacked the funds for further construction work. In the mid-fifties, a plan arose to cover part of the costs for the reconstruction by setting up a theater in the Künstlerhaus. Trude Kolman , at that time director of the literary cabaret Die kleine Freiheit , was given the job of managing the theater in April 1956 and made her competitor Paul Verhoeven an offer to join the company as an equal partner. Shortly afterwards the "Theater-Im-Künstlerhaus GmbH" was founded, and Heinz Angermeier became the managing director . A little later, the project, enthusiastically received by the press and the population, failed due to cost reasons.
The first financial aid of DM 50,000 was provided by a fundraising campaign that was continued during the city of Munich's eighth centenary. At the same time an attempt was made to create a sustainable economic basis for the upcoming construction work by running the restaurant. Theo Lechner , president of the Munich Künstlerhaus-Verein since 1950, won Falk Volkhardt and his partner Benno Spremberg from the Hotel Bayerischer Hof as tenants. This enabled the restaurant to be quickly restored by the architects Bruno Biehler and Walther von Breuning. On April 19, 1959, the restored restaurant rooms were reopened.
In a second step, it was planned to rebuild the main building with the ballroom. The construction costs for this project were calculated at 2 million marks, which the Künstlerhaus-Verein could not provide. The then Munich cultural advisor, City Councilor Herbert Hohenemser, mediated between the Künstlerhaus and the Export Club Munich - a measure that led to a long-term successful connection between art and business in the Künstlerhaus. The Export Club supported the Künstlerhaus-Verein with guarantees and was able to move into its own club rooms in the newly restored house as a tenant.
The annual opening evening of the Export Club on January 11, 1960 was dedicated to the reconstruction of the Künstlerhaus. Walter von Miller , incumbent city councilor and former mayor of Munich, cultural advisor Hohenemser as well as allotra member and poet Eugen Roth campaigned for a rapid and traditional restoration of the magnificent Seidl building. The young architect Erwin Schleich , who had chaired the Künstlerhaus-Verein since 1958, presented his concrete ideas about the reconstruction of the ruins in a slide show. At that time, he was able to rely on a report from the Bavarian State Office for Monument Preservation from March 6, 1959: “The Munich Künstlerhaus is to be counted among the most outstanding architectural monuments in Munich. […] There is public interest in its restoration because it embodies the artistic Munich of the turn of the century in an impressive way for all times. ”The almost true-to-original reconstruction of the Künstlerhaus was possible because part of the old structure was still preserved. For example, there was the vestibule with its stuccoed vault, the large staircase extending from it, parts of the adjoining foyer in front of the ballroom and some areas of the ballroom itself, etc. a. the ornate caryatid arch.
The detailed and consistently positive reporting with which the Munich press commented on this session in favor of the Künstlerhaus was so well received by the public that a new fundraising campaign was launched. The appeal for donations was signed and supported by the mayor of Munich, Hans-Jochen Vogel , the cultural advisor Herbert Hohenemser, representatives of the export club and well-known companies, representatives of the Munich Künstlerhaus association and the honorary committee headed by Duke Albrecht von Bavaria stood.
Second opening in 1961
The second opening of the Munich Künstlerhaus on October 1, 1961 was under the patronage of Mayor Hans-Jochen Vogel. At the ceremony he unveiled a bust of the artist house lover Consul Bernheimer, who had died before the reconstruction was completed. At 2 p.m., Duke Albrecht of Bavaria, honorary protector of the Künstlerhaus-Verein, cut the golden ribbon on the stairs to the ballroom.
Third opening in 1998
On April 24, 1998, six months before the third reopening of the entire house, the restoration of the ballroom was completed. In October 1998 all restoration work and the extensive general renovation of the entire building were completed, so that the artist's house was reopened a third time. In the old artist house and allotria tradition, these events were accompanied by lavish parties.
Architectural innovations
The most striking thing was the new color scheme of the facade: In accordance with the guidelines of the monument protection authority, which insisted on restoring the original color, the house should no longer appear in "Munich yellow", but in a subtle gray. Significant changes have also been made to the interior. All rooms and the stairwell were included in the renovation. The ballroom was stripped of the carpet and the covered parquet was exposed again. The use as a concert hall became possible. All technical equipment such as heating, air conditioning and electrical equipment had to be replaced. The fire protection measures and the redesign of the inner courtyard played a major role in the planning of the financing. The historic bowling alley was restored and made functional in the vaults of the Allotria cellar, which already housed the regulars 'table of the artists' community in Lenbach's time .
present
In 2001 the Munich Künstlerhaus was converted into a foundation. The Münchner Künstlerhaus Foundation performs monument preservation and cultural tasks by ensuring the preservation of the historical building and organizing its own events and exhibitions.
Cultural life
After the brilliant opening in 1961, the Munich Künstlerhaus-Verein tried, in the spirit of the founding fathers, to bring its house back to the arts and the promotion of all arts: concerts, readings, exhibitions, lectures, theatrical performances, balls, banquets - everything was offered, whatever art and society could unite. The cultural program that established itself in the Künstlerhaus in the first few years after the reopening gave rise to hopes for the future. Economic problems as a result of the construction financing, however, severely restricted the presence of the house in Munich's cultural life. In 1967 the Künstlerhaus entered into a thirty-year long-term contract with the owner of the Bayerischer Hof , Falk Volkhardt , who later leased the restaurant to the Mövenpick chain. The time that the Künstlerhaus-Verein had to use the rooms for its own events was too little to continue the demanding cultural program of recent years. For three decades, the main focus of use was in the field of gastronomy. At the end of this period in the nineties, a bridge between the old heyday of the house and the foreseeable end of the lease was to be built with festivals, exhibitions and the ongoing cultural program. A new upswing on a larger scale could only begin when the long-term use contract expired in 1997 and the decision on the use of the rooms was again given to the Künstlerhaus-Verein.
New gallery in the Künstlerhaus 1961
In October 1961, the Munich publisher Rolf Becker opened the Neue Galerie in the Künstlerhaus with works by the painter Ernst Wild and the sculptor Kurt Mergenthal. Exhibitions followed in quick succession, focusing on international and progressive art. Artists such as the Bavarian Hans Hofmann , Georges Mathieu , Niki de Saint Phalle , the Greek Jannis Spyropoulos and Enrique Tabara showed their works. After an exhibition by the Nouveaux Réalistes (NR) in early 1963, the gallery was closed and a carpet dealer became a new tenant. Today the lithography workshop “STEINDRUCK MÜNCHEN” is located in the premises.
A house for young artists
In the first years of the boom, a dedicated trio, consisting of Peter and Maja Grassinger and Albrecht Soltmann, organized an amalgamation of all public and private Munich art schools with the aim of introducing a large number of young artists to the new house. The board of trustees, which was made up of the board members of all these training centers, also included Ernst Maria Lang and Eugen Roth. At the end of November 1965, works by students from the arts and crafts schools were exhibited for a week in all the rooms of the Künstlerhaus. This was accompanied by pupils from the music academy, the city conservatory, the Falckenberg school, the Bode school and the Roleff-King ballet school. In those days the whole house belonged to the young artists. To this day, the Munich Künstlerhaus Foundation supports young artists and awards grants for lithography .
Music box & littleART
In 1961, after six years of traveling , the puppet theater got its final venue in the newly opened Künstlerhaus. The first performance of the puppeteers, Mozart's shepherd's play " Bastien and Bastienne ", became a long-running hit. The new spatial and technical possibilities in the 80-seat chamber theater encouraged experiments with unusual techniques and mechanics. In the sixties people began to move away from the traditional marionette and included versatile »action puppets« and »abstract puppets«, as well as human players. Since 1979 the theater was in its prime. The constantly expanding and changing workforce adopted numerous new playing techniques such as black theater, figure pantomime, light and dance theater as well as multimedia forms of expression and computer technology. Since December 2011, the littleART gallery has been located in the former theater room, under the direction of Elena Janker.
Lithography workshop
The lithography workshop Steruck Munich is visible from afar in the front part of the main building. The light-flooded room is 160 square meters and serves not only as a printing workshop, but also as a place for changing exhibitions. The lithography workshop owns several printing machines and around 100 Solnhofen limestone slabs, some of which are particularly large.
The lithography workshop is supported by the Münchner Künstlerhaus Foundation. Artists, academy students specializing in graphics, and scholarship holders from Germany and abroad have the opportunity to create professional lithographs here . It also offers lithography courses for professionals and laypeople.
The development and establishment of the lithography workshop in the consciousness of the artists and graphic designers was initially supported in an advisory capacity by Karl Imhof , from whom the Künstlerhaus took over the workshop inventory. The "Society for the Promotion of Artistic Printmaking eV" with Thomas Sebening, Melissa MayerGalbraith and Alex Nüßlein contributed significantly to the further development of the lithography workshop. Gesa Puell and Tom Kristen followed as workshop managers; they brought the European Lithography Days to life in 2005 and 2012. Today the workshop is under the direction of Franz Hoke. With the III. At the International Lithography Days 2018, the level of awareness of lithography Munich will be further intensified.
Connections to graphic workshops at home and abroad make the lithography workshop a recognized institution today.
Golden Centaur
With the international art award "Golden Kentaur ", the Munich Künstlerhaus is following on from the Treaty of Rome, which has existed since 1957, on the idea of Europe, which it has been realizing since 1997 in its "European Encounters". An international network grew out of this lively dialogue, which contributes to the implementation of the statutory mandate of the Münchner Künstlerhaus Foundation - the open encounter between art and society. The aim and challenge of the competition is to promote intercultural exchange on a European level and to develop one's own view of what is timeless in an artistic process. A well-known jury selects the winners of the “Golden Centaur” from the submitted works by the art students. All submitted works are documented in a 160-page catalog and presented to the public in a 10-day exhibition. The winners will be announced at the festive award ceremony. In addition to the prize money, the winner will receive the Kentaur bronze sculpture, made by the sculptor Hans Kastler .
Meeting point for clubs and societies
The Münchner Künstlerhaus is still a regular meeting place for non-profit associations and societies. These include the Seerosenkreis, the Association of Friends of Munich e. V., the Munich Antiquities Association, the Richard Wagner Association, Mozart Society , the Association of the Bavarian State Opera (IBS) and many more. The members of the Munich Secession are also among the regular guests . Once a week, the artist society Allotria still meets in the rooms in the vault of the house.
Cultural program today
Today's Munich Künstlerhaus lives on the one hand from renting the premises and on the other hand from the presentation of a multifaceted cultural program. In the spirit of its founding fathers, the house is open as a meeting place for artists and society. A platform for lectures, discussions, readings and cabaret is offered in various program series such as the word and music, the Künstlerhaus concerts, jazz and beyond, the young program, dance and the exhibition series Art in the Künstlerhaus and Sculptures in the courtyard. Cultural highlights are the annual traditional juggler's ball, the awarding of the Golden Centaur art prize, the puppet theater, the European encounters, the Long Nights of Music and Museums and the New Year's Eve Gala. Since 2013, the Munich Künstlerhaus Foundation has been exhibiting graphic works by well-known artists for one summer. So far, the prints by Salvador Dalí , Friedensreich Hundertwasser and Shoichi Hasegawa as well as by Francisco de Goya and Pablo Picasso have been exhibited .
Munich Künstlerhaus Foundation
In order to secure the Künstlerhaus permanently against unauthorized use and to create a basis for its continued existence as a "meeting place for art and society" in the spirit of the idea of the founding fathers "Nobis et Amicis" (Us and our friends), on December 28th 2001 the Munich Künstlerhaus Foundation established. The purpose of the foundation includes the maintenance of the listed building, the staffing and the free promotion of art and culture. The Münchner Künstlerhaus-Stiftung has owned not only the building on Lenbachplatz since 2001, but also the high construction debts associated with it, which were taken up for the reconstruction. In its existence, the foundation is therefore dependent on renting out the premises and on donations from private donors. The Münchner Künstlerhaus-Verein will continue to exist as an ideal sponsorship association for the Munich Künstlerhaus and is open to new members.
Maja Grassinger, who has been associated with the Munich Künstlerhaus since 1963 and has been working in his interests since then, has been running the house since 2006. She is the first female president of the Munich Künstlerhaus and chairwoman of the Munich Künstlerhaus Foundation.
Gastronomy in the artist house
The Mövenpick café-restaurant was located in the front rooms of the Munich Künstlerhaus for three decades. Today there is L'Osteria on the ground floor and the gourmet steak restaurant THE GRILL on the first floor. The showpiece of the restaurant rooms on the ground floor is the Venetian Room from Lenbach's time.
literature
- Brigitta Rambeck, Peter Grassinger: 100 Years of the Munich Künstlerhaus. Münchner Künstlerhaus-Verein, Munich 2000.
- Zimmermann, Hermann: The Munich Künstlerhaus and the Künstlerhaus-Verein 1900-1938 , Verlag H. Roth, 1938
- The Künstlerhaus in Munich. 65 pictures based on the original works of various artists , edited and provided with explanatory text by Ivo Striedinger, Verlag des Künstlerhaus Verein, Munich, 1900
Individual evidence
- ↑ Bayernviewer Monument ( Memento of the original from October 4, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Süddeutsche Zeitung: Second World War: Munich survived 73 air raids. Accessed January 21, 2020 .
- ↑ Lithography workshop
- ↑ [1]
Web links
Coordinates: 48 ° 8 '24.4 " N , 11 ° 34' 4.3" E