Kirchner Museum Davos

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The Kirchner Museum, north facade with visitor entrance
EL Kirchner: Tinzenhorn - Zügenschlucht near Monstein , 1919/1920
EL Kirchner: Davos with church (Davos in summer) , 1925

The Kirchner Museum in Davos shows works by the expressionist artist Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (1880–1938) where they were created. Davos and its surroundings inspired a large number of important works.

collection

The collection includes numerous paintings, sculptures, drawings, graphic and textile works as well as almost all of the artist's sketchbooks and photographs. All important themes in Kirchner's oeuvre are represented in a representative manner: studio, nude and circus scenes, portraits, figures and landscapes from the “ Brücke ” period to late Swiss works. The majority of the works come from the Davos era . They reflect Kirchner's constant confrontation with the impressive mountain world and the bond with its residents. There are also numerous documents on the life and work of the artist and a library on Expressionism.

History and mediation

The Kirchner Museum was founded in Davos in 1982 and was housed in the old post office building in Davos Platz. The Swiss art collector and dealer Eberhard W. Kornfeld , who had already bought Kirchner's last house on Wildboden in Frauenkirch near Davos in the 1960s and opened his Kirchner collection to the public on weekends, played a key role in the construction.

On September 4, 1992, the new building donated by Kirchner's estate administrator Roman Norbert Ketterer was opened. The collection already comprised 519 works. 500 works and 160 sketchbooks with almost 10,000 drawings were donated from the artist's estate alone on the occasion of the inauguration of the new building; in 1994 a further 700 works and numerous negatives of Kirchner's photographs were added.

After renovation work, the exhibition Kirchner's Collectors, Patrons, Museum opened on December 9, 2012 to mark the museum's 30th birthday . Thirty years of the Kirchner Museum Davos: The collection that was on view until June 21, 2013. In the following exhibitions with works by Georg Baselitz and Lisl Ponger , Kirchner's work was brought into dialogue with contemporary art.

Art historian Carla Burani has been director of the museum since September 2019 . Previously, Karin Schick and Thorsten Sadowsky and, in the fourth quarter of 2018, Ariane Grigoteit were responsible for the management.

Loans from the museum were recognized internationally, for example discussed in the New York Times in December 2015. The World Economic Forum WEF , which takes place annually in Davos, increases the worldwide awareness of the Kirchner Museum.

In order to reach a wide audience, the museum offers tours through the exhibitions as well as workshops with special programs for children, young people, schoolchildren and adults or hikes in the footsteps of Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, to the Stafelalp or to his grave at the Davos forest cemetery .

160 sketchbooks by Kirchner - published in 1996 as a catalog raisonné with 180 items in book form - have been fully digitized. Each sketchbook contains an average of 60 sketches or hand drawings.

The Kirchner Museum is one of ten Swiss museums that are financially supported by the federal authorities in their provenance research in 2016/2017. It should be clarified whether there was Nazi-looted art . Around 80 works were selected whose origins were not fully documented. This included works by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and other expressionists such as Alexej von Jawlensky and Wassily Kandinsky . If you come across Nazi-looted art, you would try to contact any heirs about an agreement or return: "We do not want any illegal acquisitions in our museum holdings," said Museum Director Sadowsky in 2016.

building

Showroom with lots of natural light from above
Video of a canvas used by Kirchner on both sides, filmed from the side because the pictures are upside down.

The Kirchner Museum Davos was the first major order that Zurich architects Annette Gigon and Mike Guyer carried out. In the meantime, it is considered to be groundbreaking for a new conception of museum architecture that combines functionality and aesthetics, architectural intrinsic value and service to art in an extraordinary way and was awarded the Daylight Award of the Velux Foundation , founded in 1980, in 2012, the highest endowed architecture prize in Switzerland.

Based on the regional conditions (climate and light conditions, Davos flat roof architecture), but above all with the idea of ​​an ideal encounter between man and work of art, the architects designed four cubes as exhibition halls. They are connected by a branched foyer with wide window fronts, which is intended to become a place of reflection - and at the same time opens up a view of the alpine landscape that is so formative for Kirchner. The facade is completely clad with glass - opaque alternating with clear elements. The roof (the so-called 5th facade) is provided with a fill of broken glass. In addition to the exhibition rooms and the connecting access hall, there are: didactic room, library, meeting room, offices, workshops, depots and ancillary rooms.

Foundation, friends' association and patronage committee

The Ernst Ludwig Kirchner Foundation Davos is the owner of both the collection and the museum building.

The museum is supported by a sponsoring association. The Kirchner Verein Davos was founded in 1982. It has around 600 members and institutions. It promotes the content work of the museum. The Kirchner Verein Davos actively promotes through the acquisition of works of art for the collection, the promotion of communication through museum educational activities or publications or the promotion of research through publications that are created in connection with the collection.

The museum is further supported by a patronage committee, which is composed of personalities who support the museum with their names in this way.

Special exhibitions

In addition to the permanent exhibition, there are also special exhibitions in the museum. The exhibitions aim to create a dialogue between the works of Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and those of other artists. For example, the German light artist Mischa Kuball showed his room installation Licht auf Kirchner , in which he explores Kirchner's works with his artistic means.

Exhibitions (selection)

  • Hans Danuser . The Fujiyama of Davos. (2018/19)
  • Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Oskar Kokoschka (2017/18)
  • "Now I'm supposed to paint at the theater again." Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and alpine theater creation. (2017)
  • «Rupprecht Matthies feat. Kirchner. " Exchange of words between art and life. (2016)
  • The artist as a photographer. Ernst Ludwig Kirchner photographic work. (2015/16)
  • Philipp Bauknecht . Davos Mountain Worlds in Expressionism (2014/15)
  • Lisl Ponger . Beautiful strangers. (2014)
  • Georg Baselitz . Visit to Ernst Ludwig. (2013/2014)

Publications of the museum

The museum has published exhibition catalogs since 1989. As an example, the first catalog:

  • Ernst Ludwig Kirchner: Works, 1917-1923: Exhibition, December 17, 1988-2. April 1989 , Ernst-Ludwig-Kirchner-Museum, Davos Platz / Texts: EW Kornfeld. Davos-Platz: Ernst Ludwig Kirchner Museum, 1989.

Bibliographical information on the other catalogs at the Swiss National Library. Source material that has not yet been electronically cataloged is also available in the National Library: statutes 1982, public document July 1, 1982, annual reports from 2013 and various documents on the memorial for EK Kirchner in Davos.

literature

See also

Web links

Commons : Kirchner Museum  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Martin Kraft: The Kirchner Museum in Davos. In: Du - die Zeitschrift der Kultur , Volume 43, 1983, Issue 2, pp. 72-73, doi: 10.5169 / seals-304700 .
  2. ↑ Eberhard W. Kornfeld: art.port.co ways of modernity. Retrieved November 16, 2010.
  3. ↑ Homage to Roman Norbert Ketterer. In: 90 drawings for 90 years. Cat. Exhib. Henze & Ketterer Gallery, Wichtrach / Bern, Catalog 62, 2001, pp. 5–8.
  4. ↑ Carla Burani-Ruef becomes the new director of the Kirchner Museum Davos. Museum report 2019/07
  5. ↑ On the Davos ejection seat in southeastern Switzerland , February 23, 2019
  6. ^ Nina Siegal: Mountains as Muse for a Self-Exiled Artist . In: The New York Times . December 2, 2015, ISSN  0362-4331 ( nytimes.com [accessed October 8, 2016]).
  7. ^ The tragedy of avant garde artist Ernst Kirchner . ( cbsnews.com [accessed October 8, 2016]).
  8. ^ Digitization: Kirchner Museum Davos. In: www.kirchnermuseum.ch. Archived from the original on October 10, 2016 ; accessed on October 10, 2016 .
  9. ↑ Provenance research in Switzerland. Federal Office of Culture, archived from the original on October 13, 2016 ; accessed on October 12, 2016 .
  10. ↑ Béla Zier: In Search of Nazi Looted Art. In: Die Südostschweiz , September 2, 2016.
  11. ↑ Link to awards received by Gigon & Guyer
  12. ↑ Axel Simon: In the magic light: the Kirchner Museum is a tailor-made vessel. The lighting solution adapted to Davos is the central idea of ​​the design and architectural expression. In: Hochparterre - magazine for architecture and design, Volume 25, 2012, supplement to Hochparterre 3/2012; doi : 10.5169 / seals-392166
  13. ^ Video of the architects on their overall conception of the building on the occasion of the Daylight Award 2012 , accessed October 1, 2016.
  14. ^ Foundation: Kirchner Museum Davos. In: www.kirchnermuseum.ch. Retrieved October 8, 2016 .
  15. ^ Kirchner Association: Kirchner Museum Davos. In: www.kirchnermuseum.ch. Retrieved October 8, 2016 .
  16. ^ Patronage committee: Kirchner Museum Davos. In: www.kirchnermuseum.ch. Retrieved October 8, 2016 .
  17. ↑ News from the Kirchner Museum Davos , kirchnermuseum.ch, accessed on November 16, 2016.
  18. ^ Exhibition page on Hans Danuser. The Fujiyama of Davos. Kirchner Museum Davos, accessed on March 20, 2020.
  19. ^ Exhibition page on Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Oskar Kokoschka. Kirchner Museum Davos, accessed on March 20, 2020.
  20. ^ Exhibition page on Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and alpine theater. Kirchner Museum Davos, accessed on March 20, 2020.
  21. ^ Exhibition page on Rupprecht Matthies feat. Kirchner. Kirchner Museum Davos, kirchnermuseum.ch, accessed on November 16, 2016.
  22. ^ Exhibition page on The Artist as Photographer. Kirchner Museum Davos, accessed on March 20, 2020.
  23. ↑ Exhibition page on Davos Mountain Worlds in Expressionism. Kirchner Museum Davos, accessed on March 20, 2020.
  24. ^ Exhibition page on Lisl Ponger. Beautiful strangers. Kirchner Museum Davos, accessed on March 20, 2020.
  25. ^ Exhibition page on Georg Baselitz. Visit to Ernst Ludwig. Kirchner Museum Davos, accessed on March 20, 2020.
  26. ↑ Publications by and about Kirchner Museum Davos in the Helveticat catalog of the Swiss National Library
  27. ↑ To be found in the index cards of the club catalog ( Memento of November 10, 2016 in the Internet Archive ), call number V 3217

Coordinates: 46 ° 48 '0.5 "  N , 9 ° 49' 36"  E ; CH1903:  782274  /  one hundred eighty-five thousand nine hundred and ninety-three