Max Lehrs

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Max Lehrs, ca.1904

Max Lehrs (full name: Max Peter Lehrs ; born June 24, 1855 in Berlin ; † November 12, 1938 in Dresden ) was a German art historian and long-time director of the Dresden Kupferstich-Kabinett .

Live and act

Max Lehrs was born in 1855 as the son of the Berlin wool merchant Philipp Lehrs (1826–1865) and Margarete, b. Berend (1834–1919) born in Berlin. His father aroused his interest in art at an early age because he owned a collection of engravings.

Lehrs was initially active in the book and art trade from 1873 to 1880 and briefly librarian at the Silesian Museum in Wroclaw in 1880 . From 1883 he worked for the Dresden museums. First assistant to the director of Karl Woermann at the Dresden Gemäldegalerie , he became an assistant at the Kupferstichkabinett there in 1895 (1896?) , Changed from 1904 to 1908 as director to the Kupferstichkabinett in Berlin, and then returned to Dresden until his retirement in 1923 (1924?) To be the director of the Kupferstichkabinett. Lehrs promoted young artists and campaigned early on for collecting, exhibiting and researching poster art and photography. He was given the title of "Privy Councilor". Lehrs specialized in graphics at an early stage and edited numerous publications on this subject, e. B. 1887 a catalog of the German copper engravings from the 15th century in the Germanisches Museum . Since the main work, however, the history and critical catalog of German, Dutch and French copper engraving in the 15th century , which appeared in 9 volumes from 1908 to 1934.

Grave of Max Lehrs on the Tolkewitz urn grove

With his wife Isabella (called Bella), geb. Geduly, whom he married around 1880, ran a very hospitable house in Dresden. The guest book, begun in 1883, which has been preserved in part of its estate in the Bavarian State Library in Munich, bears the joking title GRAND HOTEL LEHRS . A wealth of prominent names from art and culture can be found here among the entries of the visitors, among many others Hans Thoma , Max Klinger , Heinrich Vogeler , Koloman Moser or Käthe Kollwitz and again and again Emil Orlik . The many entries made by dancers of the time are also astonishing, including Grete Wiesenthal and her sisters, Clotilde von Derp , Sent M'Ahesa , Gertrud Falke and Mary Wigman .

Max Lehrs died in 1938 and was buried in the Tolkewitz urn grove .

Services to artistic photography

Lehrs began to set up his own department of artistic photography in 1899, as he had recognized that this was the most important new method for creating artistic images since the development of various printing techniques in the 16th century and was therefore part of the collection area of ​​an art museum. Thanks to his commitment, the Dresden Kupferstich-Kabinett became the first public art collection in Germany to elevate photography to a collection item.

Services to artistic dance

His friendship with Hugo Erfurth is directly related to Lehrs' promotion of modern artistic dance. Lehrs wrote various essays about dancers like the Wiesenthal siblings and even acted as impresario for them. He dedicated the quarterly exhibition October to December 1913 and the accompanying catalog to the topic of dance and dancer .

Publications (selection)

  • Catalog of the 15th century German copperplate engravings in the Germanisches Museum . Nuremberg 1887 ( digitized version ).
  • History and critical catalog of German, Dutch and French copper engraving in the 15th century . 9 volumes, Vienna 1908 to 1934 ( digitized version ).

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Lehrs, Max
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Lehrs, Max Peter
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German art historian, director of the Dresden Kupferstich-Kabinett
DATE OF BIRTH June 24, 1855
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH November 12, 1938
Place of death Dresden