Max Schmid-Burgk
Max Schmid-Burgk (until 1914 Max Schmid , born October 3, 1860 in Weimar , † March 14, 1925 in Aachen ) was a German art historian and museum director.
Live and act
Max Schmid-Burgk studied at the Art Academy and the Royal Art School in Berlin since 1880 and art history at the University of Berlin since 1884 and received his doctorate in Heidelberg in 1889. He then worked as a volunteer at the Kupferstichkabinett of the Berlin museums in 1890 . In 1892 he completed his habilitation at the Technical University of Berlin-Charlottenburg , where he taught as a private lecturer. In 1894 he followed a call to the Technical University of Aachen , where he took over the chair of art history and aesthetics as a full professor to succeed Robert Vischer .
After the death of art professor Franz Reiff , who also worked at the Technical University of Aachen, Schmid-Burgk also administered Reiff's will in 1902 to the Technical University, which was housed in a building specially set up for this purpose, the Reiff Museum . Under his leadership, the Reiff Museum became a central exhibition and event location for modern art . For the purpose of designing and expanding this exhibition, Schmid-Burgk traveled to comparable museums in the area and was inspired by their furnishing and exhibition character. In the following years he promoted talented Aachen art students such as Emil Fahrenkamp and Ewald Mataré , but also worked intensively with well-known artists such as Paul Klee , Lyonel Feininger , George Grosz , Karl Schmidt-Rottluff , Erich Heckel , Max Pechstein , Ernst Ludwig Kirchner , Marc Chagall , Emil Nolde and Ludwig Meidner , for whom he repeatedly opened exhibition opportunities in the Reiff Museum with temporary support from the Munich art collector Franz Josef Brakl . He organized his first exhibition as early as 1909, which was a great national success. In the meantime promoted to Privy Councilor since 1910, Schmid-Burgk acquired a valuable painting by Kadinsky for the museum in 1913 as part of a sales exhibition from Wassily Kandinsky and Hanns Bolz , although a second ideal was given to someone else shortly before. This confrontation with current avant-garde art led to fierce art debates in the conservative Aachen press.
After an interruption due to his work as a soldier in the First World War and a temporary closure of the building, Schmid-Burgk then increased his commitment to make the museum an integral part of his conception as a place of artistic debate. This was followed in rapid succession with the help of sponsorship funds, at which, in accordance with the Werkbund concept, artists and craftsmen could present themselves with expressionist sculptures and abstract paintings as well as with designs for housing estates, advertising posters or place cards, as well as exhibitions of prehistoric and Gallo-Roman finds from Aachen City history from the holdings of the local excavations he directed himself, in which he was increasingly involved in those years under art-historical aspects in the greater area around Aachen. Later in 1922, Schmid-Burgk initiated another controversial but important exhibition of left-wing radical youth and with the support of the Düsseldorf art dealer Alfred Flechtheim , further exhibitions for the artists Jan Thorn Prikker , Max Beckmann and others. At the same time, he was able to fill gaps and expand the inventory by purchasing models, furniture, casts and spoilers .
Up to 80 events with European and regional artists can be traced back to his initiative and reflect the development of art at that time. The thematic expansion of his chair and the close cooperation between the chair and the Reiff Museum were of great importance to him. In addition, Schmid-Burgk wrote numerous publications both in book form and for corresponding specialist journals.
In addition to his teaching and museum activities, Max Schmid-Burgk was particularly committed to promoting university sports. Among other things, he was elected chairman of the Academic Gymnastics and Games Association of Aachen and in 1924/25 he was appointed chairman of the Institute for Physical Education. In 1924 Schmid-Burgk took part personally in the preparation and implementation of the German Academic Olympiad , which took place in Marburg with a special focus on the post-war exclusion of Germany from the official Olympic Games in Paris and the Jeux Universitaires Internationales in Warsaw . In addition, since his time in Aachen, he was a member of the Aachen Burschenschaft Teutonia in the German Burschenschaft . Finally, Schmid-Burgk died suddenly and unexpectedly on March 14, 1925, still full of creative urge.
A son was Edgar Schmid-Burgk (1902-1945), who in the era of National Socialism in the Reich Propaganda Ministry was working and for this March 6, 1942, a follow-up event of the Wannsee Conference for final solution participated.
Honors
For his many services to art history in general and to the Reiff Museum in particular, Max Schmid-Burgk was awarded the
- Order of the Red Eagle fourth class in 1906 and with the
- Prussian Royal Crown Order, third class in 1914 and during the First World War with the
- Iron Cross Second Class and the
- Prussian Red Cross medal third class awarded.
In addition, a bronze plaque created by Carl Burger was attached to the university sports center in 1926 and a bust in his memory was unveiled in the Reiff Museum on May 10, 1928.
Fonts (selection)
- The representation of the birth of Christ in the fine arts. Developmental study. Stuttgart: Hoffmann, 1890
- Rethel . Bielefeld: Velhagen & Klasing, 1898
- An Aachen patrician house of the XVIII. Century Stuttgart: Hoffmann, 1900
- 19th Century Art History . 2 volumes, Leipzig: EA Seemann 1904-06
- The landscape . Bielefeld: Velhagen & Klasing, 1923
- Max Klinger . Bielefeld: Velhagen & Klasing, 1926, 5th edition / edited by Julius Vogel
literature
- Literature by and about Max Schmid-Burgk in the catalog of the German National Library
- Dlugaiczyk, Martina: The 'Schmid-Burgk System , in: Exemplary - Painting copies in a new light. The Reiff Museum of the RWTH Aachen , ed. by M. Dlugaiczyk, Berlin 2008, pp. 74-85.
- Helge Dvorak: Biographical Lexicon of the German Burschenschaft. Volume II: Artists. Winter, Heidelberg 2018, ISBN 978-3-8253-6813-5 , pp. 612–614.
Web link and sources
- Biography about Max Schmid-Burgk on the website of the Reiff Museum Aachen
- Writings by Max Schmid-Burgk , on the pages of the Reiff Museum Aachen
Individual evidence
- ^ Edgar Schmid-Burgk , entry in: War Victims of the City of Freiburg i. Br. 1939-1945. Memorial book for the fallen, dead and missing soldiers and for the victims of the air raids, 1945 . Freiburg i. Br .: Rombach, 1954
- ↑ See list of participants c: File: RSHA-6.March1942-10.jpg at Commons
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Schmid-Burgk, Max |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Schmid, Max |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German art historian and museum director |
| DATE OF BIRTH | October 3, 1860 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Weimar |
| DATE OF DEATH | March 14, 1925 |
| Place of death | Aachen |