Sprengel Museum Hannover

Entrance of the Sprengel Museum Hannover to Kurt-Schwitters-Platz, January 2016

The Sprengel Museum Hannover in Hanover is a museum for modern art and, with a focus on German Expressionism and French Modernism, is one of the most important museums of art of the 20th and 21st centuries. The museum is in close proximity to the north bank of the Maschsee .

In 2017 the museum was voted Museum of the Year by art critics of the German section of the International Art Critics Association ( AICA ) .

history

Interior view of the Sprengel Museum Hannover: Museumsstrasse in the second construction phase, in January 2009

The starting point for the museum is a donation from Margit and Bernhard Sprengel , who in 1969 largely left their extensive modern art collection to the city of Hanover. The chocolate manufacturer Bernhard Sprengel supported the construction of the first section of the museum with a tenth of the estimated construction price. The museum has taken over the collections of 20th century art from the city of Hanover and the state of Lower Saxony that are kept in Hanover. The city of Hanover and the state of Lower Saxony agreed to bear half of the building and running of the museum.

The director of the museum was the art historian Joachim Büchner in 1975 , who resigned in 1989 for health reasons.

On the occasion of Bernhard Sprengel's 85th birthday on April 17, 1984, the city of Hanover decided to rename its museum, which until then had been called “Art Museum Hanover with Sprengel Collection”, to “Sprengel Museum Hanover”. With this step, the collector Bernhard Sprengel, without whose collection and donation the museum would not have come into being, was honored. From the decision about the construction and the opening onwards, Bernhard Sprengel closely followed the fate of the museum. The “Bernhard Sprengel Collection” foundation was established in 1982 and until Bernhard Sprengel's death it was stocked with a number of works, some of which he kept in his possession when he donated his collection to the city in 1969 or which he only acquired at a later date would have.

Reinhard Spieler has been director of the museum since February 1, 2014 . His predecessor Ulrich Krempel has headed the museum since 1993.

construction

First construction phase

Restrained, inviting facade facing Kurt-Schwitters-Platz (in the foreground the sculpture Stahl 5/81 by Erich Hauser , installed there until summer 2015)

The architects of the building were determined in a two-stage competition, and there were a total of 192 entries. The first construction phase was opened in 1979 and designed by the architects Peter and Ursula Trint ( Cologne ) and Dieter Quast ( Heidelberg ). The garden architect Georg Penker ( Neuss ) was responsible for the green areas . The construction costs of the first construction phase amounted to almost 30 million D-Marks, of which Bernhard Sprengel contributed 2.5 million. The total area in the original building is 9337 m². From the Maschsee and the Rudolf-von-Bennigsen-Ufer , the Sprengel Museum Hannover presents itself without imposing itself. The existing base hardly contributes to highlighting the architecture. The building of the Sprengel Museum is less impressive because of its architectural design, but rather is characterized by the overall idea: A new way of activating urban life and reinforcing the urban planning conditions. The restrained facade is partly explained by the museum didactic principles of the 1970s. The declared aim was not to impress, but to invite the visitors. The museum thus deviates from the cube architecture that was internationally common in museum construction at that time. The architects themselves described the building as a solitaire, which consists of large forms and is located around the Maschsee in terms of urban planning. The Sprengel Museum is parallel to the banks of the Maschsee; Inside, a central passage divides the building, Museum Street . With the second construction phase, it was extended to a length of 220 m. The exhibits are predominantly presented in artificial light, exclusively in the basement rooms.

Second construction phase

In 1992, a second construction phase was added. At that time, the museum received its large auditorium, which is now also used for many external events. The temporary exhibition hall was also part of the second construction phase. An addition to further construction phases was planned from the start. The second construction phase cost around 40 million D-Marks; the museum gained an area of ​​2,428 m². In contrast to the first construction phase, there are numerous rooms with skylights, including the one used for the temporary exhibitions. With the lighting concept, the planners made sure that the visitors were aware of changes in daylight due to the weather; constant diffuse lighting was avoided. On November 27, 2012, the extension to a third construction phase began.

and display information about the image

Sprengel Museum Hannover (first and second construction phase): Due to the high groundwater level, the museum had to be partly built on a dam.

Third phase of construction and controversy

The third construction phase after its completion in September 2015

The facade of the third construction phase, which was first visible in August 2014, sparked controversy. While several official bodies praised the building when it was unveiled, the majority of the participants in an online survey by the Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung rejected the appearance. The Swiss architecture firm Meili & Peter initially planned a mirrored glass facade for the cuboid structure. For cost reasons, however, the jury of the architectural competition had the design changed: The house was given a facade made of anthracite-colored exposed concrete . A polished relief band and two large panorama windows are intended to loosen up the facade, while the recessed and fully glazed basement floor is intended to give the building a floating appearance. In the third construction phase, the museum will receive an additional 5250 m² of space, of which approx. 1400 m² can be used for exhibitions, a gain of over 25% of the previous exhibition space. The construction ultimately cost 35.8 million euros, after 25 million had been assumed in 2012. The largest part, 14.1 million euros, came from the city of Hanover, 11.6 million euros came from the ERDF fund . Five million euros each were financed from state funds and donations. The Mehr Museum initiative took care of donors and sponsors . The inauguration of the new building took place on September 19, 2015, accompanied by an opening exhibition. In this context, the sculpture Another Twister (João) by the American sculptor Alice Aycock was placed in front of the main entrance. The work of art made of aluminum replaces the steel sculpture 5/81 by Erich Hauser , which had stood there for over 30 years.

• 

  Corner facing northeast on Rudolf-von-Bennigsen-Ufer

• 

  South facade, view on the Emmerberge

• 

  Stahl 5/81 by Erich Hauser at the new location, installed in autumn 2015

• 

  The third construction phase in summer 2014

• 

  Another Twister (João) by Alice Aycock , set up to complete the new building

collection

Painting and sculpture

In addition to the Sprengel Collection , the museum includes works from the 20th century owned by the State of Lower Saxony and the City of Hanover. With both holdings, it is one of the most important centers of modern art in Germany. The collection includes considerable groups of works by Max Ernst , Fernand Léger , Paul Klee , Pablo Picasso and Max Beckmann , Emil Nolde and Kurt Schwitters, among others . Important artist groups such as Die Brücke and Der Blaue Reiter as well as styles such as Cubism and Surrealism set impressive accents . Since around 1980, the museum's holdings have been expanded to include major movements in art after 1945, including works by Andy Warhol , Alexander Calder , Ernst Marow , Gerhard Richter and Sigmar Polke . The special features of the museum include the reconstruction of the legendary Merz building by Kurt Schwitters and the light rooms by James Turrell .

In 1979 the Sprengel Museum took over the (reconstructed) cabinet of abstracts by El Lissitzky and Alexander Dorner .

Niki de Saint Phalle , who became known for her Nana sculptures, enriched the Sprengel Museum Hannover with her donation in 2000. With over 400 works, all of the artist of the century's main creative phases are represented, including assemblages, shooting pictures, sculptures and drawings.

• 

  Ernst Ludwig Kirchner : Cocotte on the Street, 1915

• 

  August Macke : Large, bright shop window, 1912

• 

  Franz Marc : Small Composition (II) (House with Trees), 1914

graphic

The rich stocks of graphics in the Sprengel Museum Hannover are largely thanks to Bernhard Sprengel, who created extensive bundles of several artists and thus enabled a comprehensive presentation and representation of their artistic activities. Other collectors and artists were also encouraged by the museum's graphic collection, which is mainly structured according to focus, to donate valuable new bundles to the house and thus to maintain and deepen the character of the collection. In the past, the Sprengel Museum Hannover has repeatedly presented the focus of the graphic collection in exhibitions and documented it in catalogs. The holdings of the house of the artists Horst Antes , Max Beckmann , Marc Chagall , Max Ernst , Paul Klee , Emil Nolde , Pablo Picasso and Carl Fredrik Reuterswärd as well as the artist group “Brücke” and the “Blauer Reiter” were already in large and extensive presentations to see. Smaller bundles, which provide an overview of an artist's work based on typical works, have already been presented. This includes exhibitions and a. the works of Abraham David Christian , Lyonel Feininger , Joan Miró , TA Steinlen , Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec , Käthe Kollwitz and Ernst Barlach .

Photography and Media

In 1972 Joachim Giesel , Peter Gauditz and Heinrich Riebesehl founded the Spectrum Photo Gallery , which was integrated into the newly opened Sprengel Museum in 1979 and formed the basis of the photography and media collection there. Since 1993 acquisitions for the photography and media collection have been made on a regular basis. Long-term work is being carried out on the formation of groups of works by international photographers from the mid-1970s. Contemporary and historical photography has since been shown in numerous presentations, including solo exhibitions on the work of u. a. El Lissitzky , Hein Gorny , Gisèle Freund , John Gossage , Nicholas Nixon , Alexander Rodtschenko , Judith Joy Ross , Thomas Ruff , Stephen Shore , Stephan Balkenhol , Max Baumann , Lutz Dammbeck , Luc Delahaye , Hans-Peter Feldmann , Thierry Geoffroy (Colonel) , Helga Paris , Boris Mikhailov , Shirana Shahbazi , Heidi Specker and Nomeda and Gediminas Urbonas .

Kurt Schwitters archive

Since 1994 the Sprengel Museum Hannover has housed the archive of the Hanoverian artist Kurt Schwitters and has the most extensive documentation on the work and life of the artist. The catalog raisonné of Schwitters's artistic oeuvre has been compiled in the Kurt Schwitters Archive . In addition, the Sprengel Museum Hannover offers a special attraction with the rooms designed by artists.

Special exhibitions

Movies

• Museum check with Markus Brock : Sprengel Museum Hannover. Synopsis and video from 3sat . First broadcast: February 25, 2018

literature

• Dietmar Elger , Ulrich Krempel (ed.): Sprengel Museum Hannover. Painting and sculpture. Volume 1: Text, Volume 2: Inventory. Hanover 2003, ISBN 3-89169-185-8 .
• Vanessa-Maria Voigt: Art dealer and collector of the modern age during the National Socialism. The Sprengel Collection 1934 to 1945. Reimer, Berlin 2007, ISBN 978-3-496-01369-3 .
• Angela Kriesel (Ed. For the Sprengel Museum with the support of the Association of Friends of the Sprengel Museum Hannover): A present. The Sprengel Collection. Wallstein, Göttingen 2010, ISBN 978-3-8353-0660-8 .

Web links

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

• Official website of the Sprengel Museum Hannover
• Exhibition archive
• Sprengel Museum Hannover . In: Website of the city of Hanover
• More Museum - An initiative of the Friends of the Sprengel Museum Hannover
• Interactive 360 ​​° panorama photo of the Sprengel Museum and the surrounding area

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Homepage AICA Germany , accessed on November 9, 2017
2. ^ Hugo Thielen : Büchner, Joachim. In: Klaus Mlynek, Waldemar R. Röhrbein (eds.) U. a .: City Lexicon Hanover . From the beginning to the present. Schlütersche, Hannover 2009, ISBN 978-3-89993-662-9 , p. 92.
3. ↑ See Ulrich Krempel: Collection history of the Sprengel Museum Hannover. In: Dietmar Elger, Ulrich Krempel (ed.): Sprengel Museum Hannover. Painting and sculpture. Volume 1, Hannover 2003, p. 11.
4. ↑ monopol Magazin für Kunst und Leben Art ticker: Reinhard Spieler becomes the new director of the Sprengel Museum (dpa / lrs) ( Memento of the original from December 5, 2014 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. , accessed May 28, 2013 
5. ↑ ^{a b} A new landmark for Hanover: ... ( Memento of the original from September 23, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Internet presence of the Sprengel Museum Hannover, accessed on September 22, 2015. 
6. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g} Dieter Ronte, Norbert Nobis, Dietmar Elger, Udo Liebelt, Karin Orchard and Petra Oelschlägl: Sprengel-Museum Hannover . Georg-Westermann-Verlag, Braunschweig, 1992. ISSN  0341-8634 . May 1992 edition. Chapter The Architecture , pp. 18 to 23.
7. ↑ Wolfgang Pehnt: The Sprengel Museum Hannover and the museum architecture of its time. In: Dietmar Elger, Ulrich Krempel (ed.): Sprengel Museum Hannover. Painting and sculpture. Volume 1, Hannover 2003, pp. 16-17.
8. ^ Dieter Ronte, Norbert Nobis, Dietmar Elger, Udo Liebelt, Karin Orchard and Petra Oelschlägl: Sprengel-Museum Hannover . Georg-Westermann-Verlag, Braunschweig, 1992. ISSN  0341-8634 . May 1992 edition. Chapter Architecture , p. 21.
9. ↑ ^{a b} Sprengel drops the covers , article in the printed edition of the Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung from August 2, 2014.
10. ^ Much criticism of the new Sprengel facade , article in the printed edition of the Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung from August 4, 2014.
11. ↑ ^{a b c d} The extension of the Sprengel Museum Hannover ( Memento of the original from 23 September 2015 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. . Internet presence of the Sprengel Museum Hannover, accessed on September 23, 2015. 
12. ↑ Hannover stands for the expansion of the Sprengel Museum in HAZ from August 4, 2010 ; Conrad von Meding: Interview with the Head of the Department of Culture / Drevermann: "Museum won't be a concrete block" , Head of the Department of Culture Marlis Drevermann on the renovation of the online edition of the Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung (HAZ) from June 19, 2012.
13. ^ Ines Katenhusen : Cabinet of the abstract. In: Stadtlexikon Hannover , p. 332.
14. ↑ See Ulrich Krempel (Ed.): La Fête. The Niki de Saint Phalle donation. Works from the years 1952–2001 , Hatje Cantz Verlag, Ostfildern-Ruit 2001, ISBN 978-3-89169-158-8 .
15. ↑ Sprengel-Museum - Photography and Media ( Memento of the original from September 13, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed February 15, 2014 
16. ↑ Magdalena M. Moeller, Christian Grohn (collaborators): The abstract, Hanover. International avant-garde 1927 - 1935 , accompanying document to the exhibitions in the Sprengel Museum Hanover from November 8, 1987 - January 6, 1988 and in the Wilhelm Hack Museum in Ludwigshafen am Rhein from June 26, 1988 - August 14, 1988, Hanover: Sprengel Museum, 1987, ISBN 3-89169-038-X
17. ↑ MADE IN GERMANY TWO
18. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from March 12, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Homepage Sprengel Museum Exhibition Preview, accessed on August 12, 2012 
19. ↑ Florentina Pakosta September 22, 2018 - January 13, 2019 ( Memento of the original from September 23, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Sprengel-Museum, accessed September 23, 2018 

Coordinates: 52 ° 21 ′ 48 "  N , 9 ° 44 ′ 23"  E