Association of Visual Artists of the GDR

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Association of Visual Artists of the GDR (VBK) was a professional organization of visual artists in the GDR . It existed as an independent artists' organization from 1952 to 1990 and was based in Berlin .

history

Arno Mohr and Otto Nagel on June 17, 1950 at the 1st Congress
The Soviet art historian WS Kemenow at his welcoming address at the II Congress

The VBKD was first at its I. Congress, which took place on 17./18. June 1950 took place, founded as a part of the Kulturbund for the democratic renewal of Germany . When it was founded, the association saw itself as the ideological successor to the Association of Revolutionary Visual Artists . After the end of the Second World War , local artist groups had formed in many cities, such as ruf and Das Ufer in Dresden , the working group of socialist artists in Berlin, Die Fähre in Halle and Künstleraktiv 48 in Leipzig . After gradually building up the destroyed infrastructure in eastern Germany and the founding of the GDR on October 7, 1949, these and other associations merged in 1950 under the umbrella of the Kulturbund to form the Association of German Visual Artists (VBKD) . The 186 delegates of the 17./18. The founding congress held in Berlin on June 19, 1950 elected Otto Nagel as its first chairman. The board also included Arno Mohr and Ruthild Hahne .

After the opening of the central secretariat in Berlin on July 14, 1950, further secretariats were gradually opened in the individual countries. In the head office, departments were set up for the individual tasks, including the production and exhibition committee , the expert committee and the editorial committee . In 1951 the association had around 2500 members.

At the II. Congress in 1952 the separation from the Kulturbund and the independence as an artists' association in the GDR took place. In addition, the associated statutes and working guidelines were adopted here . On the VI. Congress took place on April 28, 1970, the name was changed to the Association of Visual Artists of the GDR . On June 7, 1982 the association celebrated its 30th anniversary with a ceremony . On this occasion, the Hans Grundig Medal was awarded for the first time as the highest award of the VBK.

At the extraordinary congress of the association on April 10 and 11, 1990, the centralized structure of the association was changed in favor of district associations. Rolf Xago Schröder became President and First Speaker. After reunification , the VBK was dissolved at the general assembly on December 12, 1990. It had its last seat at Inselstraße 12 in Berlin. A large part of the holdings was transferred to the archive of the Academy of Arts .

The association house (artist house) in Großjena existed from 1975 to 1990 and is now a home folk high school ( Akademie Haus Sonneck ).

Leading personalities

President
Executive and First Secretaries

membership

The prerequisite for admission to the VBK was a completed artistic subject or university degree or an examination by one of the section heads. After a status as a candidate , he was accepted as a full member of the association. Membership was essential for artists, as it represented access to the state art trade and the public award of artistic contracts was only granted to members of the association. Furthermore, only members were given the right to work as a freelancer, to avail of a preferential tax rate and to be able to use the order system with its exhibition and sales opportunities. Likewise, only members were free to participate in the art exhibitions, trips, specialist conferences, seminars and symposia organized by the association. The supply of artistic tools and materials, access to the association's own printing workshops and the awarding of art prizes were also linked to membership. Membership in the VBK was an essential means of exerting pressure in order to be able to enforce a state art policy.

At the end of the 1980s, the largest department of the association was the travel office of the International Relations Department , as the artists' travel activities (study trips, museum visits abroad) increased and these were organized and financed by the VBK. When the association was dissolved in 1990, the VBK had around 6,000 members.

organization

At the founding congress (1st congress) in 1950, it was decided to form a central board, the six regional associations and six specialist groups:

  1. Painter and graphic artist ,
  2. Sculptor ,
  3. Utility and photographer,
  4. Work artist and designer ,
  5. Architects , exhibition designers and stage designers as well
  6. Copyists and restorers .

In 1954, the six specialist groups were converted into subject-specific sections with central and district heads. In the same year, the arts and crafts section was re-established, and in 1959 the art history section was added. In 1961 the sections were supplemented by the design section. In addition to the sections, the central working groups for visual arts and popular education existed from 1975 . After the formation of districts in the GDR , the organizational structure of the association was adjusted in 1952 and the 6 regional associations were now formed into 15 district associations of the VBKD. The business of the association was directed by the executive secretary , who from 1964 called himself 1st secretary .

The governing bodies of the VBK were

  1. The Bureau
    1. The president
    2. Vice President
    3. First secretary
    4. Members
  1. Candidates
  2. The honorary members of the central board
  3. The central board (including the district chairmen)
  4. Board candidates
  5. The Secretariat of the Central Board
  6. The Central Revision Commission

From 1957 to 1965, the association maintained a permanent exhibition center with the Art Pavilion in Berlin Unter den Linden .

Magazines

The magazine Bildende Kunst was founded in 1947 by Karl Hofer and Oskar Nerlinger and initially appeared until 1949. From January 1953 it was published as an organ of the VBKD and later of the VBK in Verlag der Kunst , and from 1965 in Henschel-Verlag . The editors-in-chief were Herbert Sandberg (1955–1957), Jutta Schmidt (1964–?), Ulrich Kuhirt, Peter Michel (1974–1987) and Bernd Rosner (1988–?).

In 1950 the magazine Der bildende Künstler appeared for the first time . Bulletin for the members of the Association of Visual Artists of Germany , which was published from issue 9/1953 as The Journal of the Association of Visual Artists of Germany as the association's internal means of communication. From 1970 onwards the communications of the Association of Visual Artists of the German Democratic Republic appeared .

Triennial INTERGRAFIK

The INTERGRAFIK triennial was founded in 1965 by the VBKD as an international graphics exhibition taking place in Berlin. Over the years, the participation of artists from non-socialist countries grew.

Web links

Commons : Association of Visual Artists of the GDR  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ www.bildatlas-ddr-kunst.de
  2. ↑ Short biography / history of the institution. In: Archive of the Academy of Arts. Retrieved March 7, 2020 .