Villa Romana

The Villa Romana is a villa in Florence that was acquired by Max Klinger in 1905 and converted into an artist's house. At the same time, the Villa Romana Prize was created, the winners of which are accommodated in the villa as scholarship holders and which is considered the oldest art prize in Germany to be awarded.

The House

The Villa Romana has a late Classicist architecture that can be dated to around 1850. It owes its name to the street of the same name - today Via Senese - on which the villa is located.

founding

The establishment of the Villa Romana, the oldest German artist house located abroad, dates back to the spring of 1905. The initiator of the initiative was the symbolist sculptor, painter and graphic artist Max Klinger , then Vice President of the German Association of Artists .

Klinger had wanted to open a collective house for German artists in Italy since at least 1889, during his stay in Florence with artist friend Karl Stauffer-Bern : in the city from which the renewal of art in the 15th century had started , he wanted to create a fixed point of contact and a temporary home for German artists. When the German Association of Artists was founded in Weimar in 1903 , Klinger, as one of the vice-presidents, suggested the establishment of the long-awaited artists' house in Florence: “Talented artists should be given the opportunity to work for a while in peace and quiet. Neither a school for immaturity nor a pension institution for the poor should be procured. ”Two years later, at the board meeting of the federal government on January 12, 1905, this proposal was approved and it was decided that Klinger and the Leipzig publisher Georg Hirzel would go to Florence to look for one send suitable location for the house.

Max Klinger and Elsa Asanijeff in the garden of the Villa Romana in April 1905. Villa Romana archive, Florence

On March 24, 1905, the two of them, accompanied by Klinger's partner Elsa Asenijeff and other friends, set out for the city on the Arno and, in the course of a few weeks, acquired a late Classicist villa in the south of the city, a short distance from the city gate Porta Romana: On the occasion, on April 4th, Klinger telegraphed the following message to the art collector and patron Harry Graf Kessler in London: "Today owner Villa Romana Florence."

In the spirit of the German Association of Artists, which was founded by progressive artists to defend against imperial academism, the Villa Romana was not a state institution from the start, but has always seen itself as an independent artists' initiative.

Despite the board's decision to rent the Florentine villa, the house was bought immediately, which in retrospect turned out to be a far-sighted decision. The purchase of the villa was followed on December 16, 1906 by the establishment of the Villa Romana Association as the supporting body (with Max Klinger as 1st chairman), whose decoupling from the German Association of Artists made it possible to advertise rich donations in the institution's early years. In addition, the revival of the villa after the interruptions or confiscations during the world wars could only come about because it was the property of the Villa Romana Association.

In mid-June 1905, the German Association of Artists selected the first prize winners, mostly representatives of the Secession from Vienna , Munich and Berlin : Gustav Klimt , Thomas Theodor Heine , Fritz Erler , Georg Kolbe , Henry van de Velde , Ulrich Hübner and Kurt Tuch . Of these, only Kurt Tuch from Leipzig and Georg Kolbe and Ulrich Hübner from Berlin were ultimately able to accept the award, who arrived at the Villa Romana in autumn 1905 as the first scholarship holders. In the following year, u. a. the young Max Beckmann - whose famous self-portrait in a black suit with cigarette in front of a Florentine backdrop (today in the Hamburger Kunsthalle) goes back to his stay in Florence - as well as the first winners, Dora Hitz and Käthe Kollwitz .

Parallel to their artistic activity in the studio, the first guests had to help with the renovation, furnishing and management of the house. They lived under the leadership of the villa's first full-time manager, the theologian and former SPD politician Theodor Wächter .

The painter Maria Caspar-Filser with a family visit in front of the portal of the Villa Romana, 1914. Archive Haus-Caspar-Filser, Brannenburg

In the meantime, financial support came from Germany for the institution's first sponsors or patrons: Eduard Arnhold (who also sponsored Villa Böcklin in Fiesole and Villa Massimo in Rome), Adolf vom Rath and Erich Schulz-Schomburgk from Deutsche Bank. Max Klinger also took care of the further development of his favorite project from Leipzig until his death.

During and after the wars

When the First World War broke out , the scholarship holders had to enter the army. The house was handed over to the Italian Red Cross by the manager at the time, Theodor Wächter, and was used as a hospital during the war . After the end of the war, the Italian state confiscated the property as enemy property and it was not until 1925 that the Villa Romana Association was able to regain ownership of the house after a long effort (including by submitting an application to Mussolini ).

After a break of over ten years in the artistic life of the villa, the Lower Saxon sculptor Gerhard Sacks moved to Via Senese on a scholarship in 1928, and a year later the Cologne painter Joseph Fassbender , who became one of the main representatives of the Rhenish art scene in the post-war period.

During National Socialism, the Villa Romana Association suffered under the influence of the regime: the Reich Education and Propaganda Ministry had to be given seats on the board and all Jews and unpopular art lovers had to be excluded from the association. Despite the threatening effects of Nazism on the administration of the Villa Romana, the painter Hans Purrmann was named as its new director in 1935 . Thanks to the support of the then chief counsel of the Deutsche Bank, Hans-Alfons Simon , who was able to prevent the attacks by the National Socialists, the Florentine artists' house became an untouched - albeit repeatedly threatened - refuge or "center of semi-emigration" for German artists. Purrmann himself had to find out in 1937 that one of his pictures was shown in the propagandistic disgraceful exhibition “Degenerate Art” . Other defamed German artists - u. a. the 1936 nominee Emy Roeder - were able to find refuge in Florence. Officially, however, the selection of the scholarship holders had to be based on the stylistic guidelines of the regime during the years of the dictatorship: uncompromising avant-gardists were rejected in favor of moderate modern artists like the crude archaic Toni Stadler in 1937, advocate of the Nazi ideology.

After the armistice of Cassibile , the German artist colony had to leave Florence in 1943, and in 1945 the property was confiscated by the Italian state for the second time. From 1948, the former director Hans Purrmann and the then Federal President Theodor Heuss tried to return the artist house, which an "inter-allied committee" decided in the summer of 1953. In the meantime, the Villa Romana Association was brought back to life in 1949. In 1958, the sculptor and designer Kurt Hermann Rosenberg arrived as the new house manager in Via Senese, who was followed in 1964 by the art teacher and puppet player Harro Michael Siegel .

Between the 1960s and 1970s, artists resided in the Villa Romana who contributed to the building's renewed reputation: Johannes Gecelli , Peter Brüning and Horst Antes ; 1965 Georg Baselitz and five years later Markus Lüpertz and Ben Willikens . He invited Joachim Burmeister to Florence, who a little later became head of the Villa Romana for the next 34 years.

From the 1970s to 2006

On March 1, 1972, Joachim Burmeister began his long-term activity, which shaped the artistic life of the Villa Romana until 2006.

At the beginning of the 1970s the Künstlerhaus had to face major challenges. Its status and relevance as a prominent place to stay for young talented German artists were seriously questioned. In order to open the Villa Romana to current artistic discourses and approaches, Burmeister undertook a policy of renewal under the programmatic motto: “Dismantling the disturbing pathos of Italy in favor of a sober view of Italy”. He wanted to prevent the Villa Romana from solidifying into a museum of itself and to enable it to establish itself as a hub in international networks, albeit beyond the major art centers.

For this purpose, Burmeister introduced guest studios into the villa and tried to open the house to the public. a. by setting up the “Salone Villa Romana” in one of the historic halls of the villa, which was curated by his first wife, Katalyn Burmeister. Between 1979 and 2004 there were around five exhibitions a year, mainly by German and Italian artists.

In addition, from the 1970s onwards, the selection of the award winners was more consciously based on contemporary art developments. This is evidenced by the participation of many former scholarship holders in documenta 6 curated by Manfred Schneckenburger in 1977: Dorothee von Windheim , Heinz-Günter Prager and Alf Schuler , Nikolaus Lang , Michael Buthe and Anna Oppermann .

After the successful renovation that Burmeister created for the Villa Romana in the 1970s, the institutional positioning in the international art scene ebbed again over the following decades. The villa was finally stylized into an “arcadia of modernity”. Therefore, in 2006, at the end of Burmeister's mandate, a new impetus in the artistic life of the house was necessary, for which the subsequent director Angelika Stepken took care of. In 2006/2007 the house was first extensively renovated and restored with funds from the German Federal Government.

From 2006 until today

The art curator and critic Angelika Stepken - until 2006 director of the Badischer Kunstverein in Karlsruhe - devoted herself intensively to a new profile of the Villa Romana, trying to understand the house and its possibilities "more content-related and less atmospheric" from the start. She has consistently strengthened the collaboration with the artists and the communication and cooperation on a local and international level, streamlined the jury procedure, designed a curated program of exhibitions and events, introduced new formats for cross-disciplinary knowledge production and made the location the subject of diverse surveys of historical narratives. The narrowed German-Italian perspective was expanded to a 360-degree network: Guest artists are mainly invited from the Mediterranean region. In addition to the opening of a second, larger exhibition room on the ground floor of the villa, the 1.5 hectare garden was also reinterpreted as a space for thinking and acting in a long-term process with the landscape architects “ atelier le balto ”. Since 2011, an 80 m², temporary pavilion in the garden can also be used for events. The first design came from the young Florentine architecture firm “Avatar”, and in autumn 2017 a new pavilion was opened by the Florentine architect Claudio Nardi .

In addition, the independent online radio for contemporary art “ Radio Papesse ” has had its headquarters in the Villa Romana since 2011 and accompanies its program with interviews, live streaming and discussion groups.

Under Stepken's direction, many young artists from Germany were awarded the Villa Romana Prize, who have then successfully established themselves in the international art scene in recent years: u. a. Clemens von Wedemeyer (participant in documenta 13 ), Henrik Olesen ( Wolfgang Hahn Prize winner ), Vincent Vulsma (participant in the 6th Berlin Biennale 2010), Petrit Halilaj and Yorgos Sapountzis (participant in the 57th Venice Biennale 2017 ). The proportion of women artists among the award winners has increased significantly.

garden

The garden of the Villa Romana (2012)

The Olive Grove (2012)

The Villa Romana is surrounded by a 1.5 hectare garden, consisting of different zones: a meadow on the slope, an olive grove, an orchard and a historicizing "Tuscan" garden with laurel hedges and cypresses. Most of the garden was laid out between the 1970s and 1990s, until it finally overgrown into a romantic thicket. In 2008, under the direction of Stepkens, artists, landscape architects and art historians were invited to the Villa Romana to develop new concepts for the meaning and future of the garden. Based on this, the German-French studio of landscape architects “atelier le balto” took over the reinterpretation of the entire area over the years: the laurel hedge was cut down, the magnolia tree pruned, the bamboo forest thinned out, a room behind the garden hall and a bamboo platform laid out in the wild laurel tree. The olive trees were pruned, the earth plowed, an iris-lined path along the garden wall was exposed and a terrace was cleared to allow a view of Florence.

Since then, “atelier le balto” has been invited to Florence on a regular basis to check the state of the garden and to repeatedly work on the premises, lines of sight and visual relationships between the areas inside and outside the garden.

In addition, her practical horticultural work was theoretically supplemented as part of the “Semaines de Jardin”. In September 2009 and 2010, international master’s students as well as building botanists, philosophers, architects, cooks and artists were involved in seminars, exercises, public panel discussions and artistic evening events for the conceptual development of the garden.

The Villa Romana Prize

price

The Villa Romana Prize has been awarded every year since the establishment of the house in 1905, making it the oldest German artist prize . Outstanding, mainly young artists who live in Germany will be honored and given the opportunity to develop artistically during a ten-month stay in Florence.

The - usually - four annually selected award winners have a studio and a furnished apartment in the villa free of charge from February 1st to November 30th. In addition, they are currently receiving a monthly grant of € 1,500 during their stay at the Künstlerhaus.

Renowned artists and curators are appointed as jurors every year. In 2018, the jury included the exhibition organizers, curator at large of documenta 14 and initiator of the project space SAVVY Contemporary Berlin Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung as well as the multiple award-winning artist Nasan Tur .

In the course of their presence in the Villa Romana, the award winners can, for their part, suggest artists, scientists and other dialogue partners for short stays in the villa.

At the beginning of their stay in Florence, all award winners exhibit in the rooms of the villa; At the end they prepare a publication together in the form of an artist's book, which is usually presented to the public in Berlin.

Award winners

The program

The Villa Romana sees itself not only as an artist's house, but also as a place for contemporary art production and international exchange. Parallel to the annual accommodation of the Villa Romana Prize winners, an extensive program of exhibitions and public events takes place in the house.

Exhibitions

At the beginning of their scholarship, each year the Villa Romana winners are invited to present selected works together. In addition, exhibitions by local and international artists take place in the historic halls on the ground floor of the villa. The focus is on contemporary art production as well as the reflection of younger and older art historiography from a Florentine perspective. Examples in 2017: the exhibition on Giuseppe Chiari with works from the Block collection and the exhibition on the art event “Umanesimo, Disumanesimo 1890/1980” that took place in Florence in 1980 with archive material by the curator Lara-Vinca Masini .

In addition, numerous exhibitions are also set up outside the house, for example in 2015 in the Embassy of the Italian Republic in Berlin or in 2014 in the Art and Exhibition Hall of the Federal Republic of Germany in Bonn.

Open studios

When she started working at Villa Romana, Angelika Stepken introduced a public event into the house's program, which has now become one of the most popular and most visited: Every year on the first Saturday in September, the "Open Studios" take place. The Villa Romana award winners will open their studios and show their current work and research. In addition, international artists and musicians are jointly invited to use the rooms and the garden of the villa with art installations, videos, performances and concerts.

Mediterranean dialogues

Since 2007, the Villa Romana has placed a special focus on dialogue with the Mediterranean region. Guest artists from u. a. Morocco, Algeria, Egypt, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, Kosovo and Albania are invited for short stays in the house to take part in exhibitions, symposia and events. Over the years, a vital network of collaborations, knowledge and friendships with the Villa Romana Prize winners and the Italian art audience has emerged.

The “Mediterranean Dialogues” attempt to broaden the view of the “South” beyond the Italian borders and to consider the Mediterranean countries as dynamic actors in the mutual exchange of current artistic practices and production conditions. The Villa Romana pursues decolonial perspectives and manages to negotiate the narratives of modern European times in a city like Florence through new formats of knowledge production.

In 2017, for example, the guest artists Bassel Al Saadi (Damascus) and Faton Mazreku (Malishevë, Kosovo) as well as the team from Fehras Publishing Practices (Damascus / Berlin) contributed to the Mediterranean Dialogues.

music @ villa

Contemporary music production has also played an important role in the Villa Romana program since 2010: the Italian musicians Francesco Dillon and Emanuele Torquati curate the “music @ villa” concert series once or twice a year . New collaborations are constantly forming on an international level, on the threshold between contemporary avant-garde and electronic media.

Other events

Numerous workshops and performances, artist talks and panel discussions, lectures and symposia, concerts and film programs in cooperation with local and international guests complement the varied program of the Villa Romana. As a result, the Künstlerhaus actively deals with the new art and current debates and proves to be a lively place for contemporary art production and international exchange.

Bearers and sponsors

Founded in 1906 by the German Association of Artists, the registered association Villa Romana e. V. as sponsor of the institution and founder of the Villa Romana Prize.

The association is mainly financed by donations from private sponsors such as companies, foundations and private individuals. The longstanding main sponsors of Villa Romana are the Deutsche Bank Foundation and the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media . In addition, the following sponsors are currently supporting the work of Villa Romana with donations: Daimler AG , Deutsche Bank AG , Dr. Egon and Hildegard Diener Foundation , Arend Oetker , Brigitte Oetker .

Publications

Ilaria Gadenz, Angelika Stepken (eds.): Maria Gloria Bicocchi, Giancarlo Cardini, Alvin Curran, Gian Piero Frassinelli, Daniele Lombardi, Paolo Masi, Lara Vinca Masini, Gianni Pettena, Renato Ranaldi parlano di / talk about Giuseppe Chiari. VfmK Verlag for Modern Art, Vienna 2017.
Villa Romana e. V. (Ed.): Villa Romana Prize Winner 2016. Flak Haiti, Stefan Vogel, Nico Jana Weber, Jonas Weichsel. argobooks, Berlin 2017.
Kenan Darwich, Omar Nicolas, Sami Rustom (eds.): When the Library was Stolen. On the Private Archive of Abd Al-Rahman Munif. Fehras Publishing Practices, Berlin 2017.
Angelika Stepken, Troelenberg Eva-Maria, Danz Mariechen (eds.): Unmapping the Renaissance. A joint project of the Villa Romana, Florence and the Max Planck research group "Objects in the Contact Zone" at the Art History Institute in Florence - Max Planck Institute. Modern Art Publishing House, Vienna 2015.
Villa Romana e. V. (Ed.): Villa Romana Prize Winner 2015. Alisa Margolis, Anike Joyce Sadiq, Judith Raum, Johannes Paul Raether. argobooks, Berlin 2016.
Villa Romana e. V. (Ed.): Renato Ranaldi. Timparmonico, 1971; Teoria, 1976, Mancamenti, 1978. argobooks, Berlin 2014
Villa Romana e. V. (Ed.): Villa Romana Prize Winners 2014. Ei Arakawa, Natalie Czech, Loretta Fahrenholz, Petrit Halilaj, Sergei Tcherepnin, Alvaro Urbano. argobooks, Berlin 2015.
Juan Pablo Macías (Ed.): José Otiticica. The Anarchist Doctrine Accessible to All. Livorno 2014.
Art and Exhibition Hall of the Federal Republic of Germany GmbH, Bonn (Hrsg.): Villa Romana. Presence of an artist house. Druckverlag Kettler, Bönen 2013.
Villa Romana e. V. (Ed.): Villa Romana Prize Winner 2013. Mariechen Danz, Daniel Maier-Reimer, Heide Hinrichs, Shannon Bool. argobooks, Berlin 2014.
Villa Romana, Florence, Gagliardi Art System, Turin: Mario Rizzi. The waiting. argobooks, Berlin 2013.
Villa Romana e. V. (Ed.): Ketty La Rocca. Supplica per un'appendice. Texts 1962–1976. Archive Books, Berlin 2012.
Villa Romana e. V. (Ed.): Gianfranco Baruchello. Esercizi / exercises. Archive Books, Berlin 2012.
Villa Romana e. V. (Ed.): Villa Romana Prize Winner 2012. Yorgos Sapountzis, Sophie Reinhold, Nine Budde. argobooks, Berlin 2013.
Villa Romana e. V. (Ed.): Edition of the Villa Romana Prize Winners 2011. Thomas Kilpper, Henrik Olesen, Nora Schultz, Rebecca Ann Tess, Vincent Vulsma. argobooks, Berlin 2012.
Vincenzo Latronico (Ed.): Antidote in the absence of Reiner Ruthenbeck. Archive Books, Berlin 2011.
Villa Romana e. V. (Ed.): Filippo Manzini. Carlo Cambi Editore, Poggibonsi (SI) 2010.
Villa Romana e. V. (Ed.): Villa Romana Prize Winners 2010. Sebastian Dacey, Anna Möller, Martin Pfeifle, Anna Heidenhain. argobooks, Berlin 2011.
Villa Romana e. V. (Ed.): Ogni semper. Villa Romana Prize Winners 2009. Kalin Lindena, Olivier Foulon, Eske Schlüters, Benjamin Yavuzsoy. argobooks, Berlin 2010.
Villa Romana e. V. (Ed.): Cut out. Villa Romana Prize Winners 2008. Dani Gal, Julia Schmidt, Asli Sungu, Clemens von Wedemeyer. Modern Art Publishing House, Nuremberg 2009.
Villa Romana e. V. (Ed.): Villa Romana Prize Winner 2006/2007. Andrea Faciu, Barbara Kussinger, Silke Markefka, Michail Pirgelis, Andrea Hanak, Simon Dybbroe Møller, Anna Kerstin Otto, Stefan Thater. Modern Art Publishing House, Nuremberg 2008.

Web links

Commons : Villa Romana (Florence) - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Website of the Villa Romana
Publications on the Villa Romana in the catalog of the German National Library
German cultural institutions in Italy

Individual evidence

↑ Max Klinger; see. Sebastian Preuss: Room with a view. In: Art and Exhibition Hall of the Federal Republic of Germany GmbH, Bonn (Hrsg.): Villa Romana. Presence of an artist house. Druckverlag Kettler, Bönen 2013, p. 105.
↑ Max Klinger; see. Ibid, p. 104.
↑ Joachim Burmeister, Max Klinger; see. Sebastian Preuss: Room with a view. In: Art and Exhibition Hall of the Federal Republic of Germany GmbH, Bonn (Hrsg.): Villa Romana. Presence of an artist house. Druckverlag Kettler, Bönen 2013, p. 107.
↑ Joachim Burmeister; see. Kito Nedo: The artists are the kings. In: Art and Exhibition Hall of the Federal Republic of Germany GmbH, Bonn (Hrsg.): Villa Romana. Presence of an artist house. Druckverlag Kettler, Bönen 2013, p. 116.
↑ Angelika Stepken; See Kito Nedo: Art Nucleus. The traditional Villa Romana opens with a new profile. db-artmag, autumn 2007, www.db-artmag.com/archiv/2007/d/4/1/549.html
↑ Residence in the Villa Romana from April 19, 1932, cf. Catalog: Thomas Föhl, Gerda Wendermann (ed.): An Arcadia of Modernity? 100 years of the Villa Romana artist house in Florence. An exhibition by the Villa Romana e. V. in cooperation with the Klassik-Stiftung Weimar and the Deutsche Bank Foundation. G - + - H-Verlag, Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-931768-85-6 , p. 107.

43.754027777778 11.239055555556Coordinates: 43 ° 45 ′ 14.5 " N , 11 ° 14 ′ 20.6" E

[1] Max Klinger; see. Sebastian Preuss: Room with a view. In: Art and Exhibition Hall of the Federal Republic of Germany GmbH, Bonn (Hrsg.): Villa Romana. Presence of an artist house. Druckverlag Kettler, Bönen 2013, p. 105.

[2] Max Klinger; see. Ibid, p. 104.

[3] Joachim Burmeister, Max Klinger; see. Sebastian Preuss: Room with a view. In: Art and Exhibition Hall of the Federal Republic of Germany GmbH, Bonn (Hrsg.): Villa Romana. Presence of an artist house. Druckverlag Kettler, Bönen 2013, p. 107.

[4] Joachim Burmeister; see. Kito Nedo: The artists are the kings. In: Art and Exhibition Hall of the Federal Republic of Germany GmbH, Bonn (Hrsg.): Villa Romana. Presence of an artist house. Druckverlag Kettler, Bönen 2013, p. 116.

[5] Angelika Stepken; See Kito Nedo: Art Nucleus. The traditional Villa Romana opens with a new profile. db-artmag, autumn 2007, www.db-artmag.com/archiv/2007/d/4/1/549.html

[6] Residence in the Villa Romana from April 19, 1932, cf. Catalog: Thomas Föhl, Gerda Wendermann (ed.): An Arcadia of Modernity? 100 years of the Villa Romana artist house in Florence. An exhibition by the Villa Romana e. V. in cooperation with the Klassik-Stiftung Weimar and the Deutsche Bank Foundation. G - + - H-Verlag, Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-931768-85-6 , p. 107.