Walter Müller-Wulckow

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Walter Müller-Wulckow around 1950, portrait photography by Marta Hoepffner

Walter Lothar Müller-Wulckow , until 1907 Walter Müller-Dienst , (born March 18, 1886 in Breslau ; † August 18, 1964 in Oldenburg (Oldb) ) was a German art historian and founding director of the State Museum for Art and Cultural History Oldenburg .

Life

Born as the son of a Wroclaw businessman or a trained surgeon and his housekeeper, Walter Müller-Dienst (legitimized by his father in 1893) grew up in Dresden and Frankfurt am Main. The Abitur at the Wöhler-Gymnasium was followed by several years of studying art history , archeology and philosophy at the universities of Heidelberg , Berlin , Munich and Strasbourg .

In 1907 he married and from then on he called himself "Müller-Wulckow", including the maiden name of his wife. 1911 Walter Müller-Wulckow in Strasbourg at Georg Dehio the late Middle Ages in art history with a thesis on the screen layout German graphic doctorate . Even then, his preferred interest was in contemporary painting and the arts and crafts , to which he would remain lifelong. With the death of his father supported by the Paris Rothschilds in 1910, Müller-Wulckow enjoyed a considerable inheritance that allowed him to collect contemporary art for several years. According to Kasimir Edschmid , he was “one of the first collectors with a keen eye, who bought Kirchner , Nolde and his friends during the war ”. Freed from military and war service, Müller-Wulckow was an assistant at the Städelsche Kunstinstitut in Frankfurt from 1917 to 1919 . As the founder of the Frankfurt Association for New Art , as a member of the Deutscher Werkbund and the Association of German Architects (BDA), he saw his task in promoting modern art, architecture and design, emphasizing its roots in the history of style. Müller-Wulckow worked as a freelancer for the Frankfurter Zeitung (1911–1927) and wrote for numerous architecture and art magazines and from 1921 for the Oldenburger Nachrichten für Stadt und Land , the Oldenburgische Landeszeitung , the Oldenburgische Staatszeitung and the Nordwest-Zeitung .

From 1916 onwards, Müller-Wulckow had been planning to publish a comprehensive presentation of contemporary architecture, which was published from 1925 to 1930 in four illustrated volumes of the series Die Blauen Bücher by Langewiesche .

Oldenburg time as museum director (1921–1951)

In 1921 Walter Müller-Wulckow became director at the Oldenburg State Trade Museum. Its holdings, which had been in storage for several years, were to be repositioned in the Oldenburg Palace, supplemented by the state collection of paintings and other sub-collections. This is how the Lower Saxony State Museum for Art and Cultural History opened on February 27, 1923 in Oldenburg. Based on the preparatory work of his predecessor, Theodor Raspe, who fell in 1915, and the building councilor Adolf Rauchheld , Müller-Wulckow arranged the exhibits in chronologically and ethnographically oriented "mood rooms", which in 1923 earned him severe criticism from Max Sauerlandt . Nevertheless, the scientifically controversial, but popular in Oldenburg exhibition concept remained clearly recognizable until 1990.

From 1923 onwards, Müller-Wulckow was able to turn more towards contemporary art. Together with the Association for Young Art , he organized lecture events with leading architects and writers. Bertolt Brecht (1927), Alfred Döblin , Erich Kästner , Walter Gropius , Erich Mendelsohn (all 1928) and many others spoke in the Oldenburg Palace Hall at the time. North German artists such as Paula Modersohn-Becker (1925), Franz Radziwill , Emil Nolde (both 1925) and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff (1926), but also Paul Klee (1926) were presented in exhibitions. In accordance with the understanding of his time, Müller-Wulckow saw himself as a “teacher of good taste”, whose criteria he ultimately set himself. Müller-Wulckow was also one of the first museum directors to perceive photography as an art form and in 1929 exhibited works by Aenne Biermann and Albert Renger-Patzsch . Museum work with children was a special concern of his, also because he already saw the museum as an educational institution.

In 1922 he was one of the founding members of the Low German Association for Folklore and Local Studies (today for Folklore and Classical Studies ), which brought together the cultural and historical museums of Northern Germany, as their interest group in relation to the art museums that were then highly rated.

His commitment to modernism brought the museum director into conflict with the National Socialists who had ruled Oldenburg since 1932 . In 1933 he was to be dismissed and replaced by his assistant Werner Meinhof , but this did not happen due to a change in staff in the Ministry of Churches, Schools and Justice . Instead, Meinhof replaced his Oldenburg predecessor Johanna Stirnemann , who had meanwhile become the first female museum director in Jena . Politically, Müller-Wulckow thought quite "folkish". Since May 1933 he was a supporting member of the 24th SS-Standarte Oldenburg, the NSDAP membership was denied to him until 1939. He served the new regime primarily with words. Admittedly, his understanding of art separated him from the National Socialists. In 1937, for example, the confiscation of a total of 103 works of art considered “degenerate” was a major bloodletting for his museum. According to the legend, he is said to have hidden some works and camouflaged them through “inventory confusion”. After the end of the Second World War, Walter Müller-Wulckow was one of the few German museum directors who, thanks to their early commitment to modern art, were able to survive into the new era unscathed. After reaching the age limit , Müller-Wulckow retired in March 1951. After his retirement he lived a secluded life and worked in areas that were of particular interest to him, such as furniture in northern Germany.

family

Walter Müller-Wulckow was married three times and had a son each from his first and second marriage. He maintained personal relationships with Johanna Hofmann-Stirnemann , assistant at the State Museum (1927–1929) and later director of the Jena City Museum (1930–1935), as well as with Luzie Uptmoor, an artist from Lohn .

Trivia

In Georg von der Vring 's 1937 story “The Puppets”, Walter Müller-Wulckow, alias Dr. Düvelius as a model for a museum director collecting in the rural area.

Fonts

A list of Müller-Wulckow's publications was compiled by Ludwig Schreiner, later supplemented and continued by Peter Reindl, Rainer Stamm and Carolin Krämer. It can be found in the Oldenburger Jahrbuch , Volume 113 (2013), pp. 157–176.

  • The construction of the pictorial architecture in the German graphics of the 15th century. (Dissertation from 1911) A. Osterrieth, Frankfurt am Main 1914.
  • Small guide through the Landesmuseum zu Oldenburg i. O. Oldenburg 1922.
  • Buildings of work and transport. (= The Blue Books ) 1st edition, Langewiesche, Königstein im Taunus 1925 (3rd edition 1926, reprints 1975 and 1999)
  • Residential buildings and settlements. (= The Blue Books ) 1st edition, Langewiesche, Königstein im Taunus 1928. (2nd edition 1929, reprints 1975 and 1999)
  • Community buildings. (= The Blue Books ) 1st edition, Langewiesche, Königstein im Taunus 1928. (2nd edition 1929, reprints 1975 and 1999)
  • The German apartment of the present. (= The Blue Books ) 1st edition, Langewiesche, Königstein im Taunus 1930. (2nd edition 1932, reprints 1975 and 1999)
  • Wilhelm Tischbein Memorial Exhibition. (Catalog for the exhibition in the Landesmuseum Oldenburg) Oldenburg 1930.
  • Oldenburg State Museum. Guide through the handicrafts and the local antiquities based on the new acquisitions. Verlag Gerhard Stalling, Oldenburg 1938.
  • The Oldenburg painter Professor Bernhard Winter. His career and work. Oldenburg 1942.

literature

  • Claudia Quiring, Andreas Rothaus, Rainer Stamm (eds.): New architecture. Modern architecture in pictures and books. The New Architecture collection from the Müller-Wulckow estate in the Oldenburg State Museum. Kerber, Bielefeld 2013, ISBN 978-3-86678-877-0 .
  • Jörg Deuter: Two pioneers of modernity at the Landesmuseum Oldenburg. On the correspondence of Walter Müller-Wulckow (1886–1964) and Gerhard Wietek (1923–2012). In: Oldenburger Jahrbuch , Volume 113 (2013), pp. 177–194.
  • Rainer Stamm (ed.): The second departure into modernity. Expressionism - Bauhaus - New Objectivity. Walter Müller-Wulckow and the State Museum Oldenburg 1921-1937. (Accompanying volume to the exhibition in the Lower Saxony State Museum for Art and Cultural History Oldenburg, September 25, 2011 to January 29, 2012) Kerber, Bielefeld 2011, ISBN 978-3-86678-570-0 .
  • Rainer Stamm: "Make way for what is truly meaningful". Walter Müller-Wulckow in Frankfurt. In: Museum Giersch (Hrsg.): Expressionism in the Rhine-Main area. Artist - dealer - collector. Michael Imhof Verlag, Petersberg 2011, ISBN 978-3-86568-160-7 , pp. 304-309.
  • Peter Bläsing (Ed.): Architecture of the Twenties. A legacy in danger. (= The Blue Books ) Langewiesche, Königstein im Taunus 2009, ISBN 978-3-7845-8044-9 . (Documentation of the state of preservation 1994–2009 of the buildings that Müller-Wulckow selected for his Blue Books in 1929)
  • Hans-Curt Köster (Hrag.), Walter Müller-Wulckow (†): Architecture 1900–1929 in Germany. Reprint and materials for the creation. (= The Blue Books ) Langewiesche, Königstein im Taunus 1999, ISBN 3-7845-8041-6 , pp. 1–206. (Appendix with materials on the creation, documentation of all reviews of the four Blue Books by Müller-Wulckow published from 1925 to 1936.)
  • Gerd Kuhn (Ed.): KonTEXTe. Walter Müller-Wulckow and German architecture from 1900–1930. (= The Blue Books ) Langewiesche, Königstein im Taunus 1999, ISBN 978-3-7845-8042-5 . (With contributions to Müller-Wulckow's four Blue Books by Gerd Kuhn, Rosemarie Wesp, Timm Starl, Walter Prigge, Olaf Bartels, Gerhard Schuck, Martha Caspers, Jürgen Reusch and a conversation with Julius Posener )
  • Jörg Michael Henneberg: On the history of the State Museum for Art and Cultural History Oldenburg. In: Mitteilungsblatt der Oldenburgische Landschaft , 1995, pp. 11-14.
  • Karl Veit Riedel : Müller-Wulckow, Walter. In: Hans Friedl u. a. (Ed.): Biographical manual for the history of the state of Oldenburg . Edited on behalf of the Oldenburg landscape. Isensee, Oldenburg 1992, ISBN 3-89442-135-5 , p. 494 ( online ).
  • Karl Veit Riedel: Walter Müller-Wulckow (1886–1964). In: Jörgen Bracker (Ed.): Contributions to German folklore and antiquity ( ISSN  0408-8220 ), Volume 25 (1986/1987). Hamburg 1988, pp. 149-161.
  • Herbert Wolfgang Keizer: Walter Müller-Wulckow (Breslau March 18, 1886 to August 18, 1964 Oldenburg). Speech given at the funeral on August 24th in Oldenburg-Kreyenbrück. In: Oldenburger Jahrbuch , Volume 62 (1963), Oldenburg 1964, pp. 317-319.
  • Oldenburgische Museumsgesellschaft (ed.): Essays on museum practice and art care (1918–1950). Festschrift for Walter Müller-Wulckow on his 75th birthday. Oldenburg 1961.
  • Fried Lübbecke : Dr. Müller-Wulckow . In: New sheets for art and literature , 3rd year 1921, issue 5, p. 21.

Archival material

Walter Müller-Wulckow's written estate covers around 14 running meters and has been in the State Museum for Art and Cultural History Oldenburg since 2001. The holdings, combined in 176 bundles, are cited according to volume numbers, e.g. B. State Museum for Art and Cultural History Oldenburg, Müller-Wulckow estate, file 40 .

Web links

Commons : Walter Müller-Wulckow  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Rainer Stamm: "Make way for what is truly significant". Walter Müller-Wulckow in Frankfurt. In: Museum Giersch (Hrsg.): Expressionism in the Rhine-Main area. Artist, dealer, collector. Michael Imhof Verlag, Petersberg 2011, p. 305.
  2. ^ Letter from Sauerlandt to Müller-Wulckow dated March 19, 1923: "My designation of your work as that of a dilettante refers to the structure of the collection in detail, and I still have to uphold this judgment in full." (State Museum for Art and Cultural History Oldenburg, Müller-Wulckow estate, file 166).
  3. ↑ machines Written draft letter Müller-Wulckow to an unknown addressee of 15 April 1933 (the State Museum of Art and Cultural History Oldenburg, estate Mueller Wulckow, Act 80).
  4. ↑ Manuscript for a hymn of praise for Müller-Wulckow on the “Führer” on his 44th birthday on April 20, 1933 (State Museum for Art and Cultural History Oldenburg, Müller-Wulckow estate, file 80), which was apparently intended for an Oldenburg daily newspaper.
  5. ↑ Riedel 1988, p. 157 f.
  6. ↑ Riedel (1988), p. 149.
personal data
SURNAME Müller-Wulckow, Walter
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Müller-Wulckow, Walter Lothar (full name); Müller service, Walter
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German art historian and museum director
DATE OF BIRTH March 18, 1886
PLACE OF BIRTH Wroclaw
DATE OF DEATH August 18, 1964
Place of death Oldenburg (Oldb)