Works by German romantics from Caspar David Friedrich to Moritz von Schwind

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We three , painting by Philipp Otto Runge , burned in 1931

Works by German romantics from Caspar David Friedrich to Moritz von Schwind or German romantic paintings from Caspar David Friedrich to Moritz von Schwind was an art exhibition that opened on June 1, 1931 in the Munich Glass Palace . The exhibition was planned to last until the beginning of October 1931, but the fire in the Glass Palace on June 6, 1931 completely destroyed the works on display.

organizer

The exhibition was conceived as a special exhibition as part of the Munich Art Exhibition in 1931, organized by the Munich Artists' Cooperative and the Association of Visual Artists Munich's “Secession” e. V. A total of about 3000 works of art were exhibited.

Honorary Committee

The honorary committee of the exhibition consisted of the following gentlemen:

Exhibited works

The exhibition comprised 110 works, the list of exhibited works can be found here: List of works destroyed in the fire of the Munich Glass Palace

reception

The fire in the Glass Palace and the destruction of the exhibited works of art met with a wide range of echoes in the daily and specialist press of the time.

  • Hugo Kunz, Aurora, Yearbook of the Eichendorff Society, Volume 2 1932 , pp. 80–82:

“Not many people will have visited the Munich Glass Palace Exhibition in 1931. On June 5th, it took us to the bright rooms of the exhibition building ... Tired of looking, the Secession released us from their halls to the Romantics. Here, with lots of loved ones, at home, so to speak, we were immediately refreshed and the friends are greeted with pleasure ... "

“ Schwind (1804–1871)“ Ritter Kurt's Brautfahrt ”made the strongest impression on us . This picture impressed with the richness of the portrayed, the loveliness of the color and the sweet, German content of romantic enthusiasm ... "

“The greatest loss is the one that affected the work of Ph. Otto Runge, the Hamburg resident (1777–1810), because there are few paintings by the early deceased. The important portrait "We Three" shows the artist with his young wife and brother in close communion. What warmth emanates from these heads, how big do they stand in front of a moving sky, but as if in a room protected by the canopy of the tree on which the brother leans pensively…. In addition to this poignant work, there was also the "Lehrstunde der Nachtigall", a favorite picture of the German public, and the graceful "Mother and Child at the Source" in the exhibition ... "

"The extent of the great damage did not immediately become clear to us, nor did the hope of salvation of our own works of art, as well as the art objects invited as guests, remain silent until the shock in the face of the devastation finally became so strong that we had to turn away .... Many other masterpieces are not discussed here. The names of all of them, listed in full on a plaque, in the new Glass Palace, which is to be built in Munich, should tell the visitor what a terrible disaster that befell delicious goods on June 6, 1931. If he then, in a melancholy mood, can visualize the loss even more clearly through images, he will not be able to lock up his suffering within himself.
And so the catastrophe will become a bridge to love and praise the lost works of German romanticism. "

  • Hans Eckstein , Kunst und Künstler: illustrated monthly for fine arts and applied arts , issue 29, 1931, p. 400–401:

“The catastrophe tore gaps in the holdings of our museums that cannot be filled. Europe could have lost bigger things, but we Germans nothing better, nothing in which the German nature has taken on more shape in its strength and in its perils: Philipp Otto Runge's "We Three" and "Mother with Child at the Source" from the Hamburger Kunsthalle, nine fully valid works by Caspar David Friedrich from the new Pinakothek, the Gothaer Museum, the Hamburger Kunsthalle, the Lahmannsche Collection and other private collections, four pictures by Carus, the large picture Ferdinand Olivier's "Schloß Weickersdorf" (Hamburger Kunsthalle), Klengel's "Abendlandschaft “(Gothaer Museum), by Josef Anton Koch the first version of the Grimsel Pass (1813) from the Leipzig Museum, the great cascadels of Tivoli from the same year (Freiherr von Biegeleben), the Bernese Oberland (Count von Enzenburg, Innsbruck) together with six other works, two of the most beautiful Oldachs from the Hamburger Kunsthalle, four major works by Blechen from the National Gallery and from the city gallery erie in Nuremberg, a magical Kersting (the ladies at the piano from the Lahmann collection), also pictures by Cornelius, Fohr, Bernhard and Ernst Fries, Führich, Hess, Janssen, Lessing, August Lucas (Landesmuseum Darmstadt), Carl and Christian Ernst Morgenstern , Overbeck, Ramboux, Reinhold, Richter, Rohden, Rottmann (pictures from the early days of documentary values ​​from the Kurpfälzisches Museum in Heidelberg), Schadow, Schinkel (Gothic cathedral from the National Gallery), Schwind, Veit, Wasmann. Georg Wilhelm Issel's small oil painting “St.Petersburg”, unique in its comprehension of the factual and in its clay painting, anticipating the best Utrillos from the gray period. Etienne du Mont "from the Hessian State Museum and other individual treasures of unknown painters, such as the forest entrance by Anton Radl (Museum Darmstadt), the beautiful view of Berchtesgaden by Anton Schiffer (1811–1876) from a private collection in Vienna are lost ..."

  • Münchener Zeitung, No. 154/155 1931, Saturday / Sunday 6/7. June 1931:

“ A tragedy in German art. The Munich Glass Palace burned down -… irreplaceable items have been destroyed. That the exhibition of the Romantics, which was brought about with so much love and work, was destroyed must first be noted and the soul must be gripped, for it is about the works of the dead who have thus lost the living witnesses of their ability and now second Times have died ... "

  • Ingolstädter Anzeiger, Ingolstädter Volksblatt / Freie Presse, No. 127, Monday, June 8, 1931:

" Call! The entire ministry, together with the leaders of the arts community, issued the following appeal :
The art city of Munich and with it all of German art have been hit by a serious disaster.
... Above all, the loss of more than 100 irreplaceable works by German romantics from Caspar David Friedrich to Moritz v. Schwind , who were carefully selected from public museums all over Germany and from private property, were now united here.
Even if these valuable loans were insured against fire damage, a part of the most valuable intellectual property of the German people has been destroyed forever . "

  • Grafinger Zeitung, No. 125, Sunday / Monday 7./8. June 1931:

“ The loss of famous works of art is appalling, especially the German Romantics exhibited in three halls (works by artists from around 1820–1860), including Kaspar David Friedrich, Rottmann, Schwind, Runge, (on loan from Frankfurt), Spitzweg , etc. Apparently nothing of the approximately 120 pictures of the Romantics could be saved - a loss of many millions ... "

  • Flörsheimer Zeitung, No. 66, Tuesday, June 9, 1931:

“Loans from all parts of Germany were brought together with great effort for the wonderful special exhibition“ German Romantics ”. One of Moritz von Schwind's most beautiful pictures: "Knight Kurt's Bridal Ride" is among the destroyed works ... "

  • Spandauer Zeitung, No. 130, Saturday, June 6th:

“The destruction of this year's art exhibition represents a national misfortune . Millions of dollars have been destroyed, the artistic work of entire categories of German painters has been destroyed. General Director Zimmermann stood with tears in his eyes at the scene of the accident. He and his friend from Munich art historian Dr. Georg Jakob Wolf begged the Romantics exhibition all over Germany and it was with a heavy heart that some German galleries released their gems to Munich. Now everything is destroyed…. Apart from the material damage, the ideal, which lies in the loss of irreplaceable works, is so enormous that one can speak of one of the greatest catastrophes in national art . "

  • Spandauer Zeitung, No. 131, Monday, June 8th:

“One will also particularly regret that three paintings by Philipp Otto Runge were destroyed, his famous“ We three ”,“ The hour of death [sic!] The nightingale ”and“ Mother and child at the source ”. The Kunsthalle Hamburg suffered a particularly hard loss through the destruction of these pictures. A national misfortune has happened. Despite our dire economic situation, the German people must do everything in their power to gradually replace the damage and losses. "

“The works of art by the dead artists were insured for a total of 1 million marks, while the pictures and sculptures of the living artists, as uninsured works, were a victim of the flames!
The entire bourgeois press is now hurrying to telegraph the destruction of the 3,000 paintings as a national catastrophe and, just as with the recurring mine disasters, every state government feels obliged to assure the Bavarian government of "deepest participation". True crocodile tears are shed by these gentlemen, to whom art only applies if it glorifies capitalist exploitation. You talk about a " terrible misfortune for Munich, for Bavaria, yes, for all of German art". But they do not say a word about the scandal of storing art-historically valuable works in buildings that do not even have the most necessary fire insurance , and not a word as to whether they intend to adequately compensate the living artists who were last destroyed by the fire. "

“ The German art possessions were hit by an irreparable catastrophe last night. The Munich Glass Palace burned down tonight …. 20 firefighters were injured in their heroic rescue work. General director Zimmermann , who tried again and again to save precious objects from the burning halls at risk of death, was last held back by force by the police ... "

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Georg Jacob Wolf (ed.): Lost works of German romantic painting. Munich 1931
  2. ^ A b Munich art exhibition 1931 in the Glaspalast. Official catalog, Munich 1931