2011 - Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden

Page 6: A visitor in front of the “Oehme family’s Home Theatre”,
c.1800, from the Puppentheatersammlung
“The Art of the Enlightenment” in Beijing, the first visitors to
the exhibition
TH E ART OF TH E EN LIGHTENMENT
It is the most extraordinary and the largest-scale international
project in which the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen
Dresden have ever been substantially involved: the exhibition
“Die Kunst der Aufklärung” (The Art of the Enlightenment),
which was opened at the National Museum of
China in Beijing on 1 April 2011. Conceived and organised
in association with the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, the
Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen Munich and the
National Museum of China, this was the first international
exhibition to be shown in the newly renovated
building located on Tiananmen Square. Opened by Federal
Foreign Minister Dr. Guido Westerwelle and Liu Yandong,
State Councillor for Culture of the People’s Republic
of China, the year-long exhibition provided Chinese and
international visitors with a sound and multifaceted view
of the Enlightenment as a European cultural epoch. Even
though the exhibition is to stay open until March 2012, it
is nevertheless possible to make a provisional appraisal at
the end of 2011.
The exhibition
In an area covering 2700 m² of floor space, the exhibition
presented around 600 objects illustrating the full spectrum
of the arts during the Enlightenment period – from
masterpieces of painting, printmaking and sculpture to
handicrafts and costumes, and even to scientific instruments.
The objects on loan included works by Chodowiecki,
Federal Foreign Minister Dr. Guido Westerwelle and
Liu Yandong, State Councillor for Culture of the
People’s Republic of China, open the exhibition in
the National Museum of China on 1 April 2011
Friedrich, Gainsborough, Goya, Graff, Greuze, Hogarth,
Kauffmann, Pesne, Piranesi, Tischbein, Vernet and Watteau.
In order to do justice to the different aspects and themes
of this highly significant period, the exhibition tour was
divided into nine sections. The section entitled “Court life
during the Age of Enlightenment” formed a kind of prologue,
focusing on the Baroque and Enlightenment courts
in Berlin, Dresden and Munich. The section called “Perspectives
of Knowledge” considered the immense influence
of the natural sciences on life during this period and its
effects on artistic perspectives. The section on “The Birth
of History” showed a new awakening of historical awareness
in the 18th century. Fascination not only with past
ages but, in particular, with foreign and exotic cultures
was the theme in the section entitled “Far and Near”,
which also considered relations between Europe and
China. Under the title “Love and Sensibility” attention
was focused on how the meaning of love, friendship and
empathy changed during the course of the 18th century,
as did also attitudes to landscapes and natural forces – a
process which was investigated in the section called “Back
to Nature”. The theme of “Dark Sides” drew attention to
the sinister aspects of unfettered rationality, as expressed
for example in Goya’s “Caprichos”. The next section,
“Emancipation and Publicity”, showed how the ideas and
images of the Enlightenment were circulated by means
of the nascent mass media.
Towards the end of the exhibition tour, attention was
drawn to contemporary art, raising the question as to the
significance of 18th-century ideas for artistic creativity
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