Exberliner issue 185, September 2019

WHAT’S ON — Art
Interview
“ I’m a huge fan of
the boldness of Art Deco”
Bröhan Museum curator Anna Großkopf on Berlin’s
19th century art rebels, upcoming shows
and (not) counting every teaspoon. By Anna Larkin
DON’T MISS
Bauhaus Week
This festival of
exhibitions, tours
and performances
includes everything
from early
morning yoga to
tours of the private
residential buildings
in Hansaviertel
and a shop window
exhibition along
Kantstraße on 100
years of Bauhaus.
Through Sep 8
Berlin Art Prize 2019
Curious who will lift
this year’s trophy,
prize money and
residency? Check out
the five finalists’ work
spread over nine
project spaces across
town. The winner
will be announced
at Flutgraben e.V.
on Sep 14.
Through Sep 27
The Making
of Husbands
KW is showing works
by the late Chicago
Imagist Christina
Ramberg from the
1980s and puts
them in conversation
with 14 younger,
contemporary artists.
Sep 14 – Jan 5
She joined the Bröhan only last
year, but Anna Großkopf is already
responsible for a couple
of standout shows that suddenly
have everyone talking about the toooften
overlooked Charlottenburg
institution. Located right across
from the palace, the museum started
out as the private collection of businessman
Karl Bröhan in the 1960s,
before the institution eventually
became a Berlin State museum in
1994. It houses a permanent collection
of Art Nouveau, Art Deco and
Functionalist objects as well as temporary
exhibitions. Both the current
Group of XI and last year’s Grapus,
a French Graphic Design Collective,
were curated by Großkopf. We
sat down with the Düsseldorf-born
curator for a chat about the museum
and what we should look forward to.
What’s the guiding principle for
your temporary exhibitions? We
always try to keep a connection to
our historical collection, basically
objects and art from about 1880 to
1940, but we also try to reach out
to contemporary art. A lot of topics
that are relevant today were discovered
or became relevant for the first
time during this period around 1900.
The current exhibition is a good
example of that.
Can you tell us more about the
myth and scandals surrounding
those 11 painters from Berlin
who called themselves “the XI”?
They were real pioneers of the 19th
century in many ways! It was the
first modern artist group in the German
speaking world and they had
very modern exhibition politics. For
example, they invented the format
of the group exhibition in a private
gallery, small well-curated shows
that, unlike the annual Great Berlin
Art Exhibition, went for quality not
quantity. They were really doing
their own thing, choosing themselves
what to exhibit, how to hang the
works, designing their own invitation
cards and really acting like
‘artist-curators’. They were the first
to accept a woman as a member,
Dora Hitz (1856 – 1924), a successful
portrait painter. They were also
the first to show impressionist and
symbolist paintings in Berlin, the
works of Max Liebermann, Walter
Leistikow and Franz Skarbina or the
highly unusual symbolist paintings of
Ludwig von Hofmann that provoked
very controversial press reactions.
The opening of their first exhibition
on April 1, 1892 was a real sensation
and attracted extremely negative reviews,
insulting the “XI” as dilettante
and half-crazy, a dubious clandestine
group. But they embraced the scandal,
because they understood very
quickly that all PR is good PR.
You next show opening in October
is about Nordic design...
It is closely linked to the show we
did this spring on the Bauhaus. It
will start in the 1920s with Finnish
architect and designer Alvar Aalto,
and go right up to the present-day
with a focus on the 1950s and 1960s,
with Sven Markelius, the father of
Swedish functionalism, and the
much celebrated Danish designers
Hans J. Wegner and Arne Jacobsen.
We’ll be rounding off the exhibition
with futurist designs by Verner
Panton, Eero Aarnio and Marimekko,
which marked the Nordic countries’
ultimate break with functionalism.
But this autumn we’ll also show a
photographic series on Germany
after the fall of the Wall by photographer
Stefan Moses who died last
year. Next year we will celebrate the
150th anniversary of Berlin painter
Hans Baluschek who together with
Käthe Kollwitz and Heinrich Zille
Sylvia Hinz
was one of the protagonists of sociocritical
realism.
How many pieces are currently
in the museum’s collection? This
isn’t an easy question to answer as it
depends on how you count: we have
around 18,000 pieces including the
painting collection of 300 works.
But we have a lot of cutlery pieces
for example, and do not count each
teaspoon as a separate work!
And do you receive bequests?
Perhaps a fan of the museum
might leave you their art nouveau
butter knife? Yes. And it’s of
course very sweet when the older
ladies coming to the museum offer
us their items. But sadly, we cannot
accept everything. Art Nouveau was
a large movement, and lot of everyday
objects were produced, not all of
historical relevance.
What’s your one favourite exhibit?
As a huge fan of Art Deco, I
especially admire the work of Paul
Iribe. In our permanent collection
we have two exceptional lounge
chairs that perfectly express the
elegance, boldness and eccentricity
of the period. T
Scandal! Myth! Modernism! The
association of the XI in Berlin
Through Sep 15 | Nordic Design - The
Answer to Bauhaus Oct 24 – Mar 1 |
Stefan Moses - Abschied und Anfang
1989-1990 Nov 7 – Apr 19 all at Bröhan
Museum, Charlottenburg
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EXBERLINER 185