Hamburg in the Twenties – Views and Visions
17 November 2015 until 30 October 2016
In 1919 quite accurately 1 million people are living in Hamburg. 42.000 men do not return from the battles in World War I. The economy lies fallow, large payments to the victorious powers arrest development and often, the urban population is starving. But looking at the art at that time, the approximately one and a half decades between war and National Socialism, one seems to sense another reality. Of course many artists are hinting at poverty and misery, but overall an atmosphere of hope and change prevails. The best known example is Bauhaus with its future-oriented suggestions for a new form of art and design.
Even in Hamburg young artists develop new ways of life, plan monuments of the future and show a metropolis full of beauty and rhythm. In the exhibition „Hamburg in the Twenties. Views and Visions”, the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg (MKG) shows more than 40 views of the city, architectural visions and artistic interpretations paired into seven groups of works by Willy Davidson, Max Gerntke, Karl Gröning, Paul Helms, Georg Hempel, Rolf Nesch und Heinrich Stegemann. The different approaches to escape from reality and to create a new and better world yield surprising yet moving images of Hamburg in the Twenties. The exhibition shows drawings, gouaches, lithography, metal prints, woodcuts and silhouettes from the time between 1919 and 1934. An exhibition with works from the Collection Hamburger Sparkasse. Approximately 350 objects from this collection, especially by artists from Hamburg Secession, are at the MKG as a permanent loan.
Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg
Steintorplatz
D-20099 Hamburg
Phone: +49 40 428134-880
www.mkg-hamburg.de
Opening Times
Tuesdays to Sundays: 10 am – 6 pm
Thursdays: 10 am – 9 pm
Thursdays on or before a public holiday: 10 am – 6 pm
Last admission and ticket sales 30 minutes before closing time
