translated and summarized by: Liz Wollner-Grandville,
280408: Museum Gunzenhauser
Museum Gunzenhauser – Art Collections Chemnitz
Many cities competed for Dr. Alfred Gunzenhauser’s collection of 20th century German art with its main emphasis on German Expressionism and New Objectivity (Neue Sachlichkeit) as well as some positions of the post-war period. Now it has found a home in the recently opened Museum Gunzenhauser in Chemnitz. Gunzenhauser, the Munich-based gallery owner, presented Chemnitz with 500 paintings and 2000 graphic works in the form of a foundation.
The Foundation Gunzenhauser is contractually tied to Chemnitz for 150 years, giving the city the comfortable feeling that the collection will not be pulled out too soon. However, it does remain questionable if a private collection should be funded with public money and thereby become a kind of eternal memorial. Even if two thirds of the reconstruction of the historic bank building were funded privately, public money will be used for the maintenance and the financing of the exhibits.
On the other hand this is the only way in which the public has access to Gunzenhauser's collection – and it includes some magnificent pieces. Among them are a self-portrait of Otto Dix and his lithography “Leonie”, as well as a series of works by Alexej von Jawlensky.
All in all the collection is very heterogeneous and it considers itself to be the “world’s largest museum collection of works by Otto Dix”. But you won’t find many paintings of the New Objectivity among the 290 displayed pieces. Dix’s old masterly landscapes are only a exiguous consolation – they are more of an oddity than an artistic treat.
Even if the Museum Gunzenhauser enhances Chemnitz, it remains extremely doubtful if it can boost the city the city to attain the rank of an art metropolis.
www.kunstsammlungen-chemnitz.de
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280408
Kunstsammlung Chemnitz
09111 Chemnitz , Theaterplatz 1
Tel: +49 0 371 488-4424
Email: Kunstsammlungen@stadt-chemnitz.de
http://www.chemnitz.de/kunstsammlungen/flash.htm
Öffnungszeiten: Di - Fr 12.00 - 19.00, Sa, So, Feiertage 11.00 - 19.00
Kunstsammlung Chemnitz
09111 Chemnitz , Theaterplatz 1
Tel: +49 0 371 488-4424
Email: Kunstsammlungen@stadt-chemnitz.de
http://www.chemnitz.de/kunstsammlungen/flash.htm
Öffnungszeiten: Di - Fr 12.00 - 19.00, Sa, So, Feiertage 11.00 - 19.00