Düsseldorf, Germany.- The Museum Kunstpalast is proud to present “World Class: The Düsseldorf School of Painting 1819-1918”, on view at the museum through January 22nd 2012. The exhibition aims to again bring to light the groundbreaking significance and international influence of this school of painting which was founded in 1819, and to demonstrate its continuity through to Modernism, whilst additionally highlighting the results of new research. In three galleries comprising an exhibition space of 2300 m2, around 450 important paintings of scenes from history and literature, landscapes and seascapes, genre scenes, still lives and portraits will be presented. Drawn not only from the Museum’s own collection but also from internationally renowned collections, the exhibition will demonstrate the high quality and diversity of the artists involved in the Düsseldorf School.
The monumental history painting by Emanuel Leutze “Storming of the Teocalli by Cortez and His Troops” from the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, Connecticut, which was painted in Düsseldorf, is returning to Europe for the first time for this exhibition. Additionally Albert Bierstadt’s painting “El Capitan. Yosemite Valley, California“ from the Toledo Museum of Art is amongst works never before exhibited in Germany. For half a century the Düsseldorf School of Painting was amongst the leading European schools of painting in the 19th Century. What began then, has continued until today: Düsseldorf has developed itself into a lively centre for art of international significance. Under Wilhelm von Schadow the Düsseldorf Art Academy developed itself into an international hub for new artistic ideas and inspiration. This was founded on the style of tutoring, the close bind between the teaching and student community, of masters and pupils, as well as a unity of poetry and nature demonstrated both in style and subject matter. Another factor which greatly contributed to the success of the Academy was that when Schadow moved from Berlin in 1826, his best students, Theodor Hildebrandt, Julius Hübner the Elder, Christian Köhler, Carl Friedrich Lessing, Heinrich Mücke, and Carl Ferdinand Sohn, followed him to Düsseldorf.
Artists from across the world were drawn to the Rhine to study either at the Academy or privately, examples being Hans Frederik Gude from Norway, Fanny Churberg from Finland, the US Americans Emanuel Leutze and Albert Bierstadt, both of German descent, Arnold Böcklin from Switzerland, and Ivan Shishkin from Russia. Some stayed for only a few months, whereas others stayed for the remainder of their lives, consequently having an impact on the local Düsseldorf art scene. The native German artists were receptive to international influences and sometimes worked closely together with those who had chosen Düsseldorf as their new home. The exhibition will be highlighting several generations of immigrant students and comparing the School with other leading schools of painting across Europe and the USA (for example the Hudson River School). The international influence of Düsseldorf’s art of the 19th and early 20th Century will be on display for the first time. Under the guidance of the Baltic German Eugène Dücker who was a teacher of landscape painting at the Düsseldorf Academy from 1872, the Düsseldorf School found its way towards Modernism at the end of the 19th Century. Düsseldorf’s new generation of painting students oriented itself towards the Hague School, but also increasingly towards French role models such as the Impressionists. In the “Sonderbund” society founded in 1909, the modern movement in Düsseldorf found its most distinct expression.
The society’s important exhibition at the Düsseldorf Kunstpalast including contributions from the European avantgarde provided particular proof of this. The approximately 450 exhibits will not only comprise oil paintings but will also highlight the variety of the School’s graphic work, from preliminary sketches through to book illustrations. Furthermore the inclusion of sculpture will serve to demonstrate the close relationship between painterly and sculptural production in Düsseldorf. In addition to a comprehensive display of works from the museum’s own collection, numerous prestigious international loans from both public and private collections will complete an exceptional survey exhibition of the Düsseldorf School and the art of the 19th and early 20th Century. Lenders to the exhibition include such institutions as the Alte Nationalgalerie in Berlin, the State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow, the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, the National Museum in Oslo, the Nationalmuseum Stockholm, and the Terra Foundation for American Art in Chicago. Amongst other works on exhibition is Paul Delaroche’s “The Children of Edward“ from the Louvre, but also a unique joint presentation of masterpieces from the 19th Century, which originate from various countries but deal with the same subject matter. For example an incunable by the Dresden Romantic painter Ludwig Richter, “Crossing at the Schreckenstein,“ is being exhibited with five further “crossings,” such as “The Bridal Procession in Hardanger“ by Johann Fredrik Eckersberg.
The Museum Kunst Palast was founded as Kunstmuseum Düsseldorf, a typical communal arts collection in Germany. The first exhibits were provided by the popular regent Jan Wellem, Duke of Palatinate, and his wife Anna Maria Luisa de’ Medici and some rich citizens of Düsseldorf. The number of exhibits was expanded in the 19th century by the collection of Lambert Krahe, formerly a collection for educational reasons of the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf. The Düsseldorfer Gallerieverein, founded in 19th century, collected many drawings of the Düsseldorfer Malerschule, later given to that collection. The museum for advanced arts, whose opening was in 1883, merged with that museum later. The Kunstmuseum in its actual form opened in 1913, it became a foundation (in private-public partnership) called the “Stiftung Museum Kunst Palast” in 2000. The museums is housed in the Ehrenhof, built in 1925 for the exhibition “Gesundheit, soziale Fürsorge, Leibesübungen” (health, social care and sports). Plans for the building are crawn up by the architect Wilhelm Kreis. The Communal Arts Collection and the Hetjens-Museum for ceramics moved into the Ehrenhof building in 1928. There is also the NRW-Forum Kultur und Wirtschaft (forum for culture and economy of North Rhine-Westphalia) in the same building complex. The Museum Kunst Palast includes objects of fine arts from Classical antiquity to the present, including drawings, sculptures, a collection of more than 70,000 graphic exhibits and photographs, applied arts and design and one of Europe’s largests glass collections. The graphic collection includes 14,000 Italian baroque graphics. The collection presents several works from Europe, Japan, Persia/Iran, beginning with the 3rd century BC. The art collection also include works from periods such as Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, the time of Goethe, the 19th century, the 20th century including a large collection of ZERO works, and the present. Visit the museum’s website at … http://www.smkp.de