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After all that Berlin hype it's time to check out Frankfurt.
Fahrgasse used to be the street with fine antique shops,
lately it has been developing to become a real art gallery street.
Well, now one of the biggest galleries has moved out
and there are signs from the neighbouring bar square:
NAIV, with two dots on the I,
is spreading its boozing wings further on.
Hold your horses! Or your pigs.
The exhibition WILDNIS in the Schirn
only lasts for one more week.
There are paintings, drawings, stuffed animals
and this weird red fog room.
The search for the last open spaces, the expedition as an artistic medium,
and post-human visions of a world devoid of people characterize the works of
many contemporary artists alongside the renegotiation of the relationship
between individual and beast.
Artistic language.
The beast in the city?
Helmut Middendorf: Nashorn - grün, Rhinocerous, 1979
One of my favorite artists is also here, in the wildness:
Jean Philippe Arthur Dubuffet
(31 July 1901 – 12 May 1985) was a French painter and sculptor.
His idealistic approach to aesthetics embraced so called "low art" and
eschewed traditional standards of beauty in favor of what he believed to be
a more authentic and humanistic approach to image-making. He is perhaps best
known for founding the art movement Art Brut, and for the collection
of works—Collection de l'art brut—that this movement spawned.
Wildnis bis 3.2.2019
In the same art hall Schirn there is another cool show running:
KING OF THE ANIMALS
WILHELM KUHNERT AND THE IMAGE OF AFRICA
This exhibtion ends today.
Excellent paintings and drawings of lions and other African animals.
The presentation is something new:
paintings are hang on chipboard bars, this method allows
a view on the backside of the paintings, also interesting to see.
Big paintings.
In the late 19th and early 20th century, Wilhelm Kuhnert was one of the first
European artists to set out on a number of journeys to the former colony of German
East Africa, which at that time was still largely unexplored. During these journeys,
his sketches of the animal and plant world were often created under difficult
conditions. These served as the basis for his monumental paintings, which he
later created in his Berlin studio and exhibited internationally with great success.
Charming paintings.
He captured the characteristics of the animals and the landscape in which they lived
with great precision. It is not surprising that his animal pictures were published
in zoological books like Brehms Tierleben (Brehm’s Life of Animals), as wall charts
for school classrooms and on the wrappers of Stollwerck chocolate.
https://www.schirn.de/en/exhibitions/2018/der_koenig_der_tiere/
Kuhnert’s work is seen not only as a mirror of the history of art and natural
science, but also against the background of the history of colonialism.
As such it also makes a contribution to the current debate on the handling
of Germany’s colonial past.
The fastest way to find further info is, of course, Wikipedia.
The rise of German imperialism and colonialism coincided with the latter stages
of the "Scramble for Africa" during which enterprising German individuals,
rather than government entities, competed with other already established colonies
and colonialist entrepreneurs. With the Germans joining the race for the last
uncharted territories in Africa and the Pacific that had not yet been carved up,
competition for colonies thus involved major European nations,
and several lesser powers.
The German effort included the first commercial enterprises in the 1850s and 1860s
in West Africa, East Africa, the Samoan Islands and the unexplored north-east
quarter of New Guinea with adjacent islands.
Back to Europe, back to Frankfurt.
Yes, we did get some light snow fall this week. Very light.
Mrs. Mur visited me this week (did she bring the snow fall with her?)
and it was time to check out the new old town in Frankfurt.
Stoltze-Brunnen
Der Stoltze-Brunnen ist ein Denkmal im Stil der Neorenaissance.
Er wurde nach Entwurf von Friedrich Schierholz zu Ehren des Dichters
und Schriftstellers Friedrich Stoltze (1816–1891) geschaffen und
1892 auf dem Frankfurter Hühnermarkt in direkter Nähe zu Stolzes
Geburtshaus Zum Rebstock aufgestellt. Die feierliche Einweihung erfolgte
am 2. November 1895. Der bisher auf dem Hühnermarkt stehende
Freiheitsbrunnen wurde an das Roseneck am Weckmarkt versetzt.
Der Stoltze-Brunnen zeigt einen stufigen Aufbau mit Wasserbecken, Brunnenstock
aus Rotem Mainsandstein mit einem Relief der Francofurtia (Kopie), darüber
Bronzebüste des Dichters. Das Kapitell der Säule zeigt Figuren aus Stoltzes
Werken, darunter der David mit der Kapp, der Kranke Mann und der Rote
Schornsteinfeger. Auf der Säule eingemeißelt ist der Sinnspruch
„Der lebte nicht vergebens
Auch ihm sei Dank und Sang
Der um den Ernst des Lebens
Den Menschen Rosen schlang“
Nach den Luftangriffen auf Frankfurt am Main im Jahr 1944 wurde der Brunnen
vom zerstörten Hühnermarkt entfernt. Von 1981 bis 2016 hatte er seinen Standort
auf dem Friedrich-Stoltze-Platz hinter der Katharinenkirche.
In the historical museum of Frankfurt you can enjoy modern
ways of exhibition, like this "Schneekugel" show.
Click here for the web info:
And you always, really always should take your visitors here
to see the stand of the old town Frankfurt after the Second World War.
Naturally, museums nowadays allow o lot of interactive programm.
Like this gallery wall thing. Computer takes your pic.
You can have your pic sent to you by eMail ...
but be careful when typing your address.
Here you can see yourself hanging with all important Franfurt people.
In between fire extinguisher and emergency fire thingie.
This is how the pic is set on the eMail version.
Nonni, kolmen kaverin jädee saa myös Kunstvereinin kahvilassa Römerillä.
Sesonkitavaraa tosin.
Kunstverein Cafe hat DAS finnische Eis auf der Menükarte.
At this time of the year you do not need the Finnish ice cream
but it is perfect time for a raclett dinner.
Thnx Miss Sophie for the nice setting!
