[AMUNA World Art Museum Tour] History of German Expressionism of Dagen Bao Lake- Buchheim Art Museum

2014-02-24

There is a forest park in suburban Munich, which sits Buchheim Art Museum along Dagen Bao Lake. A 12 meters long bridge has been extended to the lake from the main museum building so that this typical Bavarian landscape and the building’s wooden facade of the museum are rolled into one.

Buchheim Art Museum is named after Mr. Lothar-Günther Buchheim (1918-2007). He collects lots of representative works of German Expressionism. And he himself is a painter, photographer, publisher and writer all rolled into one. His collections include not only oil paintings, but also watercolors, drawings, prints and a large number of previous literature during the period of expressionist group activities.. Besides, African wood carvings given the expressionism inspiration, Southeast Asian dolls and lots of folklore, folk art are also on display in the gallery.

To show these works with huge cultural leap in the same place, the designer Günter Behnisch makes use of the large hall on the first floor and the tower to split subtly. The main hall on the first floor is double layer structure to exhibit works and literatures of German Expressionism; and when visitors come upstairs into the tower,they will see folklore and folk art crafts. Objectively speaking, these exhibits of folklore are far from rich and delicate than those in national museums. But these seemingly rough, away from European civilization work are actually the source of the core spirit of German Expressionism. To display them in parallel can provide viewers a chance to understand the representative meaning of expressionism works and the experimental spirit of artists at that time.

Since the end of 18th century, art genre also surged like revolutionary thoughts and affected the whole European artistic style after the revolution in France. Baroque was replaced by neoclassicism which was soon replaced by romanticism and realism. Followed by impressionist active in 1960s and 1970s and post-impressionist represented by Van Gogh and Gauguin. The inherent nature of human has been gradually expressed more and more deeply with artists’ constant attempt at art.When European settlers held contempt for Africa, Asia and other regions - which were conquered by force with “backward civilization” in a condescending attitude, Gauguin gave up financial work in Paris and went to Tahiti, an island located in the middle of south Pacific. He lived with local indigenous people and experienced simple and rustic life different from bustling city life  which industrial revolution brought to middle class people, so he created lots of works even today still have influence.In the autumn of 1905, when works of the “fauvism” represented by Matisse exhibited in Paris, a group of students studied architecture in Dresden,Germany were influenced greatly so they established expressionism group “bridge” club(1905-1913). Artists in this club raised such questions: Are civilizations from colonies like Africa and Asia backward? Does painting can only follow previous mode without any breakthrough?Holding these questions, “bridge” club members, represented by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Erich Heckel, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff and Max Pechstein, began to conduct audacious art experiments. They were no longer pursuing the trace of details on the picture, but co-opted audacious color and simple lines from “colonial culture”.At the same time, they tried to use strong color contrast to depart the use of color from the material itself. So it can give the audiences a ragged and angular picture with clear outline. Later, the “bridge” club moved from Dresden to Berlin. Artists began to form their own style gradually in Berlin until its break-up in 1913.

Buchheim Art Museum contains works of all artists of the above “bridge” clubs and also displays “blue knight” in Munich-centered southern Germany - another symbolic artist’s work of German Expressionism group. Among them, there is a piece of German newspaper released in the early 20th century, talking about Mr. Buchheim published Kandinsky’s work of “blue knight” which caused a copyright dispute so the court took several years to judge this case. Although it is an “old news”, it’s still interesting. According to staff of the museum, many works cannot be exposed in light all the year round because they are made by watercolor, pencil and oil(print). They replace exhibits three times a year typically. So if you just visit once, you will miss two-thirds of exhibits.

In addition to expressionism, Africa, Asia folk art collections, the entire space of the museum are all for exhibition. “Rhapsody on Black and White” is hanging on the ceiling of the entrance which was created by Angelika Littwin-Pieperat the request of Mr. Buchheim in 2001. The work shows that five old men dress in black suits,sit in a white swan boat and celebrate one couple’s “diamond wedding”. They are old acquaintances. “The elders”’ faces are full of folds, their shin are rough and they are the same as life-size. This device work may not be able to give people the feeling of “good”, but elders who are qualified to celebrate “diamond wedding”(60th wedding anniversary) themselves probably should act like this.Who says only the young can ba manifested? I think this must be the thinking mode of German artists -- I’d like to express real existence rather than beautifications and modifications of nothingness. In addition, there are different kinds of device works in stairs, corridors and restaurant entrance. German artist Günter Schumann’s work “team” stands on the lawn outside. Even the street lights are co-created by artist Swabin, auto welder Siegfried Ulmer and Mr. Buchheim, welded used machinery parts together.

It is worth mentioning that there is a restaurant with good view in the museum. Although it is late autumn, after visiting the museum, finding a seat by the window in the dinner room, ordering a portion of fish steak provided by local fishermen with a glass of German Riesling recommended by the restaurant matches the lake and mountain pretty well. At the time when the museum was designed, the designer deliberately added lots of windows facing the lake just because of the beautiful scenery so viewers can enjoy the quiet lake from different angles.

Epilogue

You will get a card when you purchase the ticket of Buchheim Art Museum, printed the map of this lake area and tickets coupons of other three museums about German Expressionism and their address, opening hours and other information. If you are interested in German Expressionism, it’s worth visiting.