virtual museum of modernism nrw

Stiftung Wilhelm Lehmbruck Museum

The history of modern sculpture as well as the history of modern perceptions of art provide the focus of the Wilhelm-Lehmbruck Museum, renamed "Stiftung Wilhelm Lehmbruck Museum – Zentrum Internationaler Skulptur" in 2000.

Even during the founding years of the museum – it evolved out of the initiative of a museum society – sculpture was a major emphasis. This was mainly due to the international reputation of sculptor Wilhelm Lehmbruck, born in Duisburg-Meiderich in 1881. Because of his studies in Paris, his work situated itself in a cosmopolitan context, characteristic of the German art scene of the first decade of the 20th century. With the assignment for the Große Stehende in 1912, ties between Lehmbruck and the museum became even closer. As a consequence, the collection's emphasis on figural sculpture became even more pronounced. Above all, the representational potential of the female body was considered to be of central importance. Its visualness was perceived to have an immediate effect and was praised by art criticism of the time, thus investing these sculptures with its own interests. A series of further acquisitions by the museum's first director, August Hoff – he was dismissed by the National Socialists in 1933 – strengthened the focus on sculpture with works by Aristide Maillol, Georg Minne, Ernst Barlach, Käthe Kollwitz, and Ewald Mataré.

After World War II, the museum's local and historical traditions were taken up and decisively broadened under the museum's new director Gerhard Händler, the new focus stressing the formal aspects of international and contemporary modernism. The reintegration of the Lehmbruck estate and the construction of a new building (1959-1964) by the sculptor's son, Manfred Lehmbruck, clearly demonstrated that an abstract and non-historicizing view on figural sculpture was sought, based on the mediation of figure and architecture. The principles of construction – a massive concrete structure, embedded in the ground, is combined with a transparent glass building – refer to different traditions of modern museum architecture and establish an expressive closeness to open workshop and studio spaces. In 1985-87 the museum was enlarged by two cubic structures.

The concrete pavilion with its atrium accomodates the works of Lehmbruck. The wall elements of the interior, with their convex-concave curves, refer in a corporeal way to the modern material of stone casting used by the sculptor. Here, the aesthetic appreciation of the female nude sculpture manifests itself most clearly. The changing light offers intimate, meditative, open, and dialogical spaces for the viewer.

The transparent glass pavilion, mediating between the inner space and the outer area of the surrounding Kant Park, accomodates sculptural works of international modernism whose number has grown under directors Siegfried Salzmann and, the museum's current director, Christoph Brockhaus. Here, the emphasis is on a comprehensive survey of acclaimed "masterpieces" (Brockhaus) of modernism, from the classical modernism of the time before and between the wars, to sculpture of Art Informel, minimalist and neo-dadaist work groups of the 1960s, up to conceptual works of the 1980s and complete rooms fashioned by artists ("Künstlerräume"). The spectrum of works demonstrates a ruptured post-war modernity whose intense non-linearity stands in contrast to the meditative closure of the Lehmbruck wing. There is also a succession of rooms with a monographic and thematic focus, including paintings, works on paper, and the new media. It is the museum's primary interest to convey a vivid image of the quality and timeliness of modern sculpture and its ties to other media, and to respond to the visitors' different interests.

Since 1966, respectively since 1968, the works of artists who were awarded the "Wilhelm-Lehmbruck Prize" and the "August-Seeling Prize" have been included in the museum's acquisition. In 1990 the sculpture park with 40 large-sized works was added. It is indeed a basic concern of the museum to establish the presence of its collection within the cityscape and to have single works create distinctive markers in the urban context.

Selected Literature

// Das Jahrhundert moderner Skulptur: Best.-Kat. Stiftung Wilhelm Lehmbruck Museum - Zentrum Internationaler Skulptur, hg. v. Chr. Brockhaus, Köln 2006 // Wilhelm Lehmbruck, 1881-1919. Das plastische und malerische Werk, hg. v. Chr. Brockhaus, Köln 2005 // Wilhelm-Lehmbruck-Museum, Zentrum internationaler Skulptur, Duisburg, hg. v. Chr. Brockhaus, München u.a. 2000 // Gemälde - Von der "Brücke" zum Informel - Wilhelm-Lehmbruck-Museum der Stadt Duisburg (1989), 2. verb. u. erg. Aufl., hg. v. Chr. Brockhaus; R. Heidt Heller, Duisburg 1999 // Zeichnungen. Wilhelm-Lehmbruck-Museum Duisburg: Best.-Kat. hg. v. Chr. Brockhaus, Duisburg 1998 // Die Photosammlung: Best.-Kat. Wilhelm-Lehmbruck-Museum Duisburg, hg. v. Chr. Brockhaus, Duisburg 1997 // Wilhelm Lehmbruck: Kat. Wilhelm-Lehmbruck-Museums der Stadt Duisburg, Recklinghausen 1981 //