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The Week in Germany: Culture March 30, 2007 TWIG Exclusive: Interview with Dr. Ortrud Westheider, Curator of the Exhibition 150 Years of American Art: 1800 - 1950 In February, TWIG reported on an exhibition of American art in Hamburg that will show important works of early American painting that had been little known in Europe. In this TWIG interview, Dr. Ortrud Westheider, curator of the exhibit at the Bucerius Kunst Forum, explains that the first important school of American painting was galvanized by the idea that the American landscape was a gift from God.
Are there preconceived notions in Germany and or Europe about American art? Will this exhibit serve to reinforce the image of American art, or work against it? It is astounding that American art prior to Edward Hopper was hardly ever shown in Europe. In Germany, artists like Thomas Cole or Frederic E. Church are completely unknown. For that reason, we decided that this trilogy of exhibitions should establish a basis. Between 2007 and 2009, the BKF will show three exhibitions that build
on one another historically and artistically. They cover three different
genres – landscape, portraiture, and urban landscapes – during
three different phases of American history – settlement, industrialization,
and the early 20th century. In this way, we put the richness, uniqueness,
and the historical context of early American art on display. During the 18th century, there were a number of portraitists who traveled the countryside and painted the settler families. That said, a market for art did not really develop until the 19th century in the growing cities on the East coast like Boston, Philadelphia, and New York. Landscape painting played a central role for the first collectors, because
it was in landscape painting that a distinctive characteristic was emerging
in comparison to Europe. The young nation regarded the land as a gift
from god, as the “Banquet that God has granted us”, as Thomas
Cole expressed it. Landscape painting was a source of identity and was
therefore honored by the nation. The Hudson River School, the somewhat
reductive name that was later applied to this group, was the first American
school. In America as in Germany, artists were concerned with the artistic challenge of transmitting religious content through landscape paintings. That connects Thomas Cole and Frederic Edwin Church with Caspar David Friedrich, as does the romantic interest in the natural sciences. In Germany, as in America, romantic artists collected natural specimens and were devotees of the German geologist Abraham von Werner. However, there is still no evidence that Cole and Church knew Friedrich’s
paintings. Further research about the artists who came from Dresden to
New York following the revolutions of 1848 will hopefully shed some light
on any possible connection over the coming years. In the 1850’s, American Artists were represented in European exhibitions and made a point of sending their paintings on European tours. A dramatic moment came, however, at the Paris Exposition in 1868, where the Hudson River School was very prominently represented alongside the latest American engineering achievements. The exhibition was a flop, because the art world of Paris happened to have an intense interest in historical painting again. The Civil War brought the exchange to a standstill, so today we have
to pick up the story at a point in the very distant past. That also makes
this topic very stimulating, however, and our visitors find it enriching
to finally have access to this art. They are surprised and impressed by
the artists’ enthusiasm for nature and the modernity of their landscape
painting. The resonance in the press has been fantastic, and the entries
in the guest book have been euphoric. |
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