Preamble
The existential conditions for mankind are key concepts in the exhibition
“Beyond the borders of existence” in which two North German expressionists
are presented for the first time in a comprehensive exhibition in Denmark
and Norway.
It is the unpolished and harsh depiction of the human being which brings
together the two German expressionists Käthe Kollwitz (1867-1945) and Ernst
Barlach (1870-1938). In the period around the two world wars they both explored
a new expressive style rooted in a common Northern German cultural
unity. Barlach was preoccupied with the coarse rural population of his native
Northern Germany, whereas Kollwitz focused on the down-and-outs of
Berlin and on the horrors of war. However, they both found a humanity in
the people of the lower classes that had perished in the rational machinery of
industrial society. Their interest in basic human problems and everyday life
placed Kollwitz and Barlach in an artistic movement searching a genuine and
immaculate past rooted in a regional or national identity.
The sculptor Ernst Barlach left metropolitan Berlin behind and found his
artistic inspiration among the rural population of his native northern regions
of Germany. Through his concrete and plain sculptures he attempted
to confront the observer with universal feelings. The rational and divided individual
of Enlightenment is discarded and replaced by the unsophisticated
and unpretentious human being. Barlach is especially inspired by the Nordic
Middle Ages and its mysticism. He wanted to depict a utopian ideal; primordial
humanity in balance with its environment.
The lithographic artist Käthe Kollwitz had a more practical approach to her
art, basing it on a fundamental social indignation. Married to a doctor who
attended the workers of Berlin, she found her subjects amidst all the poverty
and misery of the workers and depicted their living conditions with great
sympathetic insight. Kollwitz plainly drew a picture of the conditions at the
bottom of society after world war one when the German Empire suffered social
and economic disintegration. Though the two artists varied in their theoretical
basis, their artistic expression manifests a very clear kinship. Kollwitz’
social indignation and Barlach’s spiritual quest unite in a common manifestation
focusing on bodily physicality and expressivity. There is both outer
and inner connectivity in their works. The human body is shown as distorted
and excoriated, reflecting mental agony, but simultaneously mirroring the
outer conditions generating this mental agony.
Both artists belong to the expressionist movement from the beginning of the
20th century, which centred especially on the strong emotional expression. But
whereas other schools within the German expressionism, such as “Die Blaue Reiter”,
and “Die Brücke”, express their feelings and react against the straitjacket
of bourgeois society by means of vivid colours and master strokes, Kollwitz and
Barlach explore the monochrome simplicity of charcoal drawings, woodcuts
and sculptures to create a sense of isolation, loneliness and sorrow. Emil Nolde,
Franz Marc and Ernst Ludwig Kirchner found aesthetic models in primitive and
exotic cultures, whereas Kollwitz and Barlach found inspiration in a simpler
and coarser Nordic aesthetics. Barlach was partly inspired by Northern German
Roman church ornamentation and the mysticism of the early Middle Ages,
Käthe Kollwitz by a class unblemished by the pretentious world-picture of the
bourgeoisie, and whose simple existence she rendered in a purely emotional
way. Both artists insist on addressing the darker sides of life and give tormented
man his place in modern civilization. There is a hint of spiritual affinity with
Nordic colleagues like Edward Munch and August Strindberg in this.
Whereas expressionists like “Die Blaue Reiter” and “Die Brücke” have been
researched and exhibited several times – also in a Danish context – this has
not to the same extent been the case with the more subdued, yet strong expression
of Barlach and Kollwitz. The present exhibition aims at exploring this quieter manifestation.
The travelling exhibition “Beyond the borders of existence” has come about
through cooperation between the Ernst Barlach Gesellschaft Hamburg and
the three Nordic art galleries Museet for Religiøs Kunst in Lemvig, Denmark,
Haugar Vestfold Kunstmuseum, Norway, and Øregaard Museum in Copenhagen,
Denmark. We are grateful for the many important loans made possible
by public and private lenders, as well as the Ernst Barlach Gesellshaft . The
exhibition has been monitored by the curator of the Barlach fFoundation ,
Heike Stockhaus, who has a long series of exhibition projects behind her,
both in Germany and worldwide. Consisting of approximately 150 sculptural
and graphic exhibits, the exhibition offers a broad insight into the collective
Barlach and Kollwitz oeuvre.
Sincere thanks to the curator for the Ernst Barlach Gesellschaft Hamburg,
Heike Stockhaus, for her great research prior to the exhibition, which has
shed new light on the relationship between the two artists Barlach and
Kollwitz. Also sincere thanks to Herbert Pieper, Heidi Krejberg, Tage Øe and
Avitra for translating this catalogue. And sincere thanks to graphic designers
Martin Franke and Flemming Dupont for respectively designing the exhibition
and the catalogue. Finally, sincere thanks to the artist Bodil Kaalund for
her inspiration and great insight in connection with the unfolding of the
exhibition concept.
The exhibition has been made possible through the generous and substantial
support from the Edith og Godtfred Kirk Christiansens Fond. Finally, the exhibition
catalogue has been facilitated by the Fritt Ord Foundation.
