THE DAWN OF MODERNISM

28 October, 2010 – 23 January, 2011

The Dawn of Modernism – Art Nouveau and Jugendstil
Masterworks from Private Collections in Munich

Munich’s importance as a centre of Jugendstil, or Art Nouveau, is reflected in the collecting zest of private connoisseurs who, since the 1960s, have studiously amassed outstanding works of this last great aesthetic reform movement. In »The Dawn of Modernism: Art Nouveau and Jugendstil – Masterworks from Private Collections in Munich,« the Museum Villa Stuck puts on display rarely seen treasures of Jugendstil. The exhibition brings together objects created by the most prominent artists, designers and manufacturers, with the full dynamics of this predominantly European movement manifesting itself in works that hail from France and Belgium, the Netherlands and Scandinavia, the United States, Germany and Austria-Hungary.

More than 350 selected exhibits demonstrate the wide range of creative work, cutting across all media and genres, through which artists sought to establish a »new style« for the 20th century. Painting, bronze, enamel, woodcuts, faience, silver, or pen and ink drawings – no medium was left untouched in the attempt to advance new principles and proclaim a new age. The exhibition, moreover, includes furniture, glass, ceramics, wall hangings and metalwork, as well as prints and sculptures by leading artists of the Jugendstil movement who, in breaking down the barriers that separated them, radically reformed the art and life of their day.

The timeline starts with Edmond Lachenal’s bowls with diving frogs from around 1880 and runs – across all major art forms – until about 1913/14, the year in which Henry van de Velde designed a porcelain service for the porcelain factory of Ferdinand Selle in Burgau, Thuringia, describing this company as »the first factory whose operations focus exclusively on manufacturing >modern style< objects.« The quality and uniqueness of the collected works on display are impressive: among the highlights are objects from the two avant-garde galleries in Paris, Siegfried Bing’s »L' Art Nouveau« and Julius Meier-Graefe’s »La Maison Moderne,« works from the 1900 »Exposition Universelle« in Paris and prime examples of Japonisme which quickly – and not merely in Europe – became all the rage. Finally, the progressive developments of Jugendstil in Munich play an important role for the city in which the collections are based and, consequently, for the exhibition »The Dawn of Modernism.«

The list of artists amounts to a veritable who’s who of Art Nouveau and Jugendstil: Adler, Beardsley, Behrens, Berlepsch-Valendas, Bonnard, Bradley, Burger-Hartmann, Carabin, Chéret, Colonna, Dammouse, Décorchemont, Delaherche, Dufrène, Eckmann, de Feure, Fidus, Fix-Masseau, Gaillard, Gallé, Grasset, Habermann, Habich, Heine, Hoetger, Hofmann, Jossot, Kähler, Laeuger, Larche, Lévy-Dhurmer, Minne, Moser, Mucha, Obrist, Orazi, Pellar, Paul, Ranson, Reed, Riemerschmid, Ruckteschell-Trueb, Scharvogel, Schmoll von Eisenwerth, Schmuz-Baudiss, Steinlen, Strathmann, Stuck, Taschner, Toorop, Toulouse-Lautrec, van de Velde, Vierthaler und Zumbusch. The list of manufacturers is equally impressive and indicative of the riches these private collections boast: Bigot, Bing & Grøndahl, Camille Naudot, Dalpayrat, Delaherche, Fils et Cie und Keller Frères, Louis Majorelle, Clément Massier, Edmond Lachenal, Mougin Fréres, Émile Muller, Dufraisseix et Abbot für L’Art Nouveau, Rousseau, Großherzogliche Keramische Manufaktur, Darmstadt, Johann Loetz Witwe, Keller et Guérin, Keramische Werkstätten München-Herrsching, Königlich Kopenhagen, Königliche Porzellanmanufaktur Meissen, Königliche Porzellanmanufaktur Nymphenburg, Manufacture Nationale de Sèvres, Rörstrands Porslinfabrik, Haagsche Plateelbakkerij Rozenburg , Théodore Deck, Vereinigte Werkstätten für Kunst im Handwerk, Vilmos Zsolnay, and numerous others.

A comprehensive catalogue will be published in conjunction with the exhibition »The Dawn of Modernism. « Published by ARNOLDSCHE Art Publishers, the approx. 500-page volume includes a large section of luscious plates, detailed entries on each individual object, biographies and remarks on the artists and manufacturers, as well as an extensive bibliography.

28.11.10, 15.00–16.30 Uhr
Exhibition tour in English: Modernism’s Youth. Masterpieces of Art Nouveau and Jugendstil from Munich Private Collections.
Rarely seen treasures of European Jugendstil including furniture, glass, ceramics, metalwork, as well as paintings by leading artists of the period.
€ 6,– in addition to the entrance fee, Registration: 45 55 51 0
Führung der Münchner Volkshochschule

Impressum Museum Villa Stuck, Prinzregentenstr. 60, D-81675 München, Tel. +49(0)89-45 55 51-0, villastuck@muenchen.de
Dienstag bis Sonntag, 11-18 Uhr

Ein Museum der Stadt München