Kunsthalle Emden

Profile

In 1986 Henri Nannen, founder of the German magazine "Stern", built a home for his collection of 20th century art in his birth-place Emden. His enthusiasm lead to a collection with a very specific character. By both collection as well as independent exhibitions the fame and popularity of the Kunsthalle Emden spread far beyond the borders of the region.

German Expressionism and Neue Sachlichkeit are the core of the collection. Its most brilliant masterpieces are works by artists of the group "Brücke". like Kirchner, Heckel, Schmidt-Rottluff, Pechstein, Mueller and Nolde, of the "Blauer Reiter" including Jawlensky, Münter, Marc and Macke as well as paintings of Beckmann , Feininger, Kokoschka , Rohlfs, Hofer , Radziwill and Modersohn-Becker. The contemporary art is represented by a unique selection of Russian art of the "Glasnost"-period as well as by realistic positions and works of the "Neue Wild e", the most famous of which are K.H. Hödicke , Zimmer , Richter , Damisch , Altmeppen or Kantor .

The extension of the architectural ensemble was planned by the couple Ingeborg and Friedrich Spengelin, the architects who already designed the Kunsthalle in Emden in 1986. Arranged around the sculpture court the museum forms a system which can be explored in individual tours. There are five large daylighted rooms and two cabinets for the works of the donation of Otto van de Loo within the upper storey as well as three galleries under the shed-roofs. In the ground floor are three rooms for the collection of Henri Nannen. All in all, the museum gained additional 850 m2 exhibition space. With a total of 1700 m2 the exhibition had been doubled. Central stairs, an elevator, large depots and working areas as well as a roofed entrance for art transports visibly improve the museum's infrastructure.

Otto van de Loo, gallery owner and collector from Munich, gave the decisive impetus for the extension of the Kunsthalle with his liberal donation.
The donation's excellent works are a brilliant addition to the collection of the Kunsthalle in Emden, extending it's topics into the time after 1945. The gallery Otto van de Loo was a "pioneer" and after 1957 an internationally important forum and refuge for unconventional artistic positions which, seen from today's point of view, had a decisive influence on art of the second half of the 20th century.

The donation includes mainly works of artists of the group CoBrA like Jorn, Appel , Constant , Alechinsky, of members of the group SPUR like Fischer, Prem, Sturm and HP Zimmer, as well as important members of the art informel like Tàpies, Saura and Schumacher. However, there are also important works by artists of the younger generation like Cahn or Damisch.

represented artists

Pierre Alechinsky
Heiner Altmeppen
Karel Appel
Max Beckmann
Miriam Cahn
Constant
Gunter Damisch
Lyonel Feininger
Erich Heckel
Karl Horst Hödicke
Karl Hofer