30 April 2014

Kunst als Wißenschaft, Kunst als Argument

The Zwinger is so close to us that it is always a temptation to use it as a “bridge” to the Altstadt.  This morning, I discover that there are fountains along the far pavilions as you enter from the Gemäldegalerie.  They are quite lovely adding another dimension to attract both eye and ear.  We visit the Mathematisch-Physikalischer Salon, which is a collection of scientific instruments from the 16^th century onward.  The 16^th century pieces, largely automatons, measuring systems, and clocks, are beautiful beyond belief – propaganda, really, underscoring Saxonia’s technical prowess. 

Also included are a large collection of optical and other instruments including solar ovens, vacuum machines, telescopes, early barometers, and some of the very first calculators.  As we learned later, Dresden was always seen as a center for technology, an expertise that continued on and was \ exploited during the DDR, but to little economic effect. 

After our visit to the Zwinger, we moved over to the Albertinum, and their collection.  There was much to see there, and the most outstanding thing in terms of Kunst als Kunst was the Klingersaal, with wonderful sculpture and paintings by Max Klinger, Arnold Böcklin (my all time favorite) and others.  These galleries formed a foundation, if you will for what we would see in other galleries.

There was a special exhibition at the Albertinum, Nach Ägypten! Die Reisen von Max Slevogt und Paul Klee, which documents the separate travels of Max Slevogt and then later Paul Klee to Egypt.  What happens is a direct influence of the light, color, and monuments of Egypt by both of the painters.  Of particular interest was Paul Klee’s adaptation of the Egyptian sense of proportion (1 – ½ - ¼ - 1/8), which can be seen in many of his works.

The real star of the day, however, was an exhibition revolving around Otto Dix’s monumental painting Das DrednerTryptichon, an argument against war that draws on the artist’s experiences during the First World War.  The exhibition draws you though earlier drawings and studies for the final painting, and then orients you philosophically through references to three other works of art.

Matthais Grünewald - Crucifixion

Albrecht Dürer - Melancholia

 

Francisco Goya - Los Desastres de la Guerra

In an odd way it reminded me of an exhibition at The Academy in Florence in 2009 where sculptures by Michelangelo were juxtaposed to photographs by Robert Mapplethorpe.  (If you wish to read about this, please click here.)  That juxtaposition was all about form, while the Albertinum experience was about content, emotion, and interpretation.  To see the Tryptichon not only through the eyes of Dix, but of Grünewald, Dürer, and Goya as well, was quite a commentary on war – a poignant point in Dresden.  

All of this precedes the actual viewing the painting by Dix, you come upon it prepared, but not prepared, and following the time with the painting, a room behind, plays footage from the First World War.  It is sobering.

As we leave the Albertinum, we walk around the Rathaus, which is being extensively reworked.  There in front was a statue clearly from the DDR period.  There have been several pieces that we have noted, especially the front mural on the Palace of Culture.  One hopes that not everything is trashed, or moved out of context (as is the case in Budapest).  History is history und Kunst ist Geschichte.