Ella Bergmann-Michel und Robert Michel. Ein Künstlerpaar der Moderne

"Heimatmuseum of Modern Art"

Ella Bergmann-Michel (1895-1971) and Robert Michel (1897-1983) are among the most unjustly forgotten artists of avant-garde modernism, as the body of their paintings, drawings and collages is without question one of the most successful syntheses of expressive and Dadaist approaches and constructivist tendencies. Both worked intensively with the new media of their time, i.e. typography, neon signs, photography and film. In 1920, the couple, who met in 1917 while studying at the School of Arts and Crafts in Weimar, moved to Vockenhausen in the Taunus, where they lived until the end. In 1926, they became members of the "das neue frankfurt" association, worked together with Ernst May and ran their own studio for advertising graphics, architecture and advertising photography in Frankfurt. At the same time, the couple took part in exhibitions at the Kestner Gesellschaft in Hanover, the Nassauischer Kunstverein in Wiesbaden, the Sturm Galerie and the Galerie Nierendorf in Berlin. They had been close friends with Kurt Schwitters since 1921, travelling together and taking part in a touring exhibition of the Société Anonyme through the USA at his instigation. In 1928, Robert Michel founded the "ring neuer werbegestalter" with Schwitters, Willi Baumeister and Jan Tschichold, among others. They are regarded as the "pioneers of collage", but their drawings and graphic prints are also particularly impressive, in which they succeeded above all in achieving an extraordinary synthesis of organic chaos and serial machine technology. When looking at woodcuts of mechanical fish and delicate pencil drawings of utopian architecture, it sometimes feels as if you are travelling back and forth on a connecting bridge between the industrial and artistic avant-garde workshops of modernism. The exhibition and book, dedicated to the life's work of the artist couple in all its interesting facets, draw on the fullness of the fabulous estate, a permanent loan to the Sprengel Museum, with well over 2,000 collages, drawings, sketches, designs for advertising and typography.

Exhibition:
Sprengel Museum Hanover, 26/5 - 2/9/2018