Rebellion des gemeinen Mannes. 500 Jahre Bauernaufstand aus künstlerischer Sicht

“geschryfft das wir frey seyen vnd wöllen sein” – To mark the 500th anniversary of the Peasants’ War, the Kunsthalle Vogelmann Heilbronn is presenting an unusual exhibition in which the historical events and protagonists are illuminated from three perspectives. At its heart and centre stands the „Barbara-Altar” by the painter Jerg Ratgeb, which he executed between 1509 and 1510 on a commission from the Graf Neipperg family. Jerg Ratgeb, whose wife was a serf, became the central protagonist of the uprising as a negotiator for the peasants and, after the Battle of Böblingen, was sentenced to death for high treason and executed. That these historical events retained great significance well into the 20th century is conveyed by artists such as Käthe Kollwitz with her “Zyklus Bauernkrieg” (1902–08), HAP Grieshaber with his “Hommage à Ratgeb” (1975) or Alfred Hrdlicka with his cycle “Bauernkrieg” (1980). They show that the peasant uprising was on the one hand always invoked out of socio-political relevance, but on the other also lent itself well to artistic self-staging. In addition, four contemporary positions were specially invited to the exhibition following a competition. Sometimes obliquely, sometimes ironically, they raise questions about the present-day relevance of the historical events and seek to illustrate from a contemporary perspective the complex connections and challenges of this decidedly unusual period.

“Pretty sexy,” writes DER SPIEGEL (no. 18/26.4.25), are the AI-generated narrative figures of the Große Landesausstellung “UFFRUR!” at Kloster Schussenried marking the 500th anniversary of the Peasants’ War (until 5.10.25). The “peasant chancellor and church painter Jerg Ratgeb, blond-curled and well-toned, is packed into a sky-blue slim-fit satin shirt.” In its narrative drasticism his Barbara-Altar (1509–10) ranges between Gothic and Renaissance and was commissioned by the Count of Neipperg for the Johanneskirche in Schwaigern; the altarpiece is arguably his “most extreme” work – according to the reading above. According to legend, the patron saint of miners was beheaded with a sword by her own father, a heathen, after she had professed the Christian faith; the father was then struck dead by lightning. In 1525, after the peasants‘ defeat at Böblingen and the persecution of the known protagonists on the peasants‘ side, “it caught up, among others, with Jerg Ratgeb, the AI creation in the satin shirt: because he had fought for freedom, he was quartered in Pforzheim,” as DER SPIEGEL writes.

Exhibition:
Städtische Museen Heilbronn/Kunsthalle Vogelmann, 1/2 – 25/5/2025