revonnaH. Kunst der Avantgarde in Hannover 1912 – 1933

When Hanover became a "modern city of art

Albert Gideon Brinckmann provided the institutional impetus to bring the rather conservative provincial capital of Hanover into contact with the artistic avant-garde when he became director of the Kestner Museum in 1912 and radically changed the acquisition policy. Even before the First World War, Herbert von Garvens had amassed a modern art collection, private entrepreneurs such as Hermann Bahlsen and Fritz Beindorff (Pelikan) had commissioned modern artists and established a civic commitment that ultimately culminated in the founding of the Kestner Society in 1916. Like the formation of the Hanover Secession from 1917 onwards, it promoted the examination of contemporary trends through exhibitions and publications: Expressionism, Abstraction, New Objectivity, and allowed Hanover to mature into a "modern art city". Kurt Schwitters was one of the most important artists in the Weimar period and was a busy "networker" who brought artists such as El Lissitzky (Kabinett der Abstrakten) and Naum Gabo to Hanover. Alexander Dorner revolutionised the presentation and mediation of art in the Provincial Museum, and the avant-garde around Schwitters met in Käte Steinitz's salon; artists' groups such as "die abstrakten hannover" emerged, and a Hanoverian variety of New Objectivity developed from the city's School of Arts and Crafts. However, all these activities, which extended beyond Hanover, came to an abrupt end when the National Socialists seized power. In addition to the exhibition, the book will take up topics such as architecture, film and literature and can thus become a standard work on this lively period of Hanoverian history.

Exhibition:
Sprengel Museum Hanover, 23/9/2017-7/1/2018