Optional Program

Christ Imagery among Artists in the Rhine/Ruhr Region - Moderns Rediscover the Sacred 1910 - 1930

We are sometimes puzzled to see the array of Christian salvation symbols in the catalogue of images used by artists at the outset of the twentieth century: Max Beckmann devoted great attention to the topic of the "Resurrection"; one of Max Ernst's early works was a "Crucifixion"; and Franz W. Seiwert designed a stained glass rendering of "Christus im Ruhrgebiet." Writers such as Paul Zech, who lived for a time in Wuppertal, was fascinated by themes from the Passion Story and heralded a new "Pentecost," not unlike Alsatian author René Schickele who had found a home in the circle of Rhenish writers. Augustinus Winkelmann, pastor of the Monastery church of Marienthal, encouraged artists allied with Düsseldorf's art academy to translate their devotion to the "sacred" into designs for funerary monuments. Even the ideal of spirituality embodied by medieval cathedrals was rediscovered. This was reflected in utopian architecture such as Bruno Taut's "House of Glass," shown at the 1914 Werkbund Exhibition in Cologne. The aim was to create an art style for the modern age that combined aesthetic with sacred elements. The abundance of Christian symbolism in twentieth century art and literature is the product of a powerful movement, one that is particularly manifested in the Rhine/Ruhr region. The Exhibition and catalogue will document and analyze the entire range of related artistic themes on the basis of selected exhibits and texts.