Remembering a lost museum: The first Jewish museum and modern art collection of the world

BERLIN.- Perhaps only a few people in Berlin and elsewhere know that there was a Jewish museum in the German capital from 1933 to 1938. Astonishingly enough, the first Jewish museum worldwide was opened one month before the seizure of power by the National Socialists. It was situated next to the new sinagogue in Oranienburger Strasse, in the centre of Berlin. The collections contained not only art works and historical artifacts of the past but also modern art. In its five [...]

“Max Liebermann: Trailblazer of Modernism” exhibition at Hamburger Kunsthalle

HAMBURG.- Max Liebermann (1847-1935) is credited with introducing Modernism to German painting. For the first time, a new exhibition at theHamburger Kunsthalle presents a comprehensive retrospective revealing how this process took place and the impressive oeuvre Liebermann was executing at the time. Disillusioned by German academia, the young Berliner turned to France and Holland where he immersed himself in the progressive trends of the day. Liebermann studied outdoor painting in Barbizon, the cradle of naturalism; in Paris he came into contact with [...]

Israel’s national museum returns art to Jewish artist’s heirs decades after it was looted

JERUSALEM (AP).- Israel’s national museum said Thursday that it has returned a painting to the estate of its creator, decades after the masterpiece was looted from a Jewish museum in Nazi Germany. The Israel Museum said “The Return of Tobias,” a 1934 painting by German Jewish artist Max Liebermann, is now in Berlin after it was determined the work belongs to Liebermann’s heirs. Liebermann, who died in 1935 at the age of 88, was a prolific painter who led the avant garde [...]

Comprehensive Exhibition on Pioneer of Modern German Art, Max Liebermann, Opens

BONN.- In cooperation with the Hamburg Kunsthalle, the Art and Exhibition Hall of the Federal Republic of Germany is showing a comprehensive retrospective on Max Liebermann (1847–1935). Max Liebermann plays an outstanding role in the history of art and culture in Germany. Not only his artistic oeuvre but also his cultural and political activities make him one of the leading pioneers of modern German painting. Max Liebermann‟s unique position between the end of 19th century and the beginning of the 20th [...]

Landscapes by Liebermann, Corinth, and Slevogt at Wallraf-Richartz Museum

COLOGNE.- Max Liebermann, Lovis Corinth and Max Slevogt: three names that are representative of German impressionism. Three artists whose creative works captivate a broad public. Three masters who are united by one great passion: landscape painting. It is to this passion that the Wallraf is devoting its very own special exhibition in summer 2010. Under the title “Liebermann, Corinth, Slevogt – The Landscapes” the museum shall be exhibiting around 90 works of these three German impressionists. Most of the loans [...]

German Impressionism Presented at the MFA Houston September 2010

HOUSTON, TX.- Max Liebermann, celebrated as “the German Manet,” was the leader of a generation of German painters who were inspired by the stylistic developments in France. With colleagues Lovis Corinth and Max Slevogt, he forged the way for Impressionism in Germany. The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, will be the first American museum to devote a major exhibition to German Impressionism with German Impressionist Landscape Painting: Liebermann—Corinth—Slevogt, on view September 12—December 5, 2010. While the artists were not exclusively [...]

“The Jesus Scandal: A Liebermann Painting in the Crossfire of Critics”

HAMBURG.- The exhibition The Jesus Scandal at the Hamburger Kunsthalle centres on an oil painting of pivotal standing, The Twelve-Year-Old Jesus in the Temple, 1879. One of most important works by Max Liebermann (1847–1935), it is being highlighted to mark the 75th anniversary of the artist’s death. When the artist showed the painting for the first time in 1879 at the Munich International Art Exhibition it sparked a scandal. Contemporary critics took offence that the Jewish painter should dare to [...]

At Villa Grisebach: Max Beckmann Painting Sells for A Record 2,618,000 Euros

BERLIN.- Max Beckmann’s painting “View of the Outskirts at the Sea near Marseille”, formerly in the possession of the famous collector and friend of the artist Stephan Lackner (California), surpassed all expectations at auction in Berlin; it sold for 2,618,000 Euros, the new world record auction price for a landscape by Max Beckmann. After intense bidding, the work was purchased by a Southern German private collection. This result was only part of the extraordinary sales total of Villa Grisebach’s fall [...]