Max Klinger, Untergang, 1884, (Blatt 12) aus Ein Leben (Opus VIII), Radierung, Kaltnadel, Leihgeber: Museum der bildenden Künste Leipzig, © Museum der bildenden Künste Leipzig, © Photograph Harald Richter, Hamburg.

Max Klinger, Die blaue Stunde (L’heure bleue), 1890, Öl auf Leinwand, Leihgeber: Museum der bildenden Künste Leipzig, © Museum der bildenden Künste Leipzig, © Photograph Museum der bildenden Künste Leipzig, Ursula Gerstenberger.

Max Klinger, Badendes Mädchen, sich im Wasser spiegelnd, 1896/7, Laaser Marmor, teilweise getönt, Haare getönt und ehemals vergoldet, Leihgeber: Museum der bildenden Künste, Leipzig, © Museum der bildenden Künste, Leipzig, Photograph Hans-Dieter Kluge, Espenhain.

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Eine Liebe.
Max Klinger und die Folgen
October 12, 2007-January 13, 2008

Hamburger Kunsthalle and the Museum der bildenden Künste Leipzig have taken the occasion of the 150th birthday of Max Klinger (1857-1920) Hamburger Kunsthalle and the Museum der bildenden Künste Leipzig to examine the effects of the artist on the European art world circa 1900 and in the following decades in a collaborative exhibit. The jubilee exhibit has love as its central theme. Max Klinger and the results of his inspiring role and books on significant artists of the movements of Symbolism, Surrealism, Naturalism and Art Nouveau. In more than 1,000 square meters of exhibition space Hamburger Kunsthalle is showing more than 200 works, including about 60 paintings and 12 sculptures.

Besides Klinger’s collection from Hamburger Kunsthalle, and numerous works from Leipzig the show is complemented with extensive work from the first manager of the Hamburg arts centre, Alfred Lichtwark, who laid the foundation. Unflustered with criticism of Klinger, Lichtwark over and over supported his work and became not only one of his most important sponsors, but also a close friend of the artist. Repeatedly he invited him to Hamburg to show Klinger's work in his own space: "If we had a gallery in the arts centre, I would suggest giving it to Klinger, for an exhibition of Klinger’s paintings and sculptures." Lichtwark respected Klinger for his modernity and his "originality". For Lichtwark Klinger embodied the meaning of a Leipzig artist in his prominent position as the German "painter engraver" who had helped create a new blossoming of graphic arts in Germany and had also awakened collector interest. During 28 years of his term as Hamburger Kunsthalle manager Lichtwark acquired a total of 235 graphic sheets, Including numerous famous etchings, such as Eva und die Zukunft (Eva and the Future) and Paraphrasen über den Fund eines Handschuhs (Paraphrases about the Finding of a Glove).

Main Klinger works like the Blaue Stunde (Blue Hour), the Kassandra-Büste (Cassandra's bust), etching cycles like Eine Liebe (A Love) or Eva und die Zukunft (Eva and the Future) form the prelude of the exhibit. Of Klinger's Naturalistic and Symbolist explorations, his influence on the artists of Surrealism is only slightly remembered. In the … kaum Geahnte (Hardly anticipated), the Dunkle Seite des Lebens (Dark Side of Life) and in his theoretical writing Malerei und Zeichnung (Painting and Drawing), 1891, the artist became the forerunner of Surrealism. Giorgio de Chirico called Klinger the "modern artist par excellence … The picture is a dream and at the same time reality," he wrote about Klinger's etching Accorde. Klinger's etchings also had a great effect on Max Ernst. In his collage fiction like Une semaine de bonté (A Week of Kindness) Ernst takes up the picture motives of the 19th century, including Klinger's inexhaustible worlds of nightmares and dream beings.

Klinger’s influence is the second focus of the exhibit with paintings and graphic arts by Max Beckmann, Giorgio de Chirico, Max Ernst, Paul Klee, Kate Kollwitz, Alfred Kubin, and also Edvard Munch.

Six sections of the exhibition illustrate Klinger's subjects and how the respective artists refer to him in their work. This resonance ranges from close citation to treatment of conceptual picture strategies.

1. Dreams and nightmares
2. The blue hour
3. Social art forms
4. The clothing of nakedness
5. The uneasiness of women
6. The purpose of life is death

Max Klinger, Erstes Intermezzo [Bl. 8 der Folge Rettungen Ovidischer Opfer Opus II], 1879, Radierung, Leihgeber: Museum der bildenden Künste Leipzig, © Museum der bildenden Künste Leipzig.

Max Klinger, Sirene (Triton und Nereide), 1895, Öl auf Leinwand, Leihgeber: Villa Romana Florenz, © Villa Romana Florenz 2007.