University of Montana ScholarWorks at University of Montana
University of Montana News Releases, 1928, 1956-present University Relations
4-9-2007
UM museum displays German sculpture on loan from anonymous collector
University of Montana--Missoula. Office of University Relations
Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umt.edu/newsreleases Let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y
Recommended Citation University of Montana--Missoula. Office of University Relations, "UM museum displays German sculpture on loan from anonymous collector" (2007). University of Montana News Releases, 1928, 1956-present. 20264. https://scholarworks.umt.edu/newsreleases/20264
This News Article is brought to you for free and open access by the University Relations at ScholarWorks at University of Montana. It has been accepted for inclusion in University of Montana News Releases, 1928, 1956-present by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at University of Montana. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The University of 0 u M ontana
UNIVERSITY RELATIONS • MISSOULA, MT 5981 2 • 406-243-2522 • FAX: 406-243-4520
April 9, 2007
Contact: Manuela Well-Off-Man, curator of art, Montana Museum of Art & Culture, 406- 243-2019, [email protected].
UM MUSEUM DISPLAYS GERMAN SCULPTURE ON LOAN FROM ANONYMOUS COLLECTOR
MISSOULA -
The Montana Museum of Art & Culture at The University of Montana has received a second major art loan from an anonymous private collector.
“Torso of a Walking Woman” or “Torso Turning” by German Expressionist sculptor
Wilhelm Lehmbruck (1881-1919) may be viewed in the lobby of the Mansfield Library April
11-July 23.
Lehmbruck is considered one of Germany’s most important sculptors. Influenced by other Modernist sculptors such as August Rodin and Constantin Brancusi, Lehmbruck was active at a time of rapid change in the art world. His mature work - characterized by stylized, elongated figures in pensive poses and primarily in the mediums of stone or cast stone - is embodied in “Torso of a Walking Woman.”
Lehmbruck’s work was impacted by his experiences in World War I. Employed as a medical orderly in Germany from 1915 to 1916, Lehmbruck witnessed a tremendous amount of suffering that later affected his mental health and work. In 1919, at age 38, Lehmbruck took his own life.
-more- 040607mmac-2
After his death, Lehmbruck’s work was included in the now infamous Degenerate Art or Entartete Kunst exhibition organized by the Nazis in Munich in 1937. This exhibition was an effort by the Nazis to purge Germany of the influences of Modernism. With it, works by artists labeled as “degenerate” were confiscated from public institutions throughout Germany.
“Torso of a Walking Woman” was conceived in 1914 and cast in stone in the 1920s after Lehmbruck’s death. It was the only artwork chosen in 1929 by Modernist architect
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe to be housed in his well-known Tugendhat House in what is now the Czech Republic.
The piece was confiscated by the Nazis in 1938 and stored at the Moravska Galerie in
Brno, Czech Republic. Recently it was returned to the Tugendhat family and subsequently sold.
Lehmbruck’s works are in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art in
New York, The National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., the Tate Gallery in London and the Wilhelm Lehmbruck Museum in Duisburg, Germany.
Lor Mansfield Library open hours, call 406-243-4561. for more information, call 406-
243-2019 or go online to http://www.umt.edu/montanamuseum. m
NOTE TO MEDIA: A digital image of this work is available by calling Karen Rice, MMAC coordinator of programs and publications, at 406-243-2019 or e-mailing karen. r ice@mso. umt. edu.
CBS Local, specialized western, dailies 040607mmac