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MASTERPIECES from the Städel Museum MASTERPIECES from the Städel Museum MASTERPIECES from the Städel Museum Edited by Max Hollein With a text by Franziska Leuthäußer PRESTEL Munich · London · New York CONTENTS FOREWORD G THE HISTORY OF THE COLLECTION @? THE MIDDLE AGES Paintings for Faith @C Italy @F | Germany AD THE RENAISSANCE The Focus Shifts to Humankind BE Italy BH | The Netherlands DD | Germany EF BAROQUEL ROCOCO AND THE ENLIGHTENMENT Between Pathos and Order GA Italy GD | France HB | Holland @?@ Flanders @@D | Germany @A@ THE NINETEENTH CENTURY New Paths for Art and Artists @BA France @BD | Germany @D@ MODERNISM The Avant-Gardist Age @FG France @G@ | Germany @H@ ART AFTER @HCD Internationalization AAA Art Informel and Abstraction AAD | Development in the United States AD@ Figurative Positions AEF | Contemporary Art to the Present AGH GLOSSARY BAA LIST OF WORKS BAE COLOPHON BBC FOREWORD The Städel Museum is one of the oldest and most prominent art museums in Germany. Outstand - ing masterpieces from the early fourteenth century to contemporary art are among its holdings, including paintings of international renown such as the Lucca Madonna by Jan van Eyck, the myste - rious Idealized Portrait of a Lady by Sandro Botticelli, The Geographer by Johannes Vermeer, the world-famous portrait of Goethe by Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein, the popular Dog Lying in the Snow by Franz Marc and the fascinating Large Curtain by Gerhard Richter. The collection com - prises a total of approximately 3,000 paintings, 600 sculptures, 4,000 photographs, and many more than 100,000 drawings and works on paper. The museum is recognised throughout the world for its high quality and its exceptional scholarly research. At the same time, the Städel Museum is an exemplary Frankfurt institution. The cornerstone for the art institute was laid by the Frankfurt-based merchant and banker Johann Friedrich Städel in 1815, when he donated his entire estate, which included his collection of approximately 500 paintings and numerous important works on paper. His initiative stood in the tradition of private endowments and art patronage for an urban public that began to form in Frankfurt am Main in the mid-eighteenth century. The Städel Museum has remained faithful to its organisational form as a civic foundation to this day, and as a result plays a special part in Europe’s museum landscape. Two hundred years after the establishment of the museum on the basis of citizen participation, it cur - rently plays a particularly important role in revealing how our cultural institutions can continue to flourish in the future. Since 1815 the Städelsches Kunstinstitut has experienced significant growth through pur - chases and endowments. At the turn of the twentieth century, private donors were joined by organisations and foundations established with the express aim of supporting the museum. Happily, this development continues to the present day. First among these is the Städelscher Museums- Verein, which has made significant contributions to the expansion of the collection since its estab - lishment in 1899. With more than 7,600 members, it is an imposing symbol of the bonds with this important cultural institution in Frankfurt. The foundation of the Städtische Galerie, integrated into the Städel Museum, in 1907 con - stituted a significant expansion of the institution’s holdings, most notably in the areas of classic - modern and contemporary art. From the very beginning, the Städel Museum was not just a gallery - of Old Masters but also an institution that continuously collected works of contemporary art. And with good reason, when one considers that Städel’s testament provided not only for an important museum, but also for a major art academy, the Städelschule, which is located directly adjacent to the museum and is associated with the latter through multifarious interrelationships. In contrast to the works of art collected at courts, which are generally imposing and created on a large scale, frequently in the service of the self-promotion of the aristocracy, the Städel mani - fests the defining characteristics of a bourgeois collection. Small-format works whose subjects and tastes reflect the spirit of the bourgeoisie entered the living quarters of the newly invigorated mid - dle classes, of which Johann Friedrich Städel was a member, and the bourgeoisie established itself as a great patron and supporter of the museum. This private engagement with art did not focus on mythological or historical subject matter. Genre scenes, portraits, still lifes and landscapes, by contrast, were very popular indeed. It is therefore a particularly interesting experience to be able to enjoy a number of insights into this formerly private, even intimate involvement with art provided by the public collection of the Städel Museum. The opening of the Gartenhallen annexe in 2012 was eventually also accompanied by an expansion of the collection’s contents. Over the course of the last few years in particular, the col - lection of contemporary art has been enhanced by numerous major new acquisitions in the form of purchases, endowments and partnerships. The selection of 250 masterpieces presented in this volume makes it possible for visitors to take a piece of these experiences home with them. It pro - vides profound insight into the museum’s treasures as well as an overview of the developments that have taken place in European art over the last 700 years. Max Hollein Director . THE HISTORY OF THE COLLECTION When Johann Friedrich Städel (1728 –1816) wrote his will in 1815, he laid the cornerstone for today’s collection, art academy and library. Unusual for the time, the Frankfurt-based banker and spice merchant did not belong to the feudal class that was carrying on a debate in Munich and Berlin on just how museums should be established. In keeping with the principles of bourgeois patronage in the spirit of the Enlightenment, Städel wanted to contribute ‘to the best of this town and its citizens’ by providing public access to his collection and art library and by founding an art academy; in the early nineteenth century this form of cultural education could by no means be taken for granted. After Städel’s death in 1816, his collection was initially presented in a private setting, in his home on Rossmarkt in the centre of Frankfurt. It was not until inheritance disputes were settled that it received a dedicated building on the elegant Neue Mainzer Strasse in 1833. The institute was managed by a five-person administration, consisting of ‘worthy people from the local citizenry’. The assets, totalling no less than one million guilders, left by Städel together with the endow- ments of other generous inhabitants of the city made it possible for the first superintendent, Karl Friedrich Wendelstadt (1786 –1840), appointed in 1817, to expand the holdings. The collection grew gradually over time, and its aspirations grew along with it. Under the directorship of Johann David Passavant (1787–1861), in 1840 the museum began to aspire to a systematic approach to art acquisitions and to subject them to scholarly research. The collection had grown to such a size Johann Friedrich Städel’s house at the Rossmarkt The Städelsche Kunstinstitut, Neue Mainzer Strasse, c. 1900 (Friedrich Christian Reinermann, Vue du Rossmarkt, c. 1830) &% in the meantime that it required a new home. Under the leadership of Gerhard Malß (1819 –1885), the institute moved ‘far beyond the city gates’ to the imposing new building in Sachsenhausen, which continues to house the Städel Museum to this day. The new era got off to a rocky start, how - ever, as the foundation was beset by great financial difficulties. The tenures of Henry Thode (1857–1920) and Heinrich Weizsäcker (1862 –1945) were shaped not so much by acquisitions but by the systematic documentation of the museum’s hold - ings, resulting in the publication of the first scholarly collection catalogues. It was during this same period, in 1899, that the Städelscher Museums-Verein was founded, which began to support the museum through purchases under the chairmanship of Leopold Sonnemann (1831–1909). In 1907, the private foundation was expanded again when it was joined by the newly founded Städtische Galerie, which focused on the promotion of contemporary art. The extension of the building became necessary as the collection continued to grow. Construction on the so-called garden wing, which was positioned parallel to the original building, began in May 1915. From 1917 the Städel Museum also housed the art-historical institute of the newly established university in this annexe. Georg Swarzenski (1876 –1957), who oversaw the museum’s rise to great fame, had been the director of the Städel since 1906. A specialist in book illumination and the art of the Renais - sance, he also had a keen eye for the quality of modern art as well as a gift for motivating well-to-do citizens to make donations to the museum. This golden age came to a temporary halt when the National Socialists rose to power in 1933. The head of the Städelschule academy, Fritz Wichert (1878 –1951), had to leave the insti - tute along with prominent professors, among them Max Beckmann (1884 –1950). These events were followed in 1937 by the confiscation of ‘degenerate art’, including 77 paintings, such as Vincent van Gogh’s Portrait of Dr Gachet , and approximately 400 works on paper. Two years later, the evacuation of the collection took place under Swarzenski’s successor, Ernst Holzinger (1901–1972). The artworks were placed in storage in a large number of places in Frankfurt and beyond. Although the museum building was provided with additional protection in the form of The Städelsche Kunstinstitut, Schaumainkai, c. 1910 && anti-aircraft towers at its corner structures, both the museum and the school were badly damaged by bombing during the Second World War. After 1945, the restoration of the building and the creation of jobs were the greatest priori - ties.
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