Neues aus der Sammlung
Spenden und Neuerwerbungen
08.01. – 15.01.2017

For many years, the Kunstverein Bremerhaven has been thanking those who have contributed to the expansion of its art collection through donations or gifts at irregular intervals with a short presentation of the new acquisitions. The public is given an insight into the focus and content of the collection, as well as a look at works of art that are sometimes stored in the Kunstverein’s storerooms for years before they are presented again. This year, the exhibition also marks the start of a focus for the Kunstverein, which is particularly dedicated to the topic of collecting, with a catalogue about the collection and a special exhibition to mark the opening of the Kunstmuseum Bremerhaven ten years ago.

In this context, Walter Grasskamp described it as one of the paradoxes of art museums that they are the only museums to collect things that have been made specifically for collecting, and there is a hopeless overproduction. Although this is a nice bon mot regarding the Sisyphean task of public collections, the statement is not true on closer inspection. Most works of art are created for posterity without the intention of later collecting them. They are the result of the artists’ inner drive, are the result of intensive considerations, craftsmanship or experimental attempts. They only discover their art-historical significance in retrospect, which ultimately only makes a small proportion of all works of art into collection objects.

Public institutions therefore usually collect retrospectively, i.e. they acquire works of art at a time when the artists have already made a name for themselves and their works have achieved art-historical and/or market-economic significance. A complete art-historical collection is therefore hardly possible in view of shrinking or non-existent purchasing budgets. Every public art collection is therefore different and has different priorities. Based on selected, exemplary works from the collections of the Kunsthalle Wilhelmshaven, the Landesmuseum Oldenburg, the Städtische Galerie Delmenhorst, the Kunsthalle Bremen, the Gerhard-Marcks-Haus and the Museum für gegenstandsfreie Kunst in Otterndorf, the Kunstverein is therefore offering an insight into the diversity and wealth of public art collections in the northwest from October 7, 2017, which will be presented for the first time in a special exhibition in Bremerhaven.

In the exhibition at the beginning of the year, the focus is initially on the art of the 1970s, with groups of works by Dietrich Helms and editions by Ulrich Rückriem.

Curated by Dr. Kai Kähler.