Museum Georg Schäfer
Encyclopedia
Schweinfurt
Schweinfurt is a city in the Lower Franconia region of Bavaria in Germany on the right bank of the canalized Main, which is here spanned by several bridges, 27 km northeast of Würzburg.- History :...
, Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. Based on the private art collection of German industrialist Georg Schäfer
Georg Schäfer
Georg Schäfer was a German industrialist and art collector. After his death, most of his art collection was housed in the Museum Georg Schäfer in Schweinfurt.-Life:...
, the museum primarily collects 19th-century paintings by artists from German-speaking countries.
History
Georg Schäfer (1896-1975) began actively collecting paintings in the 1950s, and architect Erich Schelling drew up plans for a museumMuseum
A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...
to house the collection. A later design by Mies van der Rohe was rejected when the Schweinfurt
Schweinfurt
Schweinfurt is a city in the Lower Franconia region of Bavaria in Germany on the right bank of the canalized Main, which is here spanned by several bridges, 27 km northeast of Würzburg.- History :...
city council declined to assume the cost of maintaining the museum. The plans were later adapted for the Neue Nationalgalerie
Neue Nationalgalerie
Neue Nationalgalerie at the Kulturforum is a museum for modern art in Berlin, with its main focus on the early 20th century. It is part of the Nationalgalerie of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin...
in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
.
The city of Schweinfurt and the Schäfer family first came to terms on housing the collection in a museum in 1988, but those plans were delayed by a financial crisis in the FAG Kugelfischer company, which led Schäfer's heirs to mortgage
Chattel mortgage
Chattel mortgage, sometimes abbreviated CM, is the legal term for a type of loan contract used in some states with legal systems derived from English law....
the art collection. By the end of 1997 the family had regained control of much of the collection and established a foundation to protect it. City officials meanwhile secured resources for the museum, and in February 1997 Volker Staab won the commission to design the museum.
The museum is sited next to the city hall (Rathaus
Rathaus
Rathaus is a German word literally translating as “council house”, meaning “city hall” or “town hall”. Many specific buildings are referred to as Rathaus even when spoken about in English.Some important Rathäuser are:* Rathaus Schöneberg...
) at the southern entry to downtown Schweinfurt. The museum opened to the public on 23 September 2000.
Collection
- The museum has a comprehensive collection of 160 paintings and 110 drawings by Carl SpitzwegCarl SpitzwegCarl Spitzweg was a German romanticist painter and poet. He is considered to be one of the most important artists of the Biedermeier era....
, including The BookwormThe BookwormThe Bookworm is an 1850 oil-on-canvas painting by the German painter and poet Carl Spitzweg. The picture is typical of Biedermeier art, encapsulating the introspective and conservative mood in Europe during the period between the end of the Napoleonic Wars and the revolutions of 1848, but at the...
. - Other artists represented in the collection are Caspar David FriedrichCaspar David FriedrichCaspar David Friedrich was a 19th-century German Romantic landscape painter, generally considered the most important German artist of his generation. He is best known for his mid-period allegorical landscapes which typically feature contemplative figures silhouetted against night skies, morning...
, Ferdinand Georg WaldmüllerFerdinand Georg WaldmüllerFerdinand Georg Waldmüller was an Austrian painter and writer.He briefly attended the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, but later had to finance his life by painting portraits. In 1811 he worked as a teacher of arts for the children of Count Gyulay in Croatia...
, Carl RottmannCarl RottmannCarl Anton Joseph Rottmann was a German landscape painter and the most famous member of the Rottmann family of painters....
, Domenico QuaglioDomenico QuaglioDomenico Quaglio is the name of:* Domenico Quaglio the Elder , Italian painter* Domenico Quaglio the Younger , Italian painter, son of Giuseppe Quaglio...
, Albrecht AdamAlbrecht AdamAlbrecht Adam was a German painter of battles and horses.Born in Nördlingen, he began an apprenticeship as a confectioner and went in 1803 to Nuremberg to begin his training...
, Wilhelm von KobellWilhelm von KobellWilhelm von Kobell was a German painter, printmaker and teacher.-Biography:Kobell was born in Mannheim, the son of Ferdinand Kobell, a landscape painter who cited Claude Lorrain as his influence. Wilhelm's initial lessons were supplied by his father and his uncle, Franz Kobell...
, Fritz von UhdeFritz von UhdeFritz von Uhde was a German painter of genre and religious subjects. His style lay between Realism and Impressionism.- Biography :...
, Wilhelm LeiblWilhelm LeiblWilhelm Maria Hubertus Leibl was a German realist painter of portraits and scenes of peasant life.Leibl was born in Cologne and in 1861 began his first training with Hermann Becker, a local painter. He entered the Munich Academy in 1864, subsequently studying with several artists including Carl...
, Adolph Menzel, Franz Lenbach, Hans ThomaHans ThomaHans Thoma was a German painter.-Biography:He was born in Bernau in the Black Forest, Germany. Having started life as a painter of clock-faces, he entered in 1859 the Karlsruhe academy, where he studied under Schirmer and Des Coudres...
, Lovis CorinthLovis CorinthLovis Corinth was a German painter and printmaker whose mature work realized a synthesis of impressionism and expressionism....
, Max LiebermannMax LiebermannMax Liebermann was a German-Jewish painter and printmaker best known for his etching and lithography.-Biography:...
, Max SlevogtMax SlevogtMax Slevogt was a German Impressionist painter and illustrator, best known for his landscapes. He was, together with Lovis Corinth and Max Liebermann, one of the foremost representatives in Germany of the plein air style.-Biography:He was born in Landshut, Germany...
, and Max BeckmannMax BeckmannMax Beckmann was a German painter, draftsman, printmaker, sculptor, and writer. Although he is classified as an Expressionist artist, he rejected both the term and the movement...
.