Wilhelm-Busch-Museum
Encyclopedia
Hanover
Hanover or Hannover, on the river Leine, is the capital of the federal state of Lower Saxony , Germany and was once by personal union the family seat of the Hanoverian Kings of Great Britain, under their title as the dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg...
, 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...
. It features the world's largest collection of works by Busch
Wilhelm Busch
Wilhelm Busch was an influential German caricaturist, painter, and poet who is famed for his satirical picture stories with rhymed texts....
, as well as contemporary comic art, illustrations and drawings.
It is located in the Georgengarten
Georgengarten
The Georgengarten is a landscape garden in the northwestern borough of Herrenhausen of the German city Hanover. It is a part of Herrenhausen Gardens.-History:...
(part of the Herrenhausen Gardens
Herrenhausen Gardens
The Herrenhausen Gardens , located in Lower Saxony's capital of Hanover are made up of the Great Garden , the Berggarten, the Georgengarten and the Welfengarten. The gardens are a heritage of the Kings of Hanover.The Great Garden has always been one of the most distinguished baroque formal gardens...
) in a palace known as the Georgenpalais, dating from around 1780. The museum is run by the Wilhelm Busch Society, which formed in 1930.
History
The museum was founded in the centre of Hanover, in 1937, by the Wilhelm Busch Society. It was the first museum devoted to the Lower SaxonLower Saxony
Lower Saxony is a German state situated in north-western Germany and is second in area and fourth in population among the sixteen states of Germany...
artist Busch. The building was destroyed by Allied bombs in 1943, although the artworks had already been evacuated. The museum reopened in 1950, initially in the Wallmodenpalais, with an extensive presentation of works by Busch as well as the first exhibition of caricatures.
As of 2010 the Wilhelm Busch Society has around 2,500 members in and outside Germany. Since 2002 the museum has also been supported by the Association of Sponsors (Verein der Förderer des Wilhelm-Busch-Museums). The city of Hanover allows the use of the historic exhibition building free of charge, and also makes an annual sponsorship contribution. Since 2000 the museum has jointly managed a cafe with the Palaisgarten, following extensive renovations of both.
Collections
In addition to the works by Busch, the museum owns an internationally significant collection of four centuries of satirical art, by artists including Honoré DaumierHonoré Daumier
Honoré Daumier was a French printmaker, caricaturist, painter, and sculptor, whose many works offer commentary on social and political life in France in the 19th century....
, James Gillray
James Gillray
James Gillray , was a British caricaturist and printmaker famous for his etched political and social satires, mainly published between 1792 and 1810.- Early life :He was born in Chelsea...
, Francisco de Goya, Thomas Theodor Heine
Thomas Theodor Heine
Thomas Theodor Heine was a German painter and illustrator. Born in Leipzig, Heine established himself as a gifted caricaturist at an early age, which led to him studying art at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf and, briefly, at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich...
, William Hogarth
William Hogarth
William Hogarth was an English painter, printmaker, pictorial satirist, social critic and editorial cartoonist who has been credited with pioneering western sequential art. His work ranged from realistic portraiture to comic strip-like series of pictures called "modern moral subjects"...
, Ronald Searle
Ronald Searle
Ronald William Fordham Searle, CBE, RDI, is a British artist and cartoonist, best known as the creator of St Trinian's School. He is also the co-author of the Molesworth series....
, Jean-Jacques Sempé
Jean-Jacques Sempé
Jean-Jacques Sempé, usually known as Sempé , is a French cartoonist. Some of his cartoons are quite striking, but retain a sentimental and often a somewhat gentle edge to them, even if the topic is a difficult one to approach...
, Tomi Ungerer
Tomi Ungerer
Jean-Thomas "Tomi" Ungerer is a French illustrator best known for his erotic and political illustrations as well as children's books.- Biography :...
, and A. Paul Weber. The collection has grown significantly since around 2000, with new acquisitions including 700 caricatures of Napoleon, works by the Austrian caricaturist Erich Sokol, the estate of the draughtsman Volker Kriegel
Volker Kriegel
Volker Kriegel was a German jazz guitarist and composer born in Darmstadt, Germany, perhaps most noteworthy for his contributions to the European jazz rock genre and for his collaborations with the American vibraphonist Dave Pike...
, and more recently that of Friedrich Karl Waechter.
The museum owns, among other things, estates and endowments from the following artists:
- Wilhelm BuschWilhelm BuschWilhelm Busch was an influential German caricaturist, painter, and poet who is famed for his satirical picture stories with rhymed texts....
- Paul FloraPaul FloraPaul Flora is known for his black ink line drawings. "Flora was one of Europe’s most profiled illustrators since the 1960s. He worked for British newspapers The Times and The Observer as well as for Germany’s Die Zeit".-Career:...
, endowment, 370 works (1970-1972) - Hanns Erich Köhler, estate, 4,383 works (1971)
- Volker KriegelVolker KriegelVolker Kriegel was a German jazz guitarist and composer born in Darmstadt, Germany, perhaps most noteworthy for his contributions to the European jazz rock genre and for his collaborations with the American vibraphonist Dave Pike...
, estate, over 700 works (2005) - Friedrich Karl Waechter, estate, around 3,400 works (2007)
- Ronald SearleRonald SearleRonald William Fordham Searle, CBE, RDI, is a British artist and cartoonist, best known as the creator of St Trinian's School. He is also the co-author of the Molesworth series....
, estate on permanent loan, around 2,200 works (2010)
Exhibitions
The museum hosts changing exhibitions of historic and contemporary caricature, satirical prints, cartoons and comics, generally on a tri-monthly basis. Many exhibitions are carried out in cooperation with other European museums, both in and outside the German-speaking world. Around 150 exhibitions have been put on since 1950, featuring artists such as Carl BarksCarl Barks
Carl Barks was an American Disney Studio illustrator and comic book creator, who invented Duckburg and many of its inhabitants, such as Scrooge McDuck , Gladstone Gander , the Beagle Boys , The Junior Woodchucks , Gyro Gearloose , Cornelius Coot , Flintheart Glomgold , John D...
, Walt Disney
Walt Disney
Walter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O...
, Grandville
Grandville
Grandville may refer to:* The pseudonym of Jean Ignace Isidore Gérard , French caricaturist* Grandville, Aube, a commune in France* Grandville, Michigan, a city in the United States...
, Gottfried Helnwein
Gottfried Helnwein
Gottfried Helnwein is an Austrian-Irish fine artist, painter, photographer, installation and performance artist.-Work:Helnwein studied at the University of Visual Art in Vienna...
, Hergé
Hergé
Georges Prosper Remi , better known by the pen name Hergé, was a Belgian comics writer and artist. His best known and most substantial work is the 23 completed comic books in The Adventures of Tintin series, which he wrote and illustrated from 1929 until his death in 1983, although he was also...
, Winsor McCay
Winsor McCay
Winsor McCay was an American cartoonist and animator.A prolific artist, McCay's pioneering early animated films far outshone the work of his contemporaries, and set a standard followed by Walt Disney and others in later decades...
and Roland Topor
Roland Topor
Roland Topor , was a French illustrator, painter, writer and filmmaker, known for the surreal nature of his work...
, in addition to those mentioned above.