Museum Ludwig

Museum Ludwig
Museum Ludwig
Established 1976
Location Cologne, Germany
Collection size Sammlung Haubrich
Sammlung Ludwig
Director Philipp Kaiser
Public transit access 5 16 18 Köln Hbf
Website museum-ludwig.de
Museum Ludwig
Museum Ludwig and Cologne cathedral at night

Museum Ludwig, located in Cologne, Germany, houses a collection of modern art. It includes works from Pop Art, Abstract and Surrealism, and has one of the largest Picasso collections in Europe. It also features many works by Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein.

Since November 2012 the museum's director has been Philipp Kaiser.[1]

History

The museum emerged in 1976 as an independent institution from the Wallraf-Richartz Museum. That year the chocolate magnate Peter Ludwig agreed to endow 350 modern artworks—then valued at $45 million [2]—and in return the City of Cologne committed itself to build a dedicated "Museum Ludwig" for works made after the year 1900. The recent building, which was designed by architects Peter Busmann and Godfrid Haberer opened in 1986 near the Cologne Cathedral.[3] The new building first became home to both the Wallraf Richartz Museum as well as Museum Ludwig. In 1994, it was decided to separate the two institutions and to place the building on Bischofsgartenstrasse at the sole disposal of Museum Ludwig. In 1999 Steve Keene painted in the museum.

The building is also home to the Kölner Philharmonic. The Heinrich-Böll-Platz, a public square designed by Dani Karavan, is above the concert hall at the north-east of the building. Unfortunately, during concerts people can't walk upon the square as it creates acoustic disturbances for the concert goers below.

Collection

The museum essentially incorporates the Sammlung Haubrich, a collection by lawyer Josef Haubrich of art from the years 1914 to 1939 donated to the city of Cologne on 2 May 1946. Directly after World War II, in May 1946, Haubrich presented the city with his Expressionism collection (Erich Heckel, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, August Macke, Otto Mueller) and works by other representatives of Classical Modernism (Marc Chagall, Otto Dix). The second integral part of the museum is the Sammlung Ludwig, a collection of art by Picasso, Russian avant-garde and American Pop-art artists. With around 900 works by Picasso, the museum today has the third largest collection of this artist worldwide, after Barcelona and Paris. In addition, Peter Ludwig and his wife Irene later put their collection of the Russian avant-garde on permanent loan to the museum, including 600 works from the period 1905 to 1935 by artists such as Kasimir Malevich, Ljubov Popova, Natalia Goncharova, Mikhail Larionov, and Alexander Rodchenko. Today the museum houses the most comprehensive collection of early Russian avant-garde artworks outside Russia.[4]

Works

Selected works of the collection

Wolfgang Hahn Prize

Since 1994 the Friends of the Museum Ludwig have honoured each year an international artist with the ‘Wolfgang Hahn Prize’, presented during the city's art fair Art Cologne. Both the annual highlight of the Friends' activities and one of the cultural features of Cologne and the Rhineland, this purchase prize is dedicated to the memory of Wolfgang Hahn (1924 - 1987), chief conservator and painting restorer at Wallraf Richartz Museum / Museum Ludwig and one of Cologne's most far-sighted collectors. The budget for the prize amounts to a maximum of 100,000 euros per annum. The museum also acquires a work from each prizewinner.[5]

An international jury chooses from the nominations submitted by the members. The Wolfgang Hahn Prize has been awarded to the following artists:

See also

References

  1. ↑ Palm, Stefan (2011-11-08). "Hauptausschuss fällt wichtige Personalentscheidungen. Abschluss der Verträge für Chefs von Museum Ludwig und Schauspiel beschlossen". Stadt Köln - Amt für Presse- und Öffentlichkeitsarbeit. Retrieved 2011-11-08.
  2. ↑ Wilson, William (July 12, 1987). "A Whiff Of Modernism In Cologne". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 2012-07-22. Retrieved 2012-07-22.
  3. ↑ Eric Pace (July 23, 1996), Peter Ludwig, 71, German Art Collector, Dies New York Times.
  4. ↑ Jeevan Vasagar (26 October 2001), Cologne museum to get 774 Picassos The Guardian.
  5. ↑ Henrik Olesen: Wolfgang Hahn Prize COLOGNE 2012 Museum Ludwig, Cologne.
  6. ↑

Further reading

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Museum Ludwig.

Coordinates: 50°56′27″N 6°57′37″E / 50.94083°N 6.96028°E / 50.94083; 6.96028

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