Aurora
Chemnitzer Schriften zu Kunst und Kultur
Under the title Aurora, the Chemnitz Art Collections have been publishing the Chemnitz Studies on Art and Culture since 2023. The series offers space for academic publications in the sense of professional exchange on a wide range of topics in art, culture and history. Beyond exhibition projects, open access publication on the ArtDok server of Heidelberg University provides an open, freely accessible forum. The spectrum of publications includes monographic studies as well as source editions and conference proceedings. The topics are related to Chemnitz and the region or to the holdings of the various museums under the umbrella of the Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz. These include the art collections on Theaterplatz, the main building with the Carlfriedrich Claus Archive, furthermore the Gunzenhauser Museum, the Schloßberg Museum with Rabenstein Castle as well as the Henry van de Velde Museum in Villa Esche.
The main title of the series, Aurora, may seem a little anachronistic and presumptuous, since we have little connection to the classical topos of dawn today. However, the term is closely related to the history and self-image of the Chemnitz Art Collections in several respects. Thus Friedrich Schreiber-Weigand, the first director of the Chemnitz Municipal Art Collection, described the year of the museum's founding, 1920, in retrospect as “in the morning light of the Republic”. For him, this was linked to the museum's mission not to serve the princes for their plaisir, but to serve art and the republic, the common good and the education of broad sections of the population, entirely in the spirit of Alfred Lichtwark. The Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz are still committed to these convictions today as a museum association that is oriented towards society and the present and acts through various channels by communicating art, culture and history for the benefit of society and for the promotion of art and science.
Under the title Aurora, the Chemnitz Art Collections have been publishing the Chemnitz Studies on Art and Culture since 2023. The series offers space for academic publications in the sense of professional exchange on a wide range of topics in art, culture and history. Beyond exhibition projects, open access publication on the ArtDok server of Heidelberg University provides an open, freely accessible forum. The spectrum of publications includes monographic studies as well as source editions and conference proceedings. The topics are related to Chemnitz and the region or to the holdings of the various museums under the umbrella of the Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz. These include the art collections on Theaterplatz, the main building with the Carlfriedrich Claus Archive, furthermore the Gunzenhauser Museum, the Schloßberg Museum with Rabenstein Castle as well as the Henry van de Velde Museum in Villa Esche.
The main title of the series, Aurora, may seem a little anachronistic and presumptuous, since we have little connection to the classical topos of dawn today. However, the term is closely related to the history and self-image of the Chemnitz Art Collections in several respects. Thus Friedrich Schreiber-Weigand, the first director of the Chemnitz Municipal Art Collection, described the year of the museum's founding, 1920, in retrospect as “in the morning light of the Republic”. For him, this was linked to the museum's mission not to serve the princes for their plaisir, but to serve art and the republic, the common good and the education of broad sections of the population, entirely in the spirit of Alfred Lichtwark. The Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz are still committed to these convictions today as a museum association that is oriented towards society and the present and acts through various channels by communicating art, culture and history for the benefit of society and for the promotion of art and science.
Contact
Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz
Theaterplatz 1
09111 Chemnitz
Germany
Tel.: +49 (0)371 488 4424
Fax: +49 (0)371 488 4499
E-Mail: kunstsammlungen@stadt-chemnitz.de
Web: kunstsammlungen-chemnitz.de
Published so far
Matrix Moderne | Ostmoderne: Bauen, baubezogene Kunst und Formgestaltung in Ostdeutschland und dem Europa der Nachkriegszeit
Recently, modern building, art-in-architecture and design in the immediate post-war years, beginning in the 1950s, have received increasing attention, following a long period of neglect. Modern Matrix covers many modernist movements, styles and tendencies. The developments in the wake of the reconfiguration and reconstruction of Eastern Europe require an independent consideration that takes into account the specific conditions of their emergence. At the same time, the concept of Eastern modernism makes it possible to question previous standards for the appropriation of tendencies of international modernism on a European level. This volume brings together contributions from the conference of the same name at the Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz.
„Meine Malerexistenz hat ziemlich aufgehört“: Karl Schmidt-Rottluffs Briefe an Paula Risch, 1935–1944
This volume presents 24 letters and postcards from Karl Schmidt-Rottluff to Paula Risch from the years 1935 to 1944 and places them in their historical context. Compared to the few other published autographs by the artist from this period, the collection made available here for the first time to researchers and a broad public is characterised by the astonishing openness with which Schmidt-Rottluff reports on his artistic work, political events and his state of mind. Thus, it is a revealing source for his life and work under National Socialism.
