MUC / Schmuck. Perspektiven auf eine Münchner Privatsammlung

About

Exhibition at the Münchner Stadtmuseum in cooperation with Prof. Karen Pontoppidan and her students at the Academy of Fine Arts Munich

From the end of the 19th century, goldsmithing became an increasingly important craft in Munich, so much so that many goldsmiths and jewelry artists can still be found living and working in the city today. This is in no small part due to the internationally renowned class of jewelry and hollowware offered by the Academy of Fine Arts Munich. The Münchner Stadtmuseum has been fortunate to acquire a stunning collection of Munich jewelry mainly dating from the period between the 1880s and 1930s. It has joined forces with students from the Academy of Fine Arts and Karen Pontoppidan, their professor, to mount an exhibition that not only offers visitors insights into these historical works and their backgrounds, but also showcases today’s budding jewelry artists, their curriculum, academic approaches and creative works. The collection itself has been assembled over a period of several decades by the great jewelry connoisseur Dr. Beate Dry-von Zezschwitz and is the perfect complement to the Münchner Stadtmuseum’s own collection. Its acquisition was funded by the Kulturstiftung der Länder (Cultural Foundation of the German Federal States).

After extensive discussion, the Münchner Stadtmuseum and Professor Pontoppidan and her students jointly selected seven important historical themes for the students to explore from a contemporary vantage point. One such theme relates to the ways in which artists draw on the past in their own work. Indeed, 19th century jewelry art in Munich is well known for its assimilation and revival of historical styles and techniques. Theodor Schallmayer (b. 1861), for example, chose Renaissance and Rococo designs for his jewelry. This fascination with ancient styles and techniques lingered on after the turn of the century. In the years after 1907, Munich’s goldsmiths such as Adolf von Mayrhofer (b. 1861, Miesbach – d. 1929, Munich) and Max Strobl (b. 1861, Munich – d. 1946, Munich) favored designs from prehistoric and early times such as the Bronze Age spiral motif, while in the first half of the 1920s, Johann Michael Wilm (b. 1885, Dorfen – d. 1963, Munich) revisited with considerable success the granulation technique first perfected by the Etruscans. The 1920s also saw the revival of ancient stone carving techniques by artists such as Martin Seitz (b. 1895, Passau – d. 1988, Passau) and Friedrich Schmid-(Geiler) (b. 1889, Munich). It is intriguing to see how today’s Fine Arts students have approached the theme of historical styles and techniques. We can appreciate their responses to these socially and culturally embedded historical pieces in the new works that they have created for this exhibition.