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Cornelia Gurlitt artworks exhibition "Cornelia Gurlitt: The Journey of the Heart. Vilnius Trough the Eyes of German Expressionist: 1915-197" from Vilna Gaon State Jewish Museum and private collections was opened in Curonian Spit History Museum (Pamario Str. 53, Neringa) on the 18th of July, 2016. Lithographs and drawings by Cornelia Gurlitt (1890-1919) reveal the drama of an artist, who served as the sister of mercy at Vilnius’ German military hospital during the years of WWI. Her life and work are presented in the background of Vilnius views, captured by Generalfeldmarshall Hermann von Eichhorn army‘s photographers, as well as through the thoughts of her contemporaries.
Ieva Šadzevičienė, Curator of the exhibition and the Head of the Tolerance Center, presented the exhibition from the private collections and from the collections of the Vilna Gaon State Jewish Museum |
Opening of the exhibition "Cornelia Gurlitt: The Journey of the Heart. Vilnius Through the Eyes of a German Expressionist: 1915-1917" at Curonian Spit History Museum
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The exhibition is based on the collection of sixteen drawings and lithographs by Cornelia Gurlitt, donated to the Museum by Dr. Hubert Portz, owner of Kunsthaus Desiree Art Gallery in Germany as well as on 7 additional works from private collections. The biggest part of the works is created in Vilnius, „the Eastern front“, in 1917, where Cornelia Gurlitt served as a sister of mercy, starting from 1915. Cornelia Gurlitt was already known as talented artist in Germany, in 1914, where she held two exhibitions. Artist met the love of her life, art critic and editor Paul Fechter in WWI years, in Vilnius. Love became one of the reasons, making her talent to blossom. “What she produced in the way of drawings, lithographs and paintings was among the most powerfully expressive art of those years and above all, was hardly paralleled in the achievements of the female artists of the era“, wrote Paul Fechter in his art history book, in 1949. WWI posters and newspaper advertisements testify that the exhibitions of Oberost artists (including Cornelia Gurlitt) were organized in Vilnius in Kaunas.
Dr. Hubert Portz, owner of "Kunsthaus Désirée" Art Gallery in Germany, who has donated the collection of the artworks of this tallented, but forgotten expressionist to Vilna Gaon State Jewish Museum, shares his thoughts on the exhibition and it‘s connections with the festival theme "The Human Dignity" |
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The visitors of the Curonian Spit History Museum receive a unique opportunity to see the reproductions of two water-colors by Cornelia Gurlitt safekept in the secret collection of former Nazi looted art collector Hilderbrand Gurlitt (the brother of Cornelia). Hilderbrand‘s son Cornelius Gurlitt entrusted all the artworks, found in his apartment, to Bern Museum (Switzerland). Then Bern Museum published the inherited list it became obvious that Hilderbrand Gurlitt saved 138 his sister‘s artworks, dated from 1914 to 1919. Despite the fact that due to the legal debates the works of Cornelia Gurlitt are not yet available for the public view, the guests and the visitors of the XXth Thomas Mann Festival (dedicated to the WWI theme) in Neringa will be presented with the unique opportunity to see the two reproductions. Hopefully the bigger part of Cornelia’s Gurlitt artworks collection will be presented for Lithuanian public in the near future.
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Thanks to Dr Hubert Portz’s diligent research, through Cornelia’s eyes we can see wartime Vilnius and the Kaiser’s 10thArmy under the command of Generalfeldmarschall Hermann von Eichhorn, which was in charge of the Oberost province from the end of 1915. In his article Affairs of the Heart (printed in the catalogue of the exhibition) Dr Portz published excerpts from letters of the painter conveying the reality of Vilnius of that period. In 2010 the collection of authentic digitalised photos of the Kaiser’s Army and the sights of Vilnius was donated to the museum by Rolf Dyckerhoff from Wiesbaden (Germany), great-great-grandson of Hermann von Eichhorn.
Curator of the exhibition: Ieva Šadzevičienė
Organizers of the exhibition: Vilna Gaon State Jewish Museum, Patron of the Exhibition Dr. Hubert Portz.
Partners: Neringos muziejai, Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Vilnius, Embassy of the Republic of Lithuania to Germany
More information:
Ieva Šadzevičienė
Head of the Tolerance Center, Curator of the Exhibition
Vilna Gaon State Jewish Museum
Tel.: 00 370 5 262 9666;
E-mail: ieva.sadzeviciene@jmuseum.lt
www.jmuseum.lt
© Photos by Neringa museums
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