Alfred Lichtwark

Alfred Lichtwark ( born November 14, 1852 in Hamburg- Reitbrook; † January 13, 1914 in Hamburg ) was a German art historian, museum curator and art educator in Hamburg. He is one of the founders of the museum education and art education movement.

Background and Career

Alfred Lichtwark was the son of the miller Johann Karl Ernst Lichtwark, who owned the horse Brooker mill. From the father's first marriage he had three half-siblings. Alfred Lichtwark mother Johanne Helene Henrietta nee Bach (1829-1909) stemmed allegedly from the direct line of the composer Johann Sebastian Bach. After Alfred with his siblings Hans, emigrated to Australia, and Marianne (1857 - 1930) had spent a happy childhood in the countryside, the father saw in 1858 forced for lack of funds the mill to sell. The family moved to Hamburg, where his father held a also poor running inn and the family lived in poor circumstances. Lichtwark, who attended the public school, proved to be a very talented and versatile student and helped by the school as an assistant teacher from. In 1873 he took the Abitur at Christianeum in Altona and studied thanks to a grant to him of Justus Brinckmann helped, Education and Fine Arts in Dresden, Leipzig and Berlin. After the end of the study period, he worked on several national and citizen schools in Berlin. Lichtwark was very dissatisfied with the then education, which led him already in Berlin to the idea of a new form of school or education.

Director of the Hamburger Kunsthalle

Why Lichtwark was asked in 1886 if he would accept the post of Director of the Hamburg Kunsthalle, which was previously managed by a person of the Senate is unclear. He was on 3 December 1886 whose collection he built systematically on the first director of the Hamburg Kunsthalle. The current inventory is still based largely on the foundations set by Lichtwark. He collected one hand, targeted Hamburg medieval art (especially works by Master Bertram and Master Francke ) and acquired the other hand, works of German Romanticism ( Caspar David Friedrich, Philipp Otto Runge ) and contemporary artists of the late 19th century, such as Pierre Bonnard, Lovis Corinth, Wilhelm Leibl Adolph Menzel and Edouard Vuillard. With his busy buying practice and intensive public relations, he managed to broaden the understanding of the then current art. Besides the high interest in French Impressionism he was pressing hard for the Hamburg art scene, was the initiator of the founding of the Hamburg Künster clubs and gave orders to Hamburg painter as Gotthardt Kuehl and Wilhelm Trübner. The intention to put his hometown of Hamburg an artistic monument, also resulted in orders to painters such as Max Liebermann and Theodor Hagen, from whom he acquired a number of harbor pictures. Lichtwark undertook during his tenure several trips to Dresden, Weimar, Frankfurt / Main, Geneva, Paris, London and Stockholm, where he was looking after many art motifs. He also won the Grabow altar by Master Bertram, former altar of St. Peter's Church in Hamburg, from the church in Grabow back to Hamburg. 1906 this was first issued in the Hamburger Kunsthalle. Lichtwark also criticized the spirit of the times and the layer separation of the people in Germany and in other parts of Europe. His educational ideas eventually led to the founding of the Lichtwark.

Leading the way are his exercises in the contemplation of works of art, in which he systematically works of art discussed with students in his museum. The lessons he used in lectures and several books. He is thus one of the founders of the museum education. Alfred Lichtwark remained director of the Kunsthalle until his death in 1914. He died of a stomach cancer and was buried in the " Althamburgischer Memorial Cemetery " said part of the Ohlsdorfer cemetery. His successor at the Kunsthalle was Gustav Pauli.

Alfred Lichtwark was a friend of Max Liebermann, Hans Olde, supporters of Count Kessler and the Mayor Max Predöhl.

The foundation and the design of the Museum of Hamburg History goes back to his initiative, as well as the artistic education for young children. In 1896 he opened an exhibition at the Kunsthalle with the topic of how children think and paint.

Lichtwark price

The Lichtwark Prize, donated in 1951 by the Senate of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg celebrate the 100th anniversary Alfred Lichtwark is awarded every five years.

Honors

Were named after Alfred Lichtwark:

• In Eppendorf Lichtwarkstraße
• Today's Heinrich -Hertz -Schule in Hamburg- Winterhude was 1920-1937 Lichtwark (1937 she was with the Heinrich -Hertz- secondary school to high school at the city park for boys combined ) most famous graduate of this school is the former Chancellor Helmut Schmidt.
• The Lichtwark issue, a cultural magazine that since 1948 - initially monthly, now every year - will be published by HB advertising, Hamburg -Bergedorf, ISSN 1862-3549.
• A theater operators in Bergedorf " LICHTWARK BERGEDORF THEATER house in the park ."
• In Bergedorf the Lichtwarkhaus with House of Youth and day care and workers' welfare

Quotes

• " We do not want a museum that stands there and waits, but an institute that engages Worked in the artistic education of our population. "
• "Free and demolition city of Hamburg ", this very frequently cited in architects forums saying Lichtwark referred to the plans to demolish the workers' housing in the port and for building the warehouse district.
• "There is no work of art in our age, which would be considered as carefully as the portrait photograph of the self, the closest relatives and friends, the beloved. "
• " All progress is that individual a higher type and exemplify the masses emulate them. "
• " Experience teaches that anyone who begins to collect in any field, you can feel a raising transformation in his soul. It is a joyous person that satisfies a deeper participation, and a more open understanding of the things of this world moved his soul. " ( The Collector, 1912)

Works

• The importance of amateur photography, Halle a S.: Knapp, 1894
• Hans Holbein's images of death: reproduced by the proofs and the Lyonner edition of 1547 in the Kunsthalle Hamburg. Commeter, Hamburg 1897 ( Digitized edition )
• Hamburg Lower Saxony. Dresden 1897 Digitized edition
• The portrait in Hamburg. Hamburg 1898.
• The soul as a work of art. Böcklin studies. Berlin 1899. Digitized edition
• Julius Oldach. Hamburg 1899. Digitized edition
• Master Francke. Hamburg 1899. Digitized edition
• Exercises in the contemplation of works of art. After experimenting with a school class. Dresden 1900. Digitized edition
• Three programs. ( Basics of artistic education, Vol 4). Berlin 1902 Digitized edition
• From practice. ( Basics of artistic education, Vol 5). Berlin 1902 Digitized edition
• From the working area of dilettantism. ( Basics of artistic education, vol 13). Berlin 1902 Digitized edition
• Park and garden studies: the problems of the Hamburg Stadtpark, the heather garden. - Berlin:. Cassirer, 1909 Digitized edition of the University and State Library Dusseldorf