On Saturday, June 7, 2025, at 6:30 PM, the presentation of the new portfolio of prints by the association Kunst für Chemnitz e. V. will take place at the Kunstsammlungen am Theaterplatz. The day marks the 120th anniversary of the founding of the artists’ group Brücke, making it a significant date in the life and work of Karl Schmidt-Rottluff.
The Brücke artists’ group was founded on June 7, 1905, in Dresden by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Fritz Bleyl, Erich Heckel, and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff. The group, which later included Max Pechstein, Emil Nolde, and Otto Mueller, aimed to create a new, expressive art that radically departed from the academic painting of the time. In contrast to a bourgeois, industrialized society and inspired by untouched nature, the Brücke artists sought direct, unfiltered expression and an uncensored visual language. The group existed until 1913 and is considered a key starting point of German Expressionism.
To mark this special anniversary, members of the Kunst für Chemnitz e. V. association have created a portfolio of twelve works using a variety of techniques. These pieces were developed in dialogue with the guiding principles of Brücke and its foundational impulses, and they represent a multifaceted artistic and cultural-historical document. The works of the twelve Chemnitz-based artists each bear their distinct artistic signature, ranging from gestural abstraction to delicate and finely detailed landscapes. The portfolio itself, through the choice of printing technique, also references the direct and experimental nature of the Expressionist tradition, creating an ongoing dialogue between Brücke and the contemporary works of Kunst für Chemnitz e. V.
The works will be on display in the Forum of the Art Collections at Theaterplatz (3rd floor) until July 6, 2025, and can be purchased through the association. (Price available upon request.)
Artists: Dagmar Zemke, Dieter Wuschanski, Steffen Volmer, Klaus Süß, Thomas Ranft, Dagmar Ranft-Schinke, Osmar Osten, Frank Maibier, Gregor – Torsten Kozik, Peter Kallfels, Phillip Hiersemann, Jiang Bian-Harbort