Art

Art in the Erholungshaus

Rike Zoebelein

Bayer was committed to promoting the visual arts even before the building of the Erholungshaus. The first exhibitions to be held there were of crafts, however, rather than art. Itwas not until 1946, under Erna Kroen, that art exhibitions became a regular feature of the programme of cultural events. In addition to exhibitions of art for sale by local artists and joint exhibitions with museums from neighbouring towns (Von der Heydt Museum, Wuppertal, 1949), there were exhibitions ofworks by individual artists (Maillol, 1951 /Marcks, 1952/Rohlfs, 1955) and the ars viva exhibitions sponsored by the Cultural Committee of German Business within the BDI, of which Bayer was a founding member. Artwas already a firmly established part of the Cultural Affairs Department when the art historian Elisabeth Bottwas put in charge of exhibitions in 1978. From then until 2005 she placed her stamp on the department, focusing on modern classicism and developing art projects that tied in with the theme of each cultural season, and the quality of her work set standards thatwe strive to uphold to this day.
Our “exhibition rooms” are the corridors and foyers of a building that is used for many different purposes. This, and the architecture of the Erholungshaus, occasionally has a restrictive effect, but at the same time it is an exciting challenge to enhance this forum for “makers” and “consumers” of ballet, theatre and music with works of art. “Young” art projects such as the On the wall exhibitions in 2007, in which artists from Berlin gave their own individual expression to relevant themes such as theatre and music, underscored the relationship between seeing and hearing and were enthusiastically received by the public. The Erholungshaus has also been the setting for museum presentations such as the four impressive exhibitions of items from the Bayer Collection last season. Between these two extremes, and independent of any particular theme, it has also housed exhibitions of rarities and curiosities from the world of art.
After so many years and so many exhibitions ranging from Beckmann to Vostell, from aboriginal art to contemporary art from numerous countries where Bayer is represented and from painting and graphic art to photography and caricature, the walls of the Erholungshaus could tell many a tale!