Hanno Rauterberg at Die Zeit offers some nice critiques of the MoMA show. Again, here it's not so much about the art as it is about the show itself. A few tidbits he offers:
The NG is hoping for 700 thousand visitors; it needs 550 thousand in order to cover the 8.5 million euros it spent to rent the show (that's 11 times what it spent on Kunst in der DDR).
"Statt El Greco, Holbein oder Tizian, Gerhard Richter oder Andreas Gursky, die andernorts Publikumsrekorde brechen, nach Berlin zu holen, kauft er lieber Fertig-Ereignisse ein: Er gefällt sich als Sammler der Sammler...Berlin könnte also tatsächlich glücklich sein, dass nun mit dem MoMA endlich etwas Großes die Stadt in seinen Kunstbann ziehen will. Und doch ist auch dies Große wieder nur eine Art Fertigprodukt."
[Instead of bringing to Berlin El Greco, Holbein, or Titian, Gerhard Richter or Andreas Gursky, who break records in other places, [NG Director Schuster] prefers to buy ready-made exhibitions: He sees himself as a collector of collectors…Berlin should, then, be happy that with MoMA, Berlin will finally be bewitched by something great. But even this is only another pre-made art product.]
Rauterberg wishes (and I agree) that German art historians had been given a chance to write for the catalog, to see if there might be differing views on Picasso et al. And wouldn't it be great if the MoMA's Beckmanns could be compared to those already in Berlin?
On the "american season" (see below), he registers some skepticism; it is "ganz so, als seien die Helden der MoMA-Sammlung, Picasso und Matisse vorneweg, allesamt uramerikanische Künstler gewesen." [as if the heroes of the MoMA collection, in particular Picasso and Matisse, had all been prototypical American artists.]
And noone would think to start a "german season" in DC if the NG there showed Cologne's collection of pop-art; "In Berlin hingegen wiegt offenbar die Lust an der Anbiederung stärker als das Selbstbewusstsein." [But Berlin's need for ingratiation is stronger than its self-confidence.]
Posted by Heather at February 16, 2004 09:18 AM
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