WEBVTT - generated by VCS

1
00:00:05.760 --> 00:00:07.280
Yes, my father...

2
00:00:07.280 --> 00:00:13.400
He was born in Merseburg in Saxony-Anhalt in
1945.

3
00:00:13.400 --> 00:00:16.320
And he was born into a family,

4
00:00:16.320 --> 00:00:21.040
which at that time owned several houses in
Merseburg

5
00:00:21.040 --> 00:00:24.680
on Bahnhofstraße and traded in timber.

6
00:00:25.280 --> 00:00:28.200
How did it come about that my father became
a painter?

7
00:00:28.680 --> 00:00:32.880
My grandfather, the father my father, also
liked to paint.

8
00:00:32.880 --> 00:00:35.120
And he was also very talented.

9
00:00:35.120 --> 00:00:44.640
But his wish to study art in Munich was not
fulfilled,

10
00:00:44.640 --> 00:00:49.080
because he was the son of a company owner

11
00:00:49.080 --> 00:00:52.640
and he had to take over the company, the timber
trade.

12
00:00:52.640 --> 00:00:55.560
And so he ended up studying something related
to the trade,

13
00:00:55.560 --> 00:00:59.920
but he always painted on the side. And that’s
probably how my father

14
00:00:59.920 --> 00:01:04.000
encountered it as a child and he became interested

15
00:01:04.000 --> 00:01:08.000
and then he, too, as a child started to paint.

16
00:01:08.000 --> 00:01:14.000
And back then, you learned a trade while also
getting a high school diploma.

17
00:01:14.000 --> 00:01:19.000
He trained as a distiller and graduated from
high school

18
00:01:19.000 --> 00:01:23.000
and afterwards applied to art school.

19
00:01:23.000 --> 00:01:26.000
Actually, he applied to several art schools.

20
00:01:26.000 --> 00:01:28.000
I think in Leipzig and in Dresden.

21
00:01:28.000 --> 00:01:30.000
He was also not admitted immediately.

22
00:01:30.000 --> 00:01:33.000
In 1967 he began his studies,

23
00:01:34.000 --> 00:01:37.000
at the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts.

24
00:01:37.000 --> 00:01:39.000
Yes...

25
00:01:39.000 --> 00:01:43.000
He studied under Gerhard Kettner, Herbert Kunze
and Franz Tippel,

26
00:01:43.000 --> 00:01:48.000
and he joined the class for mural painting

27
00:01:49.000 --> 00:01:52.000
and that’s the direction he took with his
studies.

28
00:01:52.000 --> 00:01:56.000
That’s also how later on the collaboration
with fellow student Wolfgang Bruhm

29
00:01:56.000 --> 00:01:59.000
on that restauration came about.

30
00:01:59.000 --> 00:02:04.000
Important companions of my father

31
00:02:04.000 --> 00:02:09.000
during his studies and beyond were Stefan Plenkers

32
00:02:09.000 --> 00:02:12.000
and Veit Hofmann and also Achim Böttcher,

33
00:02:13.000 --> 00:02:15.000
who then moved to Berlin.

34
00:02:16.000 --> 00:02:18.000
With them

35
00:02:18.000 --> 00:02:22.000
he already made friends during his studies

36
00:02:22.000 --> 00:02:26.000
and later had many exhibitions together with
them

37
00:02:26.000 --> 00:02:28.000
and they also did trips abroad together,

38
00:02:28.000 --> 00:02:34.000
which even after reunification were still very
important and impressive.

39
00:02:34.000 --> 00:02:36.000
The friendship lasted until death, so to speak.

40
00:02:37.000 --> 00:02:42.000
1973: Young Artists Club. Members were Joachim
Böttcher,

41
00:02:44.000 --> 00:02:45.000
Christian Kirsten,

42
00:02:45.000 --> 00:02:48.000
Dieter Klausnitzer, Veit Hofmann, Marlies Lilge,
Stefan Plenkers,

43
00:02:48.000 --> 00:02:52.000
Rainer Zille and Petra Schwandt.

44
00:02:52.000 --> 00:02:55.000
These are the founding members

45
00:02:55.000 --> 00:02:59.000
and it was then decided,

46
00:03:00.000 --> 00:03:04.000
to look for a gallery, in which one could exhibit
collaborations

47
00:03:04.000 --> 00:03:08.000
or also host solo exhibitions.

48
00:03:09.000 --> 00:03:13.000
And 1974-75

49
00:03:13.000 --> 00:03:16.000
a graphic arts calendar was created.

50
00:03:17.000 --> 00:03:19.000
And this here is also interesting perhaps...

51
00:03:19.000 --> 00:03:22.000
Here it says: The proceeds of two graphic arts
bazaars

52
00:03:22.000 --> 00:03:28.000
were donated to the ‘solidarity’-account
for Chile.

53
00:03:28.000 --> 00:03:32.000
This is interesting with regard to the topic
of foreign relations.

54
00:03:33.000 --> 00:03:36.000
Yes, and then Galerie Nord came about.

55
00:03:36.000 --> 00:03:39.000
They were looking for a space, and on Leipziger
Straße there was,

56
00:03:39.000 --> 00:03:45.000
my mother said, an old, disused ice cream parlor
or something like that.

57
00:03:45.000 --> 00:03:47.000
That’s what they had picked out

58
00:03:48.000 --> 00:03:51.000
and then they all, of course, helped prepare
the space

59
00:03:52.000 --> 00:03:55.000
and then they founded a gallery there.

60
00:03:56.000 --> 00:03:59.000
Yes, and Sigrid Walther,

61
00:03:59.000 --> 00:04:01.000
there had always been contact with her,

62
00:04:01.000 --> 00:04:05.000
she then managed the gallery.

63
00:04:05.000 --> 00:04:08.000
They knew each other and were also friends.

64
00:04:10.000 --> 00:04:11.000
And she then did the opening.

65
00:04:11.000 --> 00:04:14.000
She organized the exhibition

66
00:04:14.000 --> 00:04:16.000
at Galerie Nord.

67
00:04:16.000 --> 00:04:18.000
Well, the trips abroad...

68
00:04:18.000 --> 00:04:22.000
As I said, they were mainly study trips

69
00:04:23.000 --> 00:04:29.000
to foreign countries in the East,

70
00:04:30.000 --> 00:04:34.000
the former Soviet Union. They could choose
their route,

71
00:04:34.000 --> 00:04:38.000
I think Veit Hofmann also said that in the
interview,

72
00:04:39.000 --> 00:04:42.000
to a certain extent

73
00:04:43.000 --> 00:04:45.000
and so they chose the places,

74
00:04:45.000 --> 00:04:49.000
that they wanted to travel to and then they
visited –

75
00:04:50.000 --> 00:04:57.000
what was it called then? – different Soviet
republics by train.

76
00:04:57.000 --> 00:05:00.000
Veit Hofmann was part of it,

77
00:05:00.000 --> 00:05:03.000
and...

78
00:05:05.000 --> 00:05:07.000
Plenkers, Stefan Plenkers...

79
00:05:07.000 --> 00:05:10.000
There were actually several trips, so it was
probably

80
00:05:10.000 --> 00:05:13.000
different people on different trips.

81
00:05:13.000 --> 00:05:16.000
But mostly Stefan Plenkers and Veit Hofmann,

82
00:05:16.000 --> 00:05:19.000
they were, I think, always part of it, in this
constellation.

83
00:05:20.000 --> 00:05:22.000
1980...

84
00:05:22.000 --> 00:05:30.000
Before that, there had already been study trips
to the Soviet Union between 1976 and 1982.

85
00:05:30.000 --> 00:05:32.000
And as I said, 1980 was the big trip.

86
00:05:32.000 --> 00:05:36.000
Helge Leiberg was part of it, Veit Hoffmann,
Stefan Plenkers.

87
00:05:36.000 --> 00:05:40.000
On that trip they went to Georgia Uzbekistan
and Kazakhstan.

88
00:05:41.000 --> 00:05:45.000
And yes, have there, so to speak–

89
00:05:45.000 --> 00:05:49.000
Well, of course, a part of it was the official
part,

90
00:05:50.000 --> 00:05:53.000
during which they visited exhibitions and

91
00:05:53.000 --> 00:05:58.000
were introduced to certain artists,

92
00:05:58.000 --> 00:06:02.000
but apparently there was also time for personal
experiences.

93
00:06:02.000 --> 00:06:06.000
So they could also plan their own activities.

94
00:06:06.000 --> 00:06:10.000
And there were many interesting stories that
came from that,

95
00:06:10.000 --> 00:06:14.000
which were told later on and also written down.

96
00:06:14.000 --> 00:06:17.000
Fortunately there is a travel diary,

97
00:06:17.000 --> 00:06:23.000
where my father describes these things very
nicely, what experiences they

98
00:06:23.000 --> 00:06:27.000
had during their travels.

99
00:06:27.000 --> 00:06:28.000
On this study trip

100
00:06:29.000 --> 00:06:33.000
to the Soviet Union he made this travel diary.

101
00:06:33.000 --> 00:06:36.000
There are quite a lot of sketches in the travel
diary.

102
00:06:36.000 --> 00:06:42.000
On the basis of these sketches he also later
created graphic works, mostly.

103
00:06:42.000 --> 00:06:46.000
There were watercolors and graphic works,

104
00:06:46.000 --> 00:06:48.000
also a few oil paintings,

105
00:06:49.000 --> 00:06:51.000
some of which can be found in museums.

106
00:06:52.000 --> 00:06:55.000
It has definitely influenced him.

107
00:06:55.000 --> 00:06:58.000
Important motifs became

108
00:06:59.000 --> 00:07:01.000
the people,

109
00:07:01.000 --> 00:07:05.000
who lived there, who were in the bazaars or
in the tea rooms.

110
00:07:05.000 --> 00:07:08.000
That's where he liked to hang out, there are
photos of that, too.

111
00:07:08.000 --> 00:07:12.000
There is a nice picture, for example, where
he sits in the tea room and draws.

112
00:07:12.000 --> 00:07:16.000
In Georgia they have these typical beds, such

113
00:07:16.000 --> 00:07:20.000
big beds, on which they sit and drink their
tea.

114
00:07:20.000 --> 00:07:25.000
He drew a lot of that, he was particularly
interested in that.

115
00:07:25.000 --> 00:07:28.000
The people, he did a lot of portraits

116
00:07:28.000 --> 00:07:31.000
and also landscapes.

117
00:07:31.000 --> 00:07:33.000
They also visited villages,

118
00:07:33.000 --> 00:07:37.000
where they held big festivities in honor of
the artists’ visit.

119
00:07:37.000 --> 00:07:39.000
And all that did inspire him,

120
00:07:39.000 --> 00:07:44.000
even still in retrospect, these impressions
influenced his work.

121
00:07:45.000 --> 00:07:48.000
Yes, my father did, of course, also apply for
trips,

122
00:07:48.000 --> 00:07:50.000
for example to West Berlin,

123
00:07:52.000 --> 00:07:54.000
to certain exhibitions.

124
00:07:54.000 --> 00:07:58.000
He did not get that approved for whatever reasons.

125
00:07:59.000 --> 00:08:03.000
And shortly before the Wall came down,

126
00:08:03.000 --> 00:08:08.000
there was a woman gallerist from Vienna, who

127
00:08:09.000 --> 00:08:11.000
wanted to do an exhibition with several different
artists,

128
00:08:11.000 --> 00:08:16.000
among others, also artists from the GDR.

129
00:08:17.000 --> 00:08:21.000
She had inquired and was in correspondence
with my father.

130
00:08:21.000 --> 00:08:24.000
She had also visited and then later wrote to
him,

131
00:08:24.000 --> 00:08:26.000
asking if he didn’t want to take part in
the exhibition.

132
00:08:26.000 --> 00:08:29.000
He was interested, applied for it,

133
00:08:29.000 --> 00:08:33.000
and they told him, that there was not enough
time to process his request

134
00:08:33.000 --> 00:08:35.000
before the start of the exhibition

135
00:08:36.000 --> 00:08:38.000
and it was therefore rejected.

136
00:08:39.000 --> 00:08:42.000
And that was, of course, very frustrating

137
00:08:42.000 --> 00:08:47.000
and very sobering, that something like that
wasn’t possible.

138
00:08:54.000 --> 00:09:00.000
So the idea came about a few years ago....

139
00:09:00.000 --> 00:09:04.000
It’s already been a while now.

140
00:09:04.000 --> 00:09:07.000
Actually this topic has been on my mind for
quite a long time.

141
00:09:08.000 --> 00:09:11.000
You could almost say,

142
00:09:11.000 --> 00:09:13.000
since the death of my father,

143
00:09:14.000 --> 00:09:17.000
the question is: What do we do with the paintings?

144
00:09:17.000 --> 00:09:19.000
What do we do with the graphic art?

145
00:09:19.000 --> 00:09:22.000
First we cleared out the house in Thuringia,

146
00:09:22.000 --> 00:09:27.000
where my father last lived – his parents'
house –

147
00:09:28.000 --> 00:09:32.000
and brought everything here,

148
00:09:32.000 --> 00:09:36.000
once my mother had also decided to move in
here with us.

149
00:09:36.000 --> 00:09:38.000
Yes, and then we had all these things there.

150
00:09:38.000 --> 00:09:41.000
The first thing my husband built was this storage
for artworks here in the attic –

151
00:09:41.000 --> 00:09:46.000
then, it was still a real attic – so that
we could first somehow

152
00:09:46.000 --> 00:09:47.000
store everything,

153
00:09:48.000 --> 00:09:50.000
ideally a bit insulated,

154
00:09:50.000 --> 00:09:54.000
so that it wouldn’t be exposed to variations
in temperature.

155
00:09:55.000 --> 00:09:58.000
Yes, and then the art was here and it kept
coming up...

156
00:09:58.000 --> 00:10:01.000
We talked about exhibitions,

157
00:10:01.000 --> 00:10:06.000
we had to something about it, do an exhibition,
requests came in as well...

158
00:10:06.000 --> 00:10:08.000
From there it grew gradually

159
00:10:08.000 --> 00:10:12.000
and the initial push then actually came from
my husband,

160
00:10:12.000 --> 00:10:16.000
who again and again leafed through the artist
folders and the artist calendars

161
00:10:16.000 --> 00:10:21.000
and then said: "That’s so interesting and
here are such great works.

162
00:10:21.000 --> 00:10:24.000
It's such a pity that it’s just lying around
in drawers.

163
00:10:24.000 --> 00:10:29.000
We should really let other people see all these
things we have here".

164
00:10:29.000 --> 00:10:31.000
And that was actually the initial impetus

165
00:10:31.000 --> 00:10:33.000
and then corona happened.

166
00:10:34.000 --> 00:10:37.000
My husband had no work,

167
00:10:37.000 --> 00:10:39.000
and he then said to me:

168
00:10:40.000 --> 00:10:42.000
"What do you say, should I fit out the attic?

169
00:10:42.000 --> 00:10:44.000
We'll create a gallery".

170
00:10:44.000 --> 00:10:48.000
And I thought: "God, a gallery in the attic,
that’s so much work."

171
00:10:49.000 --> 00:10:53.000
And then he got going, and then he built a
gallery here.

172
00:10:54.000 --> 00:10:57.000
But it was, of course, a beautiful thing

173
00:10:57.000 --> 00:11:00.000
and it meant a lot to me

174
00:11:01.000 --> 00:11:05.000
as it developed and grew.

175
00:11:05.000 --> 00:11:08.000
And when we started,  together with my mother,

176
00:11:08.000 --> 00:11:11.000
to organize the material, to sift through it,

177
00:11:11.000 --> 00:11:14.000
to sort and to understand what we had here,

178
00:11:15.000 --> 00:11:21.000
to really realise the volume of it and the
material in front of us

179
00:11:21.000 --> 00:11:25.000
and also to understand what it means,

180
00:11:25.000 --> 00:11:28.000
to have this volume of archival material,

181
00:11:28.000 --> 00:11:32.000
which by now, you could say,

182
00:11:32.000 --> 00:11:34.000
is of art historical significance

183
00:11:34.000 --> 00:11:36.000
and also for the reappraisal of art history,

184
00:11:37.000 --> 00:11:41.000
including the history of art in the GDR.

185
00:11:41.000 --> 00:11:44.000
And then there were also the influences of
the exhibitions, which

186
00:11:44.000 --> 00:11:47.000
suddenly took place, which put the spotlight
on this period.

187
00:11:47.000 --> 00:11:49.000
And we always thought,

188
00:11:49.000 --> 00:11:52.000
well, we also have so much here, which illuminates
this time.

189
00:11:52.000 --> 00:11:54.000
Perhaps not those [artists], who are always
in the limelight,

190
00:11:54.000 --> 00:11:58.000
those who are always featured like Wolfgang
Mattheuer or

191
00:11:59.000 --> 00:12:04.000
Cornelia Schleime, who are, of course, very
important

192
00:12:04.000 --> 00:12:05.000
and have a place in this story.

193
00:12:05.000 --> 00:12:13.000
But there are also those in second row, which
are also part of it

194
00:12:13.000 --> 00:12:17.000
and I think that it is very important to show
them as well.

195
00:12:17.000 --> 00:12:21.000
Here, of course, everything is part of the
Dresden context, but

196
00:12:21.000 --> 00:12:26.000
there are also connections to Cottbus, to Berlin
or even up to the Baltic Sea,

197
00:12:26.000 --> 00:12:29.000
to artist friends.

198
00:12:29.000 --> 00:12:35.000
And my father had a lot of contacts and cultivated
them,

199
00:12:35.000 --> 00:12:40.000
he visited a lot of artist friends and those
artist friends visited him

200
00:12:40.000 --> 00:12:42.000
and there was a lot of exchange.

201
00:12:42.000 --> 00:12:45.000
Right now we have the exhibition of the artists'
mail,

202
00:12:45.000 --> 00:12:48.000
where you can see that that was the medium
for exchange.

203
00:12:48.000 --> 00:12:51.000
Not everybody had a telephone, they wrote a
lot and artists

204
00:12:51.000 --> 00:12:54.000
also draw and paint quite a lot, of course.

205
00:13:05.000 --> 00:13:08.000
Yes, at least

206
00:13:08.000 --> 00:13:11.000
the community around my father was rather tight-knit.

207
00:13:11.000 --> 00:13:14.000
It was always the same people, who wrote to
each other.

208
00:13:14.000 --> 00:13:19.000
The contacts abroad only developed later, after
reunification.

209
00:13:19.000 --> 00:13:22.000
That’s when there was correspondence with

210
00:13:24.000 --> 00:13:26.000
interested art collectors,

211
00:13:26.000 --> 00:13:30.000
from the USA for example, or also simply individual
artists

212
00:13:30.000 --> 00:13:34.000
from Finland, from the USA – from other countries,
basically.

213
00:13:34.000 --> 00:13:39.000
These international contacts really only became
more intensive after reunification.

214
00:13:39.000 --> 00:13:42.000
Before that it was rather a narrow circle of
people,

215
00:13:42.000 --> 00:13:45.000
who exchanged views, who were in contact with
each other.

216
00:13:46.000 --> 00:13:49.000
There was an extensive exchange and therefore
we also have

217
00:13:49.000 --> 00:13:52.000
a lot of material here and

218
00:13:52.000 --> 00:13:56.000
larger works, too, were being exchanged, a
lot of graphic art was exchanged

219
00:13:56.000 --> 00:14:00.000
and presented to each other, also some oil
paintings or later on

220
00:14:00.000 --> 00:14:02.000
acrylic paintings as well.

221
00:14:02.000 --> 00:14:05.000
And thus a large archive developed,

222
00:14:06.000 --> 00:14:08.000
a large collection, where we now think,

223
00:14:08.000 --> 00:14:11.000
that is such a treasure, such a wealth, to
have that,

224
00:14:11.000 --> 00:14:17.000
and so we would like to expand it as a private
archive, build it up.

225
00:14:17.000 --> 00:14:22.000
And thanks to you, Ms. Schankweiler, we have
been able to establish first contacts

226
00:14:22.000 --> 00:14:27.000
to SLUB Dresden [Saxon State and University
Library] or also to your own project.

227
00:14:27.000 --> 00:14:33.000
And that is very nice for us and right now,
we very much enjoy

228
00:14:33.000 --> 00:14:37.000
establishing this cooperation and to know:

229
00:14:37.000 --> 00:14:41.000
it will not just stay hidden in the drawers
and it won’t simply–

230
00:14:41.000 --> 00:14:44.000
I mean, I don't really know what’s going
to happen with it...

231
00:14:44.000 --> 00:14:46.000
Right now, I am taking care of it together
with my husband.

232
00:14:47.000 --> 00:14:48.000
But what happens after that?

233
00:14:48.000 --> 00:14:49.000
What happens to it then?

234
00:14:49.000 --> 00:14:53.000
My daughter was never that interested in it
and has her own life.

235
00:14:53.000 --> 00:14:59.000
And she says she wouldn’t really know what
to do with it.

236
00:14:59.000 --> 00:15:03.000
So I see it as my job now,

237
00:15:04.000 --> 00:15:06.000
to take care of it.

238
00:15:06.000 --> 00:15:10.000
I obviously cannot just discard it all one
day.

239
00:15:10.000 --> 00:15:14.000
It has to be in good hands, so that it can
be used in the future

240
00:15:15.000 --> 00:15:22.000
for art history and art studies, so that people
can work with it.

241
00:15:22.000 --> 00:15:27.000
Also as material for students, as an illustration
of

242
00:15:27.000 --> 00:15:30.000
what it was like at that time, of what the
artists did back then,

243
00:15:30.000 --> 00:15:35.000
of what the artist life was like [in the GDR],
the exchange, the painting,

244
00:15:35.000 --> 00:15:37.000
the graphic work.

245
00:15:37.000 --> 00:15:40.000
Yes, that is very nice,

246
00:15:40.000 --> 00:15:44.000
that this is beginning to take shape.