Jugendstil, die grosse Utopie

In its exhibition entitled Art Nouveau. The Great Utopian Vision, the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg (MKG), accompanied by a newly designed presentation of its existing Art Nouveau Collection, retraces an era which produced so much more than whimsically playful ornamentation. Art Nouveau defined itself via reform movements, visions and Utopian dreams aimed at renewing society. The special exhibition throws light on this cultural and historical background and development, drawing together the ideas linking Karl Marx's "Das Kapital" and Peter Behrens's salon grand piano with symbols quoted from Friedrich Nietzsche's "Zarathustra". It shows reform movement robes, a solar bath for sun-worshippers, photographs of nudists playing sports in the open air or Loïe Fuller's celebrated light dances. The arts take up the revolutionary changes affecting the private and social life of modern man, sketch new models for living and experiment with technical innovations. Gustav Klimt, Edvard Munch and Alfons Mucha reflect the many-facetted perceptions projected onto women. Ferdinand Hodler, Paula Modersohn-Becker focus on the child. And a constantly recurring source of inspiration is nature, especially in the applied arts. Art Nouveau also marks a hiatus for the museums of arts and crafts, which had up to then only shown examples from history. This is the period when they also begin to collect contemporary art. Exhibition: Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg, Germany (17.10.2015-07.02.2016).