MUNICH.- Around 1900, young visionary artists in Munich set out to revolutionize art and to reform life. Facing a time of rapid scientific as well as technical innovation and social upheaval, they joined the quest for a fairer and more sustainable way of life, turning their backs on historical models in order to find a new art that permeated life down to the smallest detail. Their ideas and designs formed the foundation for modern art and design. With objects from design, sculpture, painting, graphic art, and photography, to fashion and jewelry, this exhibition sheds light on Munich’s role as the cradle of Jugendstil (Art Nouveau) in Germany and shows how highly topical the issues of life discussed back then still are today.

Munich’s reputation as a cosmopolitan cultural metropolis with exceptional opportunities in terms of training and exhibiting attracted artists from all over Europe at the end of the 19th century. It was in this climate of openness to innovation that the magazine Jugend (Youth) appeared from 1896 onwards, its program dedicated to all sectors of life. Soon, it would become the eponym for the new movement. The magazine’s colorful covers, which were designed in a different style each issue by Richard Riemerschmid (1868–1957), Bruno Paul (1874–1968), and Hans Christiansen (1866– 1945), among others, illustrate that Jugendstil (the German term for Art Nouveau literarily means ‘Youth Style’) was not a uniform artistic movement. Rather, it becomes clear that the artists associated with the movement engaged with the major issues of their time by varied aesthetic means.

In ten chapters, Jugendstil. Made in Munich presents the pioneering ideas and sources of inspiration from which the artists who trained or worked in Munich developed their respective styles. Aspects such as gender equality, a healthy life in harmony with nature, and the democratization of art and society form the backdrop against which the exhibition unfolds.

The first room takes visitors into a residential building on Georgenstrasse in the Schwabing district where they are immersed into the world (of living) in 1900. The interiors of the salon and dining rooms, which Riemerschmid designed for Carl von Thieme (1844–1924), co-founder of the Munich Re Insurance Company, are reassembled here. The design is a prime example of a holistic pursuit of harmony in the vein of the Gesamtkunstwerk, demonstrating the Jugendstil artists’ approach to embellish life with the means of art.

The following chapter looks back on the beginnings of this new art in Munich. The ‘VII International Art Exhibition’ at the Glass Palace in 1897 was the first show to assign one dedicated section to ‘Kleinkunst’ (‘craftwork’). Artists including Otto Eckmann (1865– 1902), August Endell (1871–1925), and Bernhard Pankok (1872–1943) joined forces to present their modern arts and crafts here. With only two small and inconveniently located rooms at their disposal, their collection of furniture, textiles, everyday objects, paintings, and graphics turned out a success with the public, nonetheless.

Also on display there were textile works by Hermann Obrist (1862–1927), who had already stunned the Munich public a year earlier with his unconventional embroideries. His designs, executed by Berthe Ruchet (1855–1932), were revolutionary. The highlight of the 1896 exhibition was the Cyclamen wall hanging (around 1895), which quickly became known as Whiplash due to its dynamic lines. This seminal and initial work of Munich Jugendstil will be on display in its original form for the first time in decades at the Kunsthalle exhibition.

The ideal of an environmentally conscious life in harmony with nature emerged as a counter-movement to industrialization and urbanization. The so-called Lebensreform (life reform) strove to modernize all areas of everyday life—from corset- free attire to a vegetarian diet. These social developments also influenced artistic designs. Two rooms of the exhibition are dedicated to flora and fauna as the most important sources of inspiration for Jugendstil, illustrating how artists not only depicted nature, but also increasingly stylized or even abstracted it. In doing so, they paved the way for modernity. This can already be observed in the famous façade ornament Endell designed for the Elvira photography studio, an eminent site for the Munich feminist movement.

A room dedicated to the examination of historical techniques and styles illustrates how Jugendstil artists furthermore found inspiration in past eras; this can be seen in the Gothic slenderness of Bernhard Pankok’s display cabinet (1898/99) or in the classicist rigor of Franz von Stuck’s (1863–1928) Spear-Hurling Amazon (1897). The next chapter is dedicated to fairy tales, myths, and sagas whose narratives and characters were taken up by artists in many ways. Puppet and shadow theaters were considered particularly suited for animating fantastic worlds. The exhibition will feature a set design from the Schwabinger Schattentheater, among other things.

Cultural imports from countries outside of Europe also inspired the imaginations of artists. Enthusiasm for newly discovered shapes, motifs, and techniques can be discerned in all genres, including, for example, Riemerschmid’s cabinet (1905) made of wood brushed in Asian style.

This excitement for anything ‘exotic’ and non-European was, among other things, rooted in a quest for originality. The sentiment, however, was also reflected in a newly awakened interest in the homeland and its traditions. Celebrating country festivals became popular in cities, as did furniture and everyday object designs in a rural style. The ‘vernacular’ aesthetic was also linked to an increasing endeavor to make arts and crafts attractive to the masses.

The final chapter introduces revolutionary concepts that made artistic designs affordable for a larger group of customers: from 1905 on, Riemerschmid designed his ‘machine furniture,’ which was produced as a kit, and from 1908 on Bruno Paul developed his ‘type furniture,’ which could be augmented modularly. These innovative Jugendstil trends, referred to as sachlich (objective) due to their straight-forward functionality, remain valid for design to this day.

The exhibition design by Bodo Sperlein references present-day craftwork. Inspired by the art of Jugendstil in his designs, the designer and artist stages the exhibited works in a contemporary manner. The majority of the works on view hail from the Münchner Stadtmuseum (Munich City Museum), which owns a Jugendstil collection of international standing. The institution’s complete renovation provides the unique opportunity of presenting it in a comprehensive survey exhibition. Artworks on view include exceptional items such as the only remaining version of Richard Riemerschmid’s painting Garden of Eden (1900) or Gertraud von Schnellenbühel’s (1878–1959) twenty-four arm candlestick (1913). The selection is completed by loans from private and public collections.