The exhibition at the Von der Heydt Museum celebrates the rediscovery of one of the outstanding painters of New Objectivity: Carl Grossberg (1894–1940). His extensive oeuvre, created in just under 20 years, owes its status to his engagement with architecture and industry. With its formal clarity and rigour, it is an expression of a new, photographic way of seeing and reflects the technical progress of the first third of the 20th century. At the same time, the reduced compositions encourage us to critically question industrial progress and its effects on people.
The exhibition, the first retrospective in more than 30 years, takes a comprehensive new look at Carl Grossberg's work and presents a series of previously unknown works. It shows how relevant Grossberg's works are, both artistically and socially.
His choice of motifs and the sobriety of his painting are inextricably linked to the photography that emerged at the same time. And they, in turn, have inspired pioneering photographers of subsequent generations.
The Von der Heydt Museum is staging the exhibition ‘Carl Grossberg. Objective – Magical – Visionary’ in cooperation with the Museum im Kulturspeicher (MiK) in Würzburg. Both museums are closely linked to the artist's biography, and his work is well represented in their collections.
