German Art

This evening I went to the Ausstellung (exhibit) German Art at Das Städel, a prominent art museum here in Frankfurt. This exhibit is works of art from the 1960s to presen by 14 German artists as collected in American museums or private collections. The full title is "German Art. An American View on German Art". Tonight was a regularly scheduled Führung, or guide, through the exhibit. The website states explicitly that you do not need to reserve a spot, but I wish I had.

When I arrived, there were two groups of people who had their own specific guides. There seemed to be a group of free floating people who were waiting for a guide, but no obvious guide person to lead them. When I paid for my ticket, the lady asked if I was with a group and I said no. I expected to be told where to wait for said guide for the open tour, but she didn't say anything. So I asked. She looked at her watch, waved her hand in the air, and said the guide is supposed to be Mr. So and so, but she didn't see him. That was it. So I hung around for a few minutes waiting for an obvious guide and then I just walked through on my own. I stood on the outskirts of a couple groups for a few interesting works and then moved on.

The exhibit was split in two floors and of the two I liked the upper floor better. There were more photographs or photo-realistic works there that I could relate to and appreciate. The ones I liked the best were large blown up photographs of the interiors of museums with visitors peering at the art. The lower floor was mostly filled with abstract political works. One artist seemed to be obsessed with crudely painted sitting nude women who he then turned on their heads. And oddly enough, it seemed they were painted upside down because the paint dripped down from their heads. It was supposed to take the object out of context and focus on the meaning or something. Yeah.

All in all, I didn't have as interesting of a time as I thought I would, but it wasn't a total wash.

Posted by Jinglelady at November 3, 2004 11:15 PM | German Life | TrackBack