INFORMATION 26 July 2011

Transcription

1 INFORMATION 26 July 2011 Frankfurt/Main Ernst May New Cities on Three Continents 28 July 6 November 2011 Deutsches Architekturmuseum DAM Schaumaninkai 43, Frankfurt am Main OPENING: Wed, 27 July 2011, PRESS CONFERENCE: Tue, 26 July 2011, GUIDED TOURS: On Saturdays and Sundays, 15.00; 30/11 (15.00), 21/09 (18.00) and 06/11/2011 by exhibition curator Dr. Claudia Quiring Bruchfeldstrasse housing estate, Frankfurt am Main / 1927 Deutsches Kunstarchiv, Nürnberg OPEN: Tues., Thurs.-Sat. 11 a.m. 6 p.m. / Wed. 11 a.m. 8 p.m. / Sun. 11 a.m. 7 p.m.; closed Mondays ABOUT THE EXHIBITION 2 NEW FRANKFURT 3 ERNST MAY BIOGRAPHY 4 COINCIDING PROGRAM 6 PUBLICATION 7 IMPRINT 8 COMING SOON / CONTACT 9 PRESS INFORMATION page 1

2 OUTSTANDING COMMITMENT TO MODERNISM AND A LEGACY ON THREE CONTINENTS In the person of architect and urban planner Ernst May ( ) this exhibition focuses on one of the outstanding champions of classical Modernist architecture. Not only does his oeuvre span a very long period of time, namely from the end of the German Reich to 1960s West Germany, it also features an extraordinary number of milestones. Outside of Germany his influence can still be traced in Rumania, Poland, Russia, France and East Africa today. An internship in England, which he completed as a student under Raymond Unwin, the renowned designer of the first garden cities, was decisive in shaping May s sense of social commitment. Working as an estate planner in Silesia as of 1919, he refined the idea of the garden city and his resulting concept of the satellite town was to become a recognized model for generations to follow. After the City of Frankfurt placed him in charge of building in 1925, in which context it bestowed extraordinary powers on him, May laid the cornerstone for the exemplary modern city by overseeing the construction of numerous residential estates. The Frankfurt Kitchen was at the heart of the New Living movement. More than 12,000 dwellings were built in rapid succession, many of them constructed using then cutting-edge prefabrication methods. In 1930 the throes of the Great Depression and new challenges saw May relocate to the USSR, where he developed innovative industrial cities stretching far into the Asian continent. When his contract in Russia ended, he went to live in exile in British East Africa, where he initially worked as a coffee plantation farmer before returning once again to his original profession of architect and urban planner. In 1954, now almost 70 years old, May returned to Germany, where the swansong of his career witnessed the construction of many large-scale estates, the last of which were criticized for being based on principles long since regarded as outdated. Today, the name Ernst May is associated with far more than the satellite town and his chief legacy dating back to the 1920s, which has long since gone down in history as the New Frankfurt. May was a politically prudent organizer and as an architect he was always committed to the common good. He worked on three continents and under a various, highly diverse political systems, such that his life can indeed also be read as a compelling political biography. DAM is presenting the first retrospective on Ernst May s oeuvre as an architect and urban planner on the occasion of the 125 th anniversary of his birth on July 27, An exhibition in cooperation with ernstmay-gesellschaft e.v. and made possible by Kulturfonds Frankfurt RheinMain. "Kulturfonds Frankfurt RheinMain is strongly supporting this ambitious projectout of inner conviction," explains its Managing Director Professor Herbert Beck, and continues: "The exhibition showcases Ernst May as an outstanding ambassador of classical Modernism, whose oeuvre has had a tremendous influence well beyond the Rhine-Main region. On the basis of close dialogue with scholars inside and outside Germany, the DAM has succeeded quite uniquely in featuring the current state of research on Ernst May in a major retrospective on him that is destined to reach the broader general public. Our financial support includes backing an internationalsymposiumthat will coincide with the end of the exhibition and shed light on the latest insights into research on Ernst May." PRESS INFORMATION page 2

3 Kopfbau Hadrianstraße, Siedlung Römerstadt, 1928 Ernst May Gesellschaft NEW FRANKFURT In February 1925 Ernst May successfully applied for the position of Head of the Frankfurt City Building Department. He was furnished with wide-ranging powers and had the full support of Lord Mayor Ludwig Landmann (DDP) and Municipal Treasurer Bruno Asch (SPD). May assembled a dedicated team, and in the course of the next five years with its help he implemented a comprehensive program of works. The goal was to eliminate the housing shortage in less than 10 years and by ,000 new dwellings had already been built in satellite towns on the outskirts of Frankfurt. The building technology and methods as well as the shape of the apartments and their fittings was extensively revised and new interpretations found. Light, air and sun were something all the city s inhabitants were meant to enjoy. An extensive information program and the magazine Das Neue Frankfurt both served to advertise the ambitious agenda. The result: Frankfurt was the first vivid example of a city designed in line with the principles of New Building. The New Frankfurt emerged alongside Berlin and Dessau as a highly noted stage for avantgarde architecture. Local criticism as often fierce, but international recognition grew by the day. The beginning of the Great Depression and political developments made work increasingly hard. Ernst May therefore resolved in 1930 to leave Frankfurt and take up an offer from the Soviet Union. His Frankfurt comrades in arms Landmann and Asch fell victim to the Nazis as they were both political opponents of Nazism and Jews. PRESS INFORMATION page 3

4 BIOGRAPHY ERNST MAY 1886 Born on July 27 in Frankfurt/Main, May was the second of three children to leather goods manufacturer Adam May and his wife Fanny Clara Ernst May toyed with the idea of becoming an artist. Spent some time studying at University College London. In October, May commenced his military service in Darmstadt and enrolled in the Architectural Department at Technische Universität Darmstadt. His military service however, which lasted until September 1908, left him very little time for his studies In October, May enrolled at Technische Hochschule München to study architecture under Friedrich von Thiersch, Theodor Fischer and Hans Eduard von Berlepsch-Valendas. As a student May was involved in the construction of Frankfurt s Festhalle conceived by Thiersch s architectural firm. 1910/11 Internship at Raymond Unwin in London, the Letchworth project introduced May to the concept of the garden city May worked briefly in Otto Mach s architectural firm in Berlin. At the end of the year he teamed up with Clemens Musch and together they opened their own firm in Frankfurt/Main. The majority of their work involved villa projects May married Helma Bodewig. In August he was called up for military service and deployed to France Transfer to the eastern front First concepts and contracts for military cemeteries in Rumania. Closing of the architectural firm Musch & May in Frankfurt Appointed as Inspector of military cemeteries in occupied northern France and member of the Artists Advisory Council of the 18 th Army. Released from military service in August. Ernst May and Helma Bodewig divorced In February, May was appointed Technical Director of the non-profit organization Schlesische Landgesellschaft, and subsequently of the Schlesische Heimstätte in Wroclaw established in June of the same year. Married Ilse Hartmann on June 3 rd. They had two sons (Klaus 1920 and Thomas 1923) 1925 On September 1, May was appointed to Frankfurt s City Council as Head of the Urban Planning Department, which comprised the Building Department with special emphasis on standardization and construction consulting, the Housing Department specializing in urban and regional planning including gardens and cemeteries, the Building Inspection Department and several positions on the supervisory board From October to January 1930 May held a teaching position for construction and housing at Frankfurt s Kunstgewerbeschule. PRESS INFORMATION page 4

5 1929 The 2 nd CIAM (Congrès Internationaux d Architecture Moderne) took place in Frankfurt 24/10-26/10 upon May s incentive, with a focus on dwellings for people on minimum wages Lecture tour to Moscow, Leningrad and Kharkov. May appointed Chief Engineer of Urban and Housing Development in the USSR May bought a farm in Tanganyika (Tanzania) where he grew crops over the next three years May increasingly worked as an architect again As of April, Ernst and his son Klaus May were detained in South Africa (until August 1942) as foreigners posing a potential threat to the state. In June Ilse and Thomas May were likewise interned there (until April 1941) May resumed his work as an architect again in Nairobi/Kenya May rejected the offer to become Hamburg s Building Director due to prior contractual obligations in Africa. He was bestowed an honorary doctorate in Engineering by the Technische Hochschule Hannover The May family relocated to Hamburg from East Africa May was appointed Urban Planning Director by Hamburg s Neue Heimat housing association. He received the Grand Federal Cross of Merit May resigned from his position as Urban Planning Director of the Neue Heimat May worked as a freelance architect and urban planner. He was bestowed an honorary doctorate of Arts by the Universität Freiburg and became an honorary professor at the Technische Hochschule Darmstadt May was appointed Director of Urban Planning by the City of Mainz (until 1960). Honored with the Cornelius-Gurlitt medal by the Akademie für Städtebau und Landesplanung Berlin Ernst May was a (founding) member of Berlin s Akademie der Künste, where he was Assistant Director in the Department of Architecture until On January 1, May was appointed Director of Urban Planning by the City of Wiesbaden. He received the Fritz Schumacher award in Hamburg and was made an honorary member of the Royal Institute of British Architects, London May was honored with the Heinrich Plett Award The Cities of Wiesbaden and Frankfurt/Main bestowed May with badges of honor. He was made an honorary member of the Deutsche Akademie für Städtebau und Landesplanung May died on September 11 in Hamburg. PRESS INFORMATION page 5

6 To coincide with the exhibition there will be several guided tours to New Frankfurt housing estates, events and lectures. Please see for dates and further details. PUBLICATION Claudia Quiring, Wolfgang Voigt, Peter Cachola Schmal, Eckhard Herrel (Ed.) ERNST MAY Prestel Verlag, Munich / 2011 German / English, 336 pages, 471 coloured images, 24 x 30 cm, Hardcover ISBN: Bookstore prize 49,95 EUR, museum shop prize 39 EUR. PRESS INFORMATION page 6

7 IMPRINT ERNST MAY NEUE STÄDTE AUF DREI KONTINENTEN 28 July - 6 November 2011 at the DAM An exhibition of Deutsches Architekturmuseum DAM, Frankfurt am Main In cooperation with ernst-may-gesellschaft e.v. Director Peter Cachola Schmal Curator Claudia Quiring Assistant curator Philipp Sturm Exhibition organization Peter Körner, Philipp Sturm, Michael Stöneberg Registrar Wolfgang Welker Trainee Anette Beuter Public Relations Brita Köhler, Stefanie Lampe Exhibition design DESERVE, Mario Lorenz, Lars Schneider, Jan Sopp; Peter Körner Rekonstruction Frankfurter Küche Thomas Landahl Poster, flag banner and invitation card Gardeners Office staff Inka Plechaty Administrative staff Yvonne Künstler Installation and hanging, framings at the DAM Marina Barry, Paolo Brunino, Enrico Hirsekorn, Eike Laeuen, Joachim Müller-Rahn, Harald Pompl, Michael Reiter, Angela Tonner, Beate Voigt, Herbert Warmuth, Gerhard Winkler, Valerian Wolenik, Oliver Taschke under the direction of Christian Walter Lenders ABG-Holding, Frankfurt am Main; Architekturmuseum, Wrocław; Bauhausarchiv, Berlin; Bauhausuniversität, Weimar; Baukunstarchiv der Akademie der Künste, Berlin; Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montreal; Deutsches Kunstarchiv im Germanischen Nationalmuseum, Nürnberg; Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule, gta, Zürich; ernst-may-gesellschaft e.v., Frankfurt am Main; Grünflächenamt, Frankfurt am Main; Hamburgisches Architekturarchiv, Hamburg; historisches museum, Frankfurt am Main; Institut für Stadtgeschichte, Frankfurt am Main; Klingenmuseum, Solingen; Landesmuseum, Oldenburg; Niederländisches Architekturinstitut, Rotterdam; Rat für Formgebung, Frankfurt am Main; Siedlerverein Praunheim, Frankfurt am Main; Stadtmuseum, Wiesbaden; Stadtplanungsamt, Darmstadt; Universität für angewandte Kunst, Wien; Lore Kramer, Frankfurt am Main und weitere private Leihgeber Models Leibniz-Universität Hannover, Institut für Entwerfen und Gebäudelehre, Zvonko Turkali, Jens Broszeit mit Studierenden; Universität Stuttgart, Institut für Öffentliche Bauten, Arno Lederer, Victoria von Gaudecker, Christiane Fülscher, Werkstattleitung der Fakultät Architektur: Martin Hechinger, Edeltraud Walla mit Studierenden PRESS INFORMATION page 7

8 In cooperation with: Made possible by: Kindly supported by: Press images for announcements and reports during the exhibition period at PRESS INFORMATION page 8

9 20 August 25 September 2011 The rule and the exception On the 80th birthday of Wolfgang Pehnt 1 October 13 November 2011 Iceland and Architecture? 19 November January 2012 Eminent Architects Seen by Ingrid von Kruse DEUTSCHES ARCHITEKTURMUSEUM Press & Public Relations Schaumainkai 43, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, Brita Köhler, Dipl.-Ing. (FH) T +49 (0) \ F +49 (0) brita.koehler@stadt-frankfurt.de Stefanie Lampe, B.A. / Assistence T +49 (0) \ F +49 (0) stefanie.lampe@stadt-frankfurt.de PRESS INFORMATION page 9