The Munich Secession was an association of visual artists who broke away from the mainstream Munich Artists' Association in 1892, to promote and defend their art in the face of what they considered official paternalism and its conservative policies. They acted as a form of

cooperative A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-control ...

, using their influence to assure their economic survival and obtain commissions. In 1901, the association split again when some dissatisfied members formed the group

Phalanx The phalanx ( grc, φάλαγξ; plural phalanxes or phalanges, , ) was a rectangular mass military formation, usually composed entirely of heavy infantry armed with spears, pikes, sarissas, or similar pole weapons. The term is particularly use ...

. Another split occurred in 1913, with the founding of the New Munich Secession.

Background

By the end of the nineteenth century, more artists lived in Munich than lived in Vienna and Berlin put together. However, the art community there was dominated by the conservative attitudes of the Munich Artists' Association and its supporters in the government. These attitudes found expression in the official "mission statements", written by the so-called "Prince of Painters" (''Malerfürst'')

Franz von Lenbach Franz Seraph Lenbach, after 1882, Ritter von Lenbach (13 December 1836 – 6 May 1904), was a German painter known primarily for his portraits of prominent personalities from the nobility, the arts, and industry. Because of his standing in society ...

. Matters came to a head in 1891 when the Prince-Regent Luitpold of Bavaria founded the Prinzregent-Luitpold-Stiftung zur Förderung der Kunst, des Kunstgewerbes und des Handwerks in München, an art foundation devoted to promoting traditional

history painting History painting is a genre in painting defined by its subject matter rather than any artistic style or specific period. History paintings depict a moment in a narrative story, most often (but not exclusively) Greek and Roman mythology and Bible ...

in the service of the state. This foundation created and maintained a high level of artistic quality and brought world attention to the

Academy of Fine Arts The following is a list of notable art schools. Accredited non-profit art and design colleges * Adelaide Central School of Art * Alberta College of Art and Design * Art Academy of Cincinnati * Art Center College of Design * The Art Institute o ...

, but was firmly opposed to

impressionism Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating ...

expressionism Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...

symbolism Symbolism or symbolist may refer to: Arts * Symbolism (arts), a 19th-century movement rejecting Realism ** Symbolist movement in Romania, symbolist literature and visual arts in Romania during the late 19th and early 20th centuries ** Russian sy ...

and other contemporary trends in the art world. Another factor was the complete financial failure of an exhibition in 1888 at the Glaspalast, organized by the Artists' Association. This led to a bitter debate about responsibility and the exhibition's content which grew so furious, it attracted the attention of the Ministry of State for Science and Art. To address this situation, a group of artists with a progressive outlook gathered together in 1892, announced their separation from the official Artists' Association and established the Munich Secession, with an eye toward exhibiting at the upcoming

World's Columbian Exposition The World's Columbian Exposition (also known as the Chicago World's Fair) was a world's fair held in Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordi ...

. They called for a transformation in the ideas of what constitutes art and promoted the idea of an artists' freedom to present works directly to the public. In this statement of principles, the artists declared their intentions to move away from outmoded principles and a conservative conception of what art is.

Foundation

On 4 April 1892, ninety-six artists who had resigned from the official association, established the Association of Visual Artists of Munich. Bruno Piglhein was elected the first president and Paul Hoecker became the first secretary. In a few months the original name gave way to the more popular name: Munich Secession. Financial support initially came from three sources:

Georg Hirth Georg Hirth (13 July 1841 in Tonna – 28 March 1916 in Tegernsee) was a German writer, journalist and publisher. He is best known for founding the cultural magazine '' Jugend'' in 1896, which was instrumental in popularizing Art Nouveau. ...

, a writer and journalist who coined the word "secession" to describe the spirit of the various art movements at that time. In 1896, he would establish the

Art-Nouveau Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Modern ...

magazine '' Jugend'';

Georg von Vollmar Georg Heinrich Ritter (Chevalier) von Vollmar auf Veldheim (March 7, 1850 – June 30, 1922) was a democratic socialist politician from Bavaria. Biography Vollmar was born in Munich, and educated in a school attached to a Benedictine monastery at ...

, editor of the

Democratic Socialist Democratic socialism is a left-wing political philosophy that supports political democracy and some form of a socially owned economy, with a particular emphasis on economic democracy, workplace democracy, and workers' self-management within a ...

party's official organ; and , a member of the liberal opposition to the government's policies. That same year saw the creation of another breakaway association, the , composed of more moderate artists who wanted to maintain the high-quality standards of the academy. The

Vienna Secession The Vienna Secession (german: Wiener Secession; also known as ''the Union of Austrian Artists'', or ''Vereinigung Bildender Künstler Österreichs'') is an art movement, closely related to Art Nouveau, that was formed in 1897 by a group of Austri ...

followed five years later, and the

Berlin Secession The Berlin Secession was an art movement established in Germany on May 2, 1898. Formed in reaction to the Association of Berlin Artists, and the restrictions on contemporary art imposed by Kaiser Wilhelm II, 65 artists "seceded," demonstrating ag ...

was established in 1898.

Exhibitions

At first, the secession had some difficulty finding a building for their exhibitions. The city of Frankfurt offered to provide the necessary space and 500,000

gold marks The German mark (german: Goldmark ; sign: ℳ) was the currency of the German Empire, which spanned from 1871 to 1918. The mark was paired with the minor unit of the pfennig (₰); 100 pfennigs were equivalent to 1 mark. The mark was on the ...

, if the group would move there permanently.Helmut Kästl
''Historisches zur Münchener Secession''.
In: ''muenchenersecession.de'', retrieved 22 June 2012. Their first exhibition actually took place at Berlin's National Exhibition Building (now known as ') early in 1893. Baurat (city construction supervisor) Franz von Brandl provided the secession with some free land at the corner of Prinzregentenstraße and Pilotystraße. Construction began immediately and their debut exhibition took place on 16 July 1893, in the first portion of the building to be completed. Over 4,000 visitors came to see 876 works by 297 artists. The success of this effort eventually allowed them to come to an agreement with Franz von Lenbach and the Artists' Association. As a result, the art exhibition building on the Königsplatz (now the Staatliche Antikensammlungen) was transferred to the secession in 1897.

Later history

In 1933, the

National Socialist Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...

party began their crusade to bring all forms of artistic expression under their control: a process known as ''

Gleichschaltung The Nazi term () or "coordination" was the process of Nazification by which Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party successively established a system of totalitarian control and coordination over all aspects of German society and societies occupied b ...

'' (bringing into line). Artists were eventually required to obtain state endorsement for all of their works. Those who were considered "

degenerate Degeneracy, degenerate, or degeneration may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Degenerate (album), ''Degenerate'' (album), a 2010 album by the British band Trigger the Bloodshed * Degenerate art, a term adopted in the 1920s by the Nazi Party i ...

" were not allowed to paint. Hermann Glaser: ''Wie Hitler den deutschen Geist zerstörte. Kulturpolitik im Dritten Reich''. Ellert & Richter, Hamburg 2005, . In 1938, the Munich Secession was dissolved as part of the ''Kulturellen Säuberung'' ( cultural cleansing) process. Following the end of World War II in 1946, the ' and the ''Neue Münchner Künstlergenossenschaft'' (New Munich Artists' Association) were founded and led to the establishment of the ''Bundesverband Bildender Künstlerinnen und Künstler'' (Federal Association of Visual Artists). In 1992, the secession celebrated its centennial and, in March of the following year, the Society of Friends and Sponsors of the Munich Secession was created to support the secession's continuing goals, maintain the Secessionsgalerie and promote exhibitions.

Founding members of the secession's board

* Bernhard Buttersack * Ludwig Dill * Bruno Piglhein, first president * Ludwig von Herterich * Paul Hoecker, first secretary *

Albert von Keller Albert von Keller (27 April 1844 – 14 July 1920) was a German painter of Swiss ancestry. He specialized in portraits and indoor scenes. Female figures are a prominent feature of his work. Biography Keller was born in Gais, Switzerland. He ...

* Gotthardt Kuehl *

Hugo von Habermann Hugo Joseph Anton Freiherr von Habermann (14 June 1849 – 27 February 1929) was a German painter and draftsman. He is sometimes referred to as "the Elder" to distinguish him from his nephew of the same name, who was also a painter. Life Habe ...

, second president * Robert Poetzelberger, second secretary *

Franz von Stuck Franz von Stuck (February 23, 1863 – August 30, 1928), born Franz Stuck, was a German painter, sculptor, printmaker, and architect. Stuck was best known for his paintings of ancient mythology, receiving substantial critical acclaim with '' The ...

Fritz von Uhde Fritz von Uhde (born Friedrich Hermann Carl Uhde; 22 May 1848 – 25 February 1911) was a German painter of genre and religious subjects. His style lay in-between Realism and Impressionism, he was once known as "Germany's outstanding impressioni ...

Heinrich von Zügel Heinrich Johann von Zügel (22 October 1850, Murrhardt – 30 January 1941, Munich) was a German painter who specialized in pictures of farm and domestic animals, often posed with a human in a dramatic or humorous situation. Life Beginning in 1 ...

References

External links

Munich Secession website

Complete catalogs 1893-1947 (PDF)
*

Adolf Rosenberg Carl Adolf Rosenberg (1850 – 1906) was a German theater critic and art historian. Rosenberg was born as the son of a Prussian merchant in Bydgoszcz and attended secondary school in Berlin and Cologne. He studied classics and archeology at the U ...

: ''Die Ausstellung der Münchener „24" in Berlin''. In: Karl von Lützow, Adolf Rosenberg: ''Kunstchronik. Wochenschrift für Kunst und Kunstgewerbe''. Vol.4.1892/93, . Seemann, Leipzig/Berlin 1893, S. 185–188. �
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