Hegenbarth 2.1

The Hegenbarth Sammlung Berlin organises three or four solo and theme exhibitions per year, smaller and larger in size, mostly based on the own collection of works by Josef Hegenbarth (1884—1962). Now a new format will be launched: a series of shows conceived and curated by art students. The series is premiered by a class each of Universität der Künste Belrin and Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst Leipzig. They have chosen scenes of everyday life from Hegenbarth’s oeuvre under the title “Why did the artist cross the road? Hegenbarth trifft Gegenwart (Hegenbarth 2.1)”. Hegenbarth mastered a sharp pen, met the world with open eyes and a warm heart for his fellow people with all their human peculiarities.

Why did the artist cross the road? Asks a group of young artists of Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst Leipzig and Universität der Künste Berlin meeting the artist Josef Hegenbarth in the upcoming show to which we kindly invite you. Bear witness of an exceptional encounter of all protagonists, their artistic standing within the selection of exhibits, their own texts and graphic works respondong to this question.

Ana Dimke, professor for art education at the Universität der Künste Berlin, and Oliver Kossack, professor for artistic teaching in the printing workshops at the Hochschule für Grafik und Buchgestaltung Leipzig, have met during their time together as colleagues at HGB Leipzig. From this acquaintance and their mutual interest in experimentally mediating between picture and language now a project has been realised where students from Berlin and Leipzig cooperate and develop an exhibition for the Hegenbarth Sammlung Berlin.

Josef Hegenbarth was an observer of endless encounters in the street, in cafés or parks, capturing them in drawings and sketches. These scenes indicate a curious, restless artist who wanted to record immediacy and everyday life, thus drawing up a dense narrative of life, the people of his time and of a city. The viewer reflects upon questions such as: How did these people meet? What brought them together? Which crazy stories did they take along? The figures, depicted in poses sometimes grotesque or with a strange mimic expression, appear as caricature of a discreet, but sometimes open humour.