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Meissen Porcelain of the 1900s - 1930s from the
Collection of the House of Art (Haus der Kunst), Remshalden-Grunbach The exhibition in the Blue Bedroom of the Winter Palace demonstrates 115 art pieces of the Meissen porcelain factory. These art pieces were created by the masters who lived between the two world wars in the period of transition from Art Nouveau to Art Deco. Until the late 1890s Meissen porcelain used to be strictly traditional.
Born in the 18th century, it served as a mirror for its epoch. Even though
in the 20th century porcelain ceased to be an attribute of the aristocratic
culture (as it was in the beginning of its history) it remained as its symbol
which was demanded by the Dance, theater, masquerade, dramatic characters instead of real ones - this was the choice of the late Jugednstil (German version of Art Nouveau) inherited later by Art Deco. The 20th century in the history of Meissen porcelain is referred to as the century of Paul Scheurich. His manneristic plastic (grotesque ballet characters, prissy ladies, capricious Cupids and relaxed putti) is the result of both ironical and delighted attitude towards the bygone age of the courteous ladies and gentlemen. It was the creation of the models for the Meissen factory that allowed the artist to discover his talent to the full extent. The most famous of Scheurich’s series of figures is the Russian Ballet. During the 1910s the whole Europe was fascinated by S. P. Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes which signified a new stage in the development of the musical theater. 20 May 1910 became the opening night for the one act ballet Carnival. It was shown in Berlin in Theater des Westens within the frames of the Ballets Russes. The grotesque expressivity of the dance and the provocative beauty of the costumes were so bright, so new, so unexpected that they served as a powerful creative impulse for the young artist. In 1913 a series of five figures was created. Costumes for Harlequin and Columbine, Pierrot, Eusebius, Chiarina and Estrella were designed by Leon Bakst. The bright overglaze painting emphasized the deliberate theatricality of the costumes and complied with the finical gestures. In the 1920s the illusory world of fantasy took place of the costume world of theater in Scheurich’s art work. Materialized phantoms ceased to demand the coloring. Porcelain paleness suited them well. Only the characters that had to look like the children of the courtly 18th century needed some "surma" and "rouge". The sculptor created over 100 models for the Meissen porcelain factory. After the establishment of the fascist dictatorship in Germany in 1933 Scheurich’s models no longer suited the new ideology. Nevertheless the authorities of the factory (the authorities changed four times during the Third Reich period) decided to exhibit some of Scheurich’s art pieces at an international exhibition Art and Technology in Modern Life in Paris in 1937. This exhibition made famous another talented artist who worked for the Meissen factory - Max Esser. Esser portrayed the animals but he wasn’t merely an animalist sculptor. In his models he searched not for the charm of the individual living creatures but for the embodiment of the features of nature itself. The essence of Esser’s artistic concept is an attempt to capture the dynamics of the movement and to show its perfection laconically and vividly. Paul Scheurich and Max Esser were the two polarities of Art Deco. Max Esser’s expressive art work turned out to be as alien to the Third Reich ideology as Paul Scheurich’s ironical decadence. Between 1935 and 1937 the Meissen porcelain factory purchased from Esser only four models. Frigid and refined Meissen porcelain was sensitive to the oriental motives. The artist Paul Emil Berener introduced a spicy note of oriental luxury into Meissen’s production. His art works are also demonstrated at the exhibition. A leaflet was published for the exposition. The curator of the exhibition is Lydia Lyakhova, senior research scientist of the Department of Western European art of the State Hermitage. |
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Copyright © 2011 State Hermitage Museum |
