Bernhard Heiliger Foundation


		Contents: BERNHARD HEILIGER 1915-1995 Cosmos of a Sculptor Heiliger's Heads in Passau Heiliger's Heads in Scheveningen 2004/2005 Exhibition at the Haus der Bürgerschaft in Bremen 2003 Bernhard Heiliger - The Heads 2000-2002 Retrospective 1998 in Stettin Address by Richard von Weizsäckers from the Exhibition Catalog Bernhard Heiliger - The Heads
The Exhibition Poster	THE POWER OF THE TANGIBLE. SCULPTURE TODAY! The exhibition is an assessment of plasticity in contemporary art. From February 11^th to May 28^th, 2007 Presented by the Friends of the Bernhard Heiliger Foundation in cooperation with the Bernhard Heiliger Foundation The exhibition presents works that focus on the tangible, haptic and material, distinct from current crossover trends. Contrasting with spatial installations and the ephemerality of digital or performance pieces that dominate exhibitions today, such a theme is a desideratum. For the first time, the “renaissance of sculpture” evoked by the art market and media is pursued with evocative sincerity. Georg-Kolbe-Museum · Sensburger Allee 25 · 14055 Berlin Open Tuesday to Sunday, 10 AM to 5 PM Artistic Director: Dr. Marc Wellmann, Chairman of the Bernhard Heiliger Foundation Further information (in German): www.die-macht-des-dinglichen.de
"Olga" Birgit Dieker H. 189 cm, Clothing Photo: Markus Schneider Courtesy Galerie Volker Diehl, Berlin



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The Exhibition Poster	BERNHARD HEILIGER 1915 - 1995 Cosmos of a Sculptor Commemorating the 90^th birthday of Bernhard Heiliger, a major retrospective of his oeuvre was shown at the Martin-Gropius-Bau in Berlin, presented in the building’s atrium and first floor. During the first retrospective of his work at the Bundeskunsthalle Bonn, Bernhard Heiliger was still able to contribute personally. The exhibition was combined with the publication of his completed catalog raisonné, the result of almost ten years of research by the Bernhard Heiliger Foundation. The focus of the retrospective was Heiliger’s prominent role in art in the post-war Germany of the 50ies and 60ies. The centerpiece of the exhibition was the hanging of Kosmos 70 in the atrium of the Martin-Gropius-Bau. This two-part hanging sculpture (9 x 15,14 x 3,88 m) was installed at the Berlin Reichstag, in its foyer, from 1970 to 1994 and was removed in the course of the redesign of the building by Lord Norman Foster. Further information concerning the major Heiliger retrospective remains available at: www.heiliger-retrospektive.de At the time of the retrospective, a photography exhibition was organized by Janos Frecot, the former director of the photography department with the Berlinische Galerie, at the Marie-Elisabeth Lüders Building from November 29^th, 2005, to January 29^th, 2006, illuminating Bernhard Heiliger’s life, work and oeuvre.
Kosmos 70 in the Atrium of the Martin-Gropius-Baus (Montage)




View of the Exhibition	Heiliger’s Heads in Passau From March 4^th to April 24^th, 2005, Bernhard Heiliger’s Heads were shown at the Museum Moderner Kunst, Stiftung Wörlen, in Passau. This was the second stop in a short tour of the portrait heads organized by the Bernhard Heiliger Foundation, after the Museum Beelden aan Zee in Scheveningen near Den Haag. More information on the museum: www.mmk-passau.de
View of the Exhibition



Museum Beelden aan Zee	Heiliger’s Heads in Scheveningen 2004/2005 From October 2^nd, 2004, to January 31^st, 2005, the Museum Beelden aan Zee in Scheveningen near Den Haag showed an exhibition of Bernhard Heiliger’s Heads. This prominent collector’s museum, well known beyond Holland’s borders, was inaugurated by the Dutch Queen Beatrix in 1994. The award-winning architect Wim Quist (extension of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, Kröller-Müller-Museum in Otterloo) built the Beelden aan Zee museum directly into a dune, beneath a pavilion from the early 19^th century. It is a place for tranquility and contemplation, set apart distinctly from the bustle of the seaside resort with its 70s and 80s high-rise architecture. The museum’s artwork rests on the collection of the Scholten family and is devoted exclusively to 20^th-century figurative sculpture. Due to this focus on a single genre and period, the Scholtens have been able to build up a collection that impresses both with its variety and depth. A central role within the collection is played by German sculpture. The Heiliger exhibition was presented in a newly built wing of the museum that was created specifically to display segments of the extensive portrait and head collection of the museum and also to host irregular smaller exhibitions. Bernhard Heiliger’s Heads effectively inaugurated this space, while the museum was celebrating its tenth anniversary.	Top of Page
View of the Exhibition



Restored Reliefs	Exhibition at the Haus der Bürgerschaft 2003 Initiated by the Bernhard Heiliger Foundation, the Relieffries on the Haus der Bremischen Bürgerschaft was restored in the spring of 2003. The 15 severely worn aluminum panels adorn the front of the Bremen Parliament, built by Wassili Luckhardt, since 1965 and stand out for their partial gold-leaf covering. In this, Heiliger reflected upon traditional building decoration in the Hanseatic city, aiming to blend the modern glass façade into the historic ensemble on Bremen’s market square. The contrast of gold-gleaming and chapped surfaces, presented here for the first time, indicates a significant creative period that treats bronze material in an equal fashion after the end of the 60s. To mark the restoration of the Relieffries, an exhibition of Bernhard Heiliger pieces was shown in the Haus der Bürgerschaft from June 5^th to August 15^th, 2003. In addition to 13 drawings, 12 sculptures from all creative phases were presented, documenting the artist’s development from the figurative to the abstract.	Top of Page
Exhibition, North Wing
Exhibition, South Wing



Catalog The Heads	Bernhard Heiliger – The Heads 2000-2002 In cooperation with the Georg-Kolbe-Museum, Berlin, the Bernhard Heiliger Foundation organized an exhibition of Heiliger's portrait-heads in commemoration of his 85^th birthday, which opened on November 12, 2000, where it was on view until January 28, 2001. Further stops: Von der Heydt-Museum in Wuppertal (February 18 to April 22, 2001), Kunstmuseum Kloster Unser Lieben Frauen in Magdeburg (May 2 to July 15, 2001),   Edwin Scharff-Museum in Neu-Ulm (July 21 to October 21, 2001),  Museum Ostdeutsche Galerie in Regensburg (November 18, 2001 to January 15, 2002) and the  Hirschwirtscheuer, Museum für die Künstlerfamilie Sommer in Künzselsau (January 24 to March 24, 2002). An exhibition catalogue was published, edited by Dr. Marc Wellmann, with essays by containing critical essays by Manfred Schneckenburger, Ursel Berger, Jürgen Fitschen and Iring Fetscher, biographical information on the sitters and a catalogue raisoné of the heads: 160 pages, 160 duotone pictures (50 full pages) 32 x 24 cm, € 15, - Available at the Bernhard Heiliger Foundation (order by e-mail plus postage and packaging) and at the participating museums. The booksellers’ edition is published by Wienand-Verlag	Top of Page



The Exhibition Catalog	Retrospective 1998 Two years after the Bernhard Heiliger Foundation was established, the artist’s first posthumous exhibition opened in Szczecin, Heiliger’s birthplace (April 25^th to August 30^th). The exhibition was a cooperation of the Bernhard Heiliger Foundation and the National Museum Szczecin and mainly consisted of sculptures and drawings from the estate. The bilingual (German/Polish) catalog was published with the help of private sponsors who supported this transnational project. It includes articles by Lothar Romain, Manfred Schneckenburger and Bogdana Kozinska. Based on Polish archival material, the director of the Szczecin Museum for City History compiled a detailed reconstruction of Heiliger’s childhood, youth and education at the local Bauhaus-inspired arts-and-crafts school. In the course of the research for the exhibition, the artist’s biography was modified significantly in several points. 94 pages, 16 color illustrations, 48 duplex illustrations 30 x 24 cm, € 13,- Available at the Bernhard-Heiliger-Stiftung (order by e-mail plus postage and packaging)	Top of Page



Poster for the Szczecin Exhibition	Address by Richard von Weizsäckers from the exhibition catalog I welcome the exhibition of Bernhard Heiliger’s works at the National Museum Szczecin enthusiastically and with gratitude. It makes a creative and cultural idea of symbolic importance come true, close to the border between Poland and Germany. Bernhard Heiliger was born in 1915 in Szczecin. It is also where he received his first excellent education. The Bauhaus spirit influenced him. His lifelong passion for sculpture evolved. He studied contemporary art of his time from the ground up. Soon after the end of WWII, Bernhard Heiliger took on his inexhaustibly diverse and completely independent work. At the initiative of Karl Hofer, he was appointed professor at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste in Berlin early, in 1949. In a short period of time, Bernhard Heiliger became the formative personality amongst Germany’s sculptors in the second half of our century. He worked with the smallest of formats as well as dimensions larger than life, in sculpture as well as with his drawings. His eye for nature matched his appreciation for the technical world. It seemed as if he effortlessly lent his works expression through figurative or abstract art. What he created was felt, not invented. This is the basis for his lasting impact deep into the whole of society and time. My personal encounters with Bernhard Heiliger are unforgettable to me. Up-front and sure of his purpose, he was free of all shrewdness. He did not speak much, did not seek out applause, but he did enjoy the deep impression that his art made on his fellow men. In the garden of the German Federal President’s residence in Bonn on the Rhine’s river bank, stands a large sculpture by the artist called Montana I. Scores of guests from around the world have contemplated it. It is one of Bernhard Heiliger’s important works that are hard to transport due to their dimensions. His most famous piece of this kind is the Flamme. It stands on a central square in Berlin. Here, in its appropriate public setting, the artist speaks to the thousands of people who drive and walk around his work day-in and day-out. Consciously or not, it is part of their life. The fact that Szczecin introduces our neighbor to a centerpiece of artistic expressiveness from the German post-war period is a prescient sign of good European neighborliness.	Top of Page
National Museum in Stettin
Exhibition Rooms
Balance of Life



Poster The Heads	Bernhard Heiliger – The Heads Besides his independent work, Heiliger also created a series of portrait heads that count among the most impressive works of their kind. He overcame a contemporary problem - of characterizing the subject as closely as possible and simultaneously creating an autonomous work of art - in an astounding manner. Heiliger's novel and individual view circumvented conventional portrayal and created a living unit of exact physiognomic conciseness with simultaneous formal freedom. Will Grohmann was one of the first to admire Heiliger's achievement. In 1951 he wrote the following about the head of Karl Hofer, director of the Hochschule and painter: "It is a disarming likeness, and at the same time is absolutely plastic. How Heiliger managed to achieve this is an enigma." The work was purchased by several museums and brought him abrupt public recognition that to this day is connected with his heads. He is celebrated as the "reformer of the portrait in sculpture" who successfully merged apparently contradictory artistic approaches.  The persons portrayed were, for the most part, friends of Heiliger's. Thus visual artists can be found among them (Karl Hofer, Alexander Camaro, Boris Blacher, Walter Gropius), actors (O. E. Hasse, Ernst Schröder), art academics (Karl Ludwig Skutsch, Christian Adolf Isermeyer, Kurt Martin, Graf Philip d'Archot), authors (Hans Blüher, Martin Heidegger), collectors (the married couple Schniewind, Markus Kruss), dancers (Dore Hoyer, Catherine Dunham) as well as girlfriends and wives. In four cases Heiliger accepted commissions from the world of politics and business (Ernst Reuter, Theodor Heuß, Ludwig Erhard and Heinrich Nordhoff). Almost all heads were created solely from his interest in reflecting a character, from encountering a particularly memorable face that corresponded to his vocabulary of form. For Heiliger it would have been easy, being pressured from numerous people who wished to be thus immortalized, to have developed this series into a gallery of prominent figures of the '50s and '60s. Ultimately, however, his view was too individual, too far removed from representation and from the creation of official icons. He refrained from using expressionistic elements, pathos and exaggeration, and consistently avoided the dangerous trap of caricature, into which such a concisely working artist can easily fall. Additionally, Heiliger worked in a completely non-schematic manner. The individuality of the physiognomy determined the respective technique. Through his artistic empathy with different personalities, a highly varied and inventive work came into being, which brought together the faces of an epoch. Only once previously were a selection of Heiliger's head sculptures presented as a separate group of work: in 1956 by Karl Ludwig Skutsch in an exhibition in the Haus am Waldsee in Berlin with further stops in West Germany. In the foreword to the catalogue, Skutsch asks us to consider that Heiliger's main interest lies in a completely different area, however that the heads are "compared with the older generation's understanding of portraiture [...] such a convincing new contribution that a separate exhibition of this side of his creative work is merited." From this perspective, after over forty years and for the first time since the death of the artist, an exhibition will now make a complete review of Heiliger's heads possible. Beginning with early examples that were still realistically conceived, the show leads through to the abstract 'figure heads' from the late 1940's. More or less a synthesis of these two approaches, the series of portrait heads stands in the center. In the course of research for the exhibition this series was broadened by several formerly unknown pieces.	Top of Page
Female Head
Head Boris Blacher
Head Ernst Schröder
Head Graf d'Arschot