Käthe Kollwitz to Jutta Müller: Exhibitions in Chemnitz

This year's exhibitions at the Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz span an arc between great utopias and the everyday. The Gunzenhauser Museum, for example, is preparing a three-part series on the subject of food. Starting with Eve's apple and mother's milk, the focus will be on the connection between gender roles and food, for example, but also on rituals and the connection between culture, religion and identity, explained museum director Anja Richter. After all, food is far more than just nourishment.

The art collections on Theaterplatz will kick off the new exhibition series entitled "Utopia. Right to Hope" on April 11. In cooperation with the Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, positions of contemporary art will be presented that, in the face of global crises, create concrete ideas for a fairer and more sustainable coexistence, said General Director Florence Thurmes. In a time of polycrises with wars, environmental pollution and genocides, it is important to think big about how we can live together better. "This foresight is often lacking because everyone is only looking at their smartphone or tablet."

Exhibitions on Käthe Kollwitz and Jutta Müller

Some exhibitions are specifically dedicated to individual artists. One of these is Käthe Kollwitz (1867-1945). The Chemnitz collection comprises more than 90 prints and five drawings from all phases of her career, explained Kerstin Drechsel, curator of the graphic art collection. The show will draw on this collection, supplemented by sculptures on loan. The whole will enter into a dialog with works from a photography class at the Academy of Visual Arts Leipzig in order to span the arc into the present. Another show in the fall will be dedicated to the work of Wolfgang Mattheuer and his wife Ursula Mattheuer-Neustädt.

A personality from a completely different field will be the focus of the Schloßbergmuseum at the end of the year: figure skating coach Jutta Müller (1928-2023), who made international sporting history. According to information, parts of her estate left to the museum will then be shown for the first time.