Venue:MdbK - Museum der bildenden Künste
Katharinenstraße 10
04109 Leipzig
mdbk.dePartner:The exhibition is a cooperation with the Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf and the Evelyn Richter Archive of the Ostdeutsche Sparkassenstiftung at the MdbK. It is sponsored by the Ostdeutsche Sparkassenstiftung together with Sparkasse Leipzig and the BMW Group.
In addition to the artist's work and oeuvre, the exhibition also presents her networks and artistic environment. For the first time ever, the artistic oeuvre of photographer Eva Wagner-Zimmermann (1928-2015), a close friend and long-time companion of Evelyn Richter, will be presented. Like Richter and Ursula Arnold, she studied at the Academy of Visual Arts in Leipzig. After leaving the HGB in 1954 and moving to West Germany, Eva Wagner married the physicist Wolfhart Zimmermann in 1957. She often accompanied her husband on his trips abroad. Whenever possible, she photographed everyday life on the street - in Mexico, Paris and New York. The circle of friends is complemented by the Berlin-based sculptor Christa Sammler (*1932).
The exhibition is divided into two sections in terms of space and content. In an exhibition section on the third floor, works by the four friends Ursula Arnold, Evelyn Richter, Christa Sammler and Eva Wagner-Zimmermann are presented in three rooms. Their different paths in life are reappraised and contextualized - also in order to approach the question of how women of their generation were able to become active as artists.
A second part of the exhibition in the basement focuses on Evelyn Richter as a photobook artist. The photo book offered Richter the ideal opportunity to present her pictorial concept. The self-contained book form made it possible to define a stringently composed sequence and develop a narrative image structure, and her completed book on Paul Dessau and the non-fiction book Entwicklungswunder Mensch are presented in the form of layouts, proofs and portrait photographs. In addition, an unrealized book project on the subject of "Women in the GDR" will be on display for the first time.
The exhibition catalog is a joint effort and was created in close collaboration between the Evelyn Richter Archive, the Kunstpalast Düsseldorf, the MdbK, Evelyn Richter's family, represented by Peter Richter, and Spector Verlag. It is available in a German and an English edition. The volume with 212 pages, numerous illustrations and texts by Linda Conze, Florian Ebner, Philipp Freytag, Sandra Starke, Jeannette Stoschek and Jan Wenzel is available for € 42 in the museum store MZIN and in bookshops.
