Skip to content

German Impressionism Presented at the MFA Houston

Max Liebermann - Country House in Hilversum

Max Liebermann
Country House in Hilversum—Villa in Hilversum, 1901
Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Nationalgalerie

German Impressionism at the MFA Houston First U.S. exhibition to explore Impressionism´s little-nnown German chapter with more than 100 paintings, drawings, and prints. September 12 — December 5, 2010]]>

Source: MFA Houston
Max Liebermann, celebrated as “the German Manet,” was the leader of a generation of German painters who were inspired by the stylistic developments in France. With colleagues Lovis Corinth and Max Slevogt, he forged the way for Impressionism in Germany. The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, will be the first American museum to devote a major exhibition to German Impressionism with ‘German Impressionist Landscape Painting: Liebermann—Corinth—Slevogt’, on view September 12—December 5, 2010. While the artists were not exclusively devoted to landscape painting, the development of German Impressionism can be most clearly traced through these light-dappled, plein-air works. Eighty paintings, most on loan from German institutions, offer a rare opportunity for audiences to discover Impressionism´s little-known German chapter. Co-organized by the MFAH and the Wallraf-Richartz-Museum & Fondation Corboud, Cologne, the exhibition travels from Cologne to Houston. An accompanying exhibition of forty graphic works, ‘Drawing from Nature: Landscapes by Liebermann, Corinth, Slevogt’, will also be on view, illustrating the full range of their approach to landscapes.

“While Impressionism is considered a fundamentally French development, it naturally spread to neighboring countries, and German Impressionist Landscape Painting focuses on the greatest works by these leading German visionaries,” said Dr. Peter C. Marzio, MFAH director. “Liebermann, Corinth, and Slevogt are rarely exhibited in the United States, as their works are generally not in American museum collections, and the MFAH exhibition will be the first time that works by the so-called ´Triumvirate of German Impressionism´ will be shown together.”

“German Impressionist Landscape Painting presents a wonderful opportunity to explore why it took nearly 20 years for Impressionism to make its way from Paris to Germany,” added Dr. Helga Aurisch, MFAH associate curator of European art and co-organizer of the exhibition. “By looking at the greatest German Impressionist painters—presenting their works to the American public for the first time—we are able to better understand an important chapter of art history and the complex relationship between the art world and world events.”

Follow us on:

German Impressionism Presented at the MFA Houston