Alumni at the Kunsthalle Bremen

An Evening with Max Liebermann

At the end of November, the event series ‘Networking of, for and with alumni’ met for the last time in 2016 at the Kunsthalle Bremen. Our alumni had been invited by exhibition curator Katerina Vatsella. The art gallery’s executive director, Stefan Schnier, welcomed the participants and provided them with insights to the daily work routine at the Kunsthalle Bremen. He explained the Bremen Art Association and the preparation that is necessary for a new exhibition. Two full years go by between the initial planning and the grand opening. Afterwards, the alumni were able to address the executive director with their questions. He remarked that about half of the art gallery’s visitors were not from Bremen but from out of town. “The success of
an exhibition depends on how well we manage to be noticed outside of our region,” Schnier added. Subsequently, the alumni visited the current Max Liebermann exhibition ‘From Leisure to Modern Sport’ with Katerina Vatsella, who provided interesting details throughout her tour through the exhibition. For example, it turns out that Liebermann was long known as the ‘painter of ugliness’. Furthermore, he himself was not a great sportsman in contradiction to what the paintings may lead to believe. It was just the movements that fascinated him in polo, boxing,
and tennis. According to Liebermann, sports should only be done recreationally. The highly successful event was rounded off at the ‘Theatro’.