Word Artists / Visual Artists

From Goethe to Ringelnatz. And Herta Müller.

April 28 to July 7, 2013
at the Old Town Hall
Ingelheim am Rhein

Dual talents are not uncommon. Time and again, creative individuals have distinguished themselves in fields that do not correspond to their original activity. Poets whose primary artistic impact lies in the written word have often created independent, non-derivative works of visual art that broaden the spectrum of their creativity and document entirely new aspects of artistic expression. Painting and drawing stand on an equal footing with the literary ambition of the primary work.

The exhibition presents a wide range of visual-art positions, from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s depictions of the classical landscape to Joachim Ringelnatz’s subtle and quirky scenes. Works by Justinus Kerner, Victor Hugo, George Sand, Hans Christian Andersen, Wilhelm Busch and Paul Scheerbart will also be on view. Herta Müller’s word collages—she received the 2009 Nobel Prize in Literature—form the radical yet poetic endpoint, in which the author uses words to create both texts and, on the other hand, collages with their own visual-art aesthetic. These collages will be shown as part of the exhibition at the Museum at the Imperial Palace, directly next to the Old Town Hall.

The audio guide will make literature an integral part of the exhibition. It will highlight for visitors the specific connections between visual art and literature through spoken original texts and biographical links.

After its presentation in Ingelheim, the exhibition will be shown as a project of the Internationale Tage Boehringer Ingelheim at the Museum Behnhaus Drägerhaus in Lübeck (July 27 – October 20, 2013).