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Germany Buchheim MuseumMy Dream MuseumBy Madelyn MillerDoesn't everyone dream of having a museum? I can't help thinking that everyone would love to see their collection of plates or dolls or salt and pepper shakers. I collect cowboy boots and funky costume jewelry and would love to think that after I die people would be so charmed by the things I have chosen to assemble that visitors would come from all over the world to see my collections. Lothar-Günther Buchheim has made that happen.
Arranged around the "Brücke" pieces are works by such independent artists as Max Beckmann and Christian Rohlfs. Also represented are the predecessors and second-generation successors of the Expressionists. Noteworthy among these are the watercolors and graphics of Otto Dix, forming a bridge to the art of the 1920's. But what made this exhibit so special to me was the way it was displayed as much as the objects included. What awaits you at the Buchheim Museum The Buchheim Museum lies north of Bernried in a magnificent park on the banks of Lake Starnberg. Groves of old trees, enchanted ponds, pagodas, sculptures, and other works of art line the path from the parking area (on state road B2063) to the Museum itself. The Architecture - A Home for the Buchheim Collections The architect Günter Behnisch has created a building that reflects the extraordinary diversity of the collections of painter, photographer, publisher, art book author and novelist Lothar-Günther Buchheim. Displayed in the northern halls are the paintings, watercolors, drawings and print graphics of the Expressionists, forming the core of the legendary Buchheim collection. The more intimate rooms of the two multi-storied "towers" are reserved for the collections of ethnic and folk art and for Buchheim's own work. A special attraction is the deck reaching out twelve meters above the lake; from here, the view on a clear day extends as far as the town of Starnberg and the Alps. Four Museums under one Roof In his museum, Buchheim brings together exhibits that would usually be displayed in separate museums. Paintings and Graphics are intermingled, hanging in immediate proximity to arts and crafts from all over the world, Bavarian "folk art," and cultic objects from Africa and other non-European cultures. Thus, the museum houses a meeting of world cultures and an exciting dialog between the art of the Expressionists and their sources of inspiration from Africa and the South Sea Islands. The Collection of a Painter
The Living Museum -Rotation of Exhibits, Special Expositions and Events One visit to the Buchheim Museum will reveal rnerely a fraction of what the Museum has to offer. Buchheim's collections, including those of Expressionist art, are so extensive that the museum can continue to display new works for decades. Rotating special exhibitions in the "Graphics Cabinet" will include works by Picasso, Léger, Matisse, Braque, and Chagall -all drawn from the Buchheim collections. Anyone interested in a deepened understanding of Buchheim and his collections can also attend the Museum's block-programs, which include film and slide lectures, workshops for children and adults, readings, concerts, and various similar events. Exhibitions of Folk and Ethnic Art
Giftshop and Cafeteria In addition to the cheerful cafeteria with its outdoor terrace, the
Museum contains a giftshop which offers not only greeting cards and posters,
books written and published by Lothar-Günther Buchheim, catalogues and
portfolios of the exhibitions, and selected literature relating to the
individual collections, but also a varying assortment of arts and crafts
from all over the world. BEST WAY TO GET THEREFly to Munich and drive. Allow yourself plenty of time in the museum and
plan to wander around the nearby town. US AIRWAYS flies frequently to Munich GREAT GUIDEBOOKSFROMMER’S GERMANY 2002 FROMMER’S BAVARIA EYEWITNESS TRAVELGUIDES Romantik 2002 WHERE TO STAYDorint Seehotel Ueberfahrt Frau Vogel/Frau Melanie Schauer. Other things to do in the Starnberger Five Lakes area with beautiful
views of the Alps FOR MORE INFORMATIONinfo@starnberger-fuenf-seen-land.de
The Bavarian Connection |
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The Buchheim Collection encompasses an extraordinarily wide spectrum of
outstanding expressionist art. The collection attracted international
attention after a world tour in the 1980's. At its center are works by the
painters Kirchner, Heckel, Schmidt-Rottluff and Pechstein, who -joined
temporarily by the artists Nolde and Mueller- formed the art group "Brücke"
(1905-1913). The group aimed to intensify the expression of their work,
using a sparse and bold style that emphasized vivid colors and clearly
differentiated, monumental forms. In protest against the official art of the
Wilhelmine era, the young artists wanted to give "unmediated and genuine"
expression to that which "impe1led them to create." Today, their works are
recognized as classics and mark the beginning of artisic Modernism in
Germany. 
The rich assortment found in the Buchheim collection not only shows the
artistic development of these artists; the collective presentation of
paintings and graphics a1so highlights the strong influence of woodcuts and
sketches on the painting style of the "Brücke" artists. At the same time,
the collection impressively demonstrates that the importance of
expressionist graphics is comparable only to that of the woodcuts and
copperplate engravings of the Dürer era. 
The best way to gain true access to the Buchheim collections is through
the painter and artist Buchheim himself. Buchheim, in his boyhood already a
gifted painter and hailed a child genius, is a visual person. The subject-rnatter
of his paintings and photographs, and even his novels, is that which he
perceives visually. Sight is his means of experiencing and understanding the
world. Thus, he conquers new terrain with each new and unique item that
finds its way into his collections. Buchheim does not collect, he finds and
discovers. He does not cling to the need to classify art as "valuable" or
"worthless", to categorize it as "high" or "low" art, nor does he restrict
himself to a specialized focus on only one or few areas. Buchheim is open to
the fullness of life, always ready to be amazed by the multiplicity of forms
in nature and the unbounded inventiveness of mankind. 
The kaleidoscope of folk and ethnic art, modestly described as "side -
collections", includes glass paintings, Art Deco vases, carrousel animals,
approximately 3000 paperweights, immense quantities of popular graphic
prints, Bauernschränke (cupboards and wardrobes decorated with traditional
folk- art motifs), porcelain, ceramics, textiles, and jewelry from all
corners of the globe, African sculptures, masks, and cultic objects,
Indonesian shadow-puppets, Chinese ink drawings, Japanese woodcuts, posters,
and much more. The works of several self-taught artists form additional
exhibits: the virtuoso wood sculptor Hans Schmitt, the "painting farmer" Max
Raffler, the ventriloquist Muskat, and the Parisian artist of the Naïve,
Hector Trotin. In its all-encompassing entirety, the Buchheim Museum is
itself a unique work of art. Its remarkable diversity evades reduction to a
single common denominator. Nonetheless, Buchheim's enthusiasm for forceful
expression, intense colors, intricate craftsmanship, and the diversity of
traditional artistic forms does suggest navigable paths through what
appears, at first glance, as chaos.