Women’s Art Exhibition

From the beginning I was a co-initiator, during the planning phase, the establishment of the project group over a period of 4 years actively involved in the realization of the catalog and the exhibition in 1977 in the orangery Schloss Charlottenburg. The first feminist international art exhibition in Germany, Berlin, was developed as a collective.The professors' outrage over the disdain for women’s art was the motivation for Antonia Wernery and me, both painting master’s students, to support a women’s art project. We met the painter Sarah Schumann, also a member of the women's group Bread and Roses. What they had in common was a critical assessment of the position of women in art and the resulting need to campaign for change. In 1973 the idea for this exhibition arose and a concept for an exhibition was developed. The painter Ursula Bierther, who had also just finished her studies in painting at the HdK, joined us.

For the realization we turned to the New Society for Fine Arts (NEUE GESELLSCHAFT FÜR BILDENDE KUNST - NGBK). When the project was presented at the NGBK (1974) it was rejected. By mobilizing fellow campaigners, the project “Women Artists International 1877-1977” was accepted in a second attempt and the working group “Women and Art” could be set up. Other women joined the group: the German scholars Karen Peterson, Inge Schumacher, the librarian Petra Zöfelt and the art historian Ulrike Stelzel. Together we worked thematically distributed on the research and the realization of the exhibition and the associated catalog up to the opening in March 1977. Because of the abundance of material, the exhibits were spread over several exhibition locations: the orangery, Charlottenburg Palace, the rooms of the NGBK and in the Berlin-Charlottenburg Art Library. The money from lottery funds covered the costs for transport,insurance and catalog production. The work of the women from the project group on research, organization, catalog maintenance and catalog contributions as well as the exhibition setup was unpaid.

It was a time of new beginnings, of the feminist movement and this project would not have been possible without the help of committed female campaigners, e. B. Helke Sander, Renate Gerhard, Gesine Strempel, and many others who supported our project with information. The fact that we were able to exhibit works by FRIDA KAHLO for the first time in Germany is thanks to Verena Stefan. During a trip to Mexico she visited Frida Kahlo's studio and brought us information material. So we were able to establish contact and borrow the anticipating women / self-portrait that is central to her work. There was also an international exchange of feminist research on history, the art of women and also with women artists on their current actions and publications, mainly from Western countries within Europe and the USA.

I would like to refer to the publication by Dr. MONIKA KAISER - NEW OCCUPATIONS OF THE KUNST-RAUMES- Published in the -transcript- Edition Museum. In this art theoretical work, the exhibition is described in detail and its reception in the media and various publics and the context for the feminist art movement is established.

Together with Gisela Breitling, I was connected to an intensive exchange, which led to a long-term collaboration in which we carried out the exhibition -Das Verborgene Museum- and in 1987/88 in the Akademie der Künste Berlin, which was realized as part of the 750th anniversary in Berlin. Subsequently, the association "Das Verborgene Museum" founded.Preparations for the exhibition project for the 750th anniversary in BerlinGisela and I were of the opinion that, in addition to the many projects for the upcoming 750th anniversary in Berlin, there should also be a women's art project. We wanted to orientate ourselves on the individual work of female artists in order to discover its diversity and make it public. With the focus on the classic formats: painting, graphics and sculpture. The project should work out the situation of the artists and also have a connection to Berlin.

The Hidden Museum, a political project.

For Gisela and me, the lack of women in art was a political issue. We decided to search the Berlin public collections for works by women. Because we assumed that the acquired works of women, if any, were in the archives. The works exist undiscovered and scattered in the dark - the working title was created: THE HIDDEN MUSEUM.We asked the questions: According to the criteria according to which the works of women were collected, how high their share in artistic production - then and now - is and how do the museums do justice to this share. With the concept of research in the Berlin museums and an exhibition of these works, we turned to the New Society for Fine Art, within whose framework the project was to be realized.Compared to the International Women Artists project, we had the advantage of being the 2nd women’s project and after its great success with the public, the topic could no longer be dismissed with “insignificant”. Nevertheless, the fact that an analysis and exhibition was initiated by two artists met with skepticism. Similar to - Künstlerinnen International - our competence was questioned. The real artist should be apolitical. As if ingenuity were combined with a foreigner world. Art history rather proves the opposite, innovative processes in art also had a societal effect. The fact that politics spoils art is poisonous praise, it divides and manipulates.

Many initiatives are due to the ingenuity of “dilletanten”, who had an undisguised view of the matter and who had the down-to-earth attitude to deal with reality. But time had changed and we met competent, committed colleagues Dr Ingrid Wagner Kantuser and Renate Flagmeier in the NGBK, together we formed the working group in 1985. Other art historians joined us and began to take stock of the collections. The working group consisted of: Gisela Breitling - Renate Flagmeier- Susanne Gerber - Margaret Holz - Evelyn Kuwertz - Elke Messer - Julia von Randow - Ingrid Wagner-Kantuser.

Gisela and Renate Flagmeier write in the foreword to the catalog Das Verborgenes Museum 1987: “The two years of research were preceded by a painstaking struggle to finance the project, which was - not by chance - initiated by the two painters Gisela Breitling and Evelyn Kuwertz . As performing artists, they in particular have a special interest in making a female art tradition visible, and they are particularly affected by the lack of female role models. "

Foundation of the association Das Verborgene Museum

Because of the limited financial resources available and the time pressure, only a fragmentary inventory was possible. At least 600 names and life dates of female artists could be determined.The facts were there and the exhibition with catalog was realized in the Akademie der Künste- am Hanseatenweg. The abundance of material and the gaps became evident.It showed centuries of neglect, which we understood as a call for more in-depth, fundamental research that should be continued in an institutional form.Our lawyer friend, Alexandra Goy, advised us to found an association for this purpose. Interested and committed colleagues Gisela Breitling, Cecilia Boisié, Alexandra Goy, Birgit Kleber, Evelyn Kuwertz, Tina Thürmer-Rohr were the founding women.

From experience we know about the fragility of such projects that only operate outside of the institutional areas because of personal commitment. That is why I am glad that with the farewells of the initiators: I am at the end of the 90s to concentrate only on my art after almost 30 years of feminist engagement; Gisela, a few years ago for health reasons and for a year forever - this initiative did not fail but was successfully continued by Elisabeth Moortgart and Marion Becker and The Hidden Museum has its place in Berlin's cultural institutions.Nevertheless, the Hidden Museum is only effective selectively. It is the task of museums to carry out comprehensive, specific research, to work up overviews of works and résumés of women so that they form an integral part. The museum management must be asked to ensure that the works of women artists are adequately present.

Final sentence by Gisela and Renate in the foreword of the catalog:"Women's exhibitions are not an indication of women's wishes for separation, but an answer to a male policy of exclusion."

Evelyn Kuwertz, March 12, 2019 Text excerpt on the occasion of the commemoration of GISELA BREITLING - 27. may 1939 - 12. march 2018 - in the Hidden Museum Berlin