"Vice - Versa"

What inspired 19th-century American artists to travel to Düsseldorf in order to study at the Akademie or in the studio of their compatriot Emanuel Leutze? Possibly it was the initiative of the German Consul in New York who launched the Düsseldorf Gallery containing an exhibition of paintings by contemporary artists. During 1813 and 1913 approximately 200 German artists chose America as a permanent or temporary residence.

During the 20s, the German painters focused predominantly on genre painting: card players, saloon talks, farmers at work. Then others became chroniclers of the expeditions to the west. They painted the life of the, polar bear huntings and buffaloes as well as exotic landscapes. Later painters were also fascinated by the foreignness of the Native Americans as well as the dark-skinned slaves.

At the beginning, the emigrated artists still held a traditional view of the new country. In the middle of the century, however, this attitude changed, becoming sober and more detailed. The emigrants, some of which had studied in Düsseldorf, discovered what today is known as Yosemite National Park and the Rocky Mountains to be magnificent natural sceneries.

The Civil War (1861-1865) deeply shook the foundation of the United States. Some of the painters -- many of them being refugees from Europe after the Revolution of 1848 -- not only participated in the battles but also considered themselves as chroniclers, recording the events through their painting.

The only German sculptor exhibited is a disciple of the Danish classicist sculptor Albert Bertal Thorwaldsen named Pettrich. Additionally, the sculptures of Native American communities and scenes of their lives originated between 1835-1846. While ethnologists were familiar with these sculptures, art-historians ignored them. With their realistic, nearly photographic way of representation, these images could have inspired the classical art of sculpture. In the meantime Pettrich's œuvre disappeared in the storerooms because it did not correspond with the zeitgeist.

In 1841 the American Emanuel Leutze came to the Düsseldorf Akademie. During that time, more than 80 American students were enrolled, not to mention the private disciples of his studio. They traveled to the Westphalian landscape as well as the Harz Mountains, studying vegetation and architecture, captured light and shadow effects (for instance the picturesque view of a valley, a riverside, or a mountain-chain). When Leutze left, the Akademie lost its attraction.

After 1860 the Americans regularly visited the Akademie in Munich until World War I. Young American painters found their models within the Munich population or just painted one another. They went to the outskirts of Munich in groups, saw beer-gardens, or the washing-day in backyards, studied landscapes, streets, alleys, canals, and houses.

The "Munich-School" formed American art until the end of the century, while modern French art was gaining more and more influence. According to the traditional manner, the American artists still painted cows on a pasture or wood-collectors, topics from the middle of the century. Artists who wanted to be successful at the beginning of the 20th century did not change their traditional attitude.

The healthy shock came with the "Amory Show" of 1913. By this time the American painting had become independent adapting to the new European styles -- even in terms of abstract painting.

• A catalog is going to be published by the Hirmer-Verlag (DM 68,-, electronic mail order
• Guided tours are offered.