The exhibition PAINTER. MENTOR. MAGICIAN. For the first time, the focus is on the enormous influence of the former Brücke artist and expressionist Otto Mueller (1874–1930): The painter taught for more than ten years at the State Academy of Arts and Applied Arts in Breslau, which at the time was one of the most progressive art schools in Europe . Especially since the 1920s - thanks to the numerous new appointments of the then director Oskar Moll - the Breslau Academy enjoyed a reputation for cosmopolitanism and liberality. Here, the diverse movements of modern painting stood side by side on an equal footing: Expressionism with Otto Mueller, the French Peinture of the Académie Matisse with Oskar Moll, the New Objectivity with Alexander Kanoldt and Carlo Mense, and the Bauhaus with Oskar Schlemmer, Georg Muche and Johannes Molzahn.
The main focus of the exhibition is modern painting: Otto Mueller and his network experienced a creative phase in Breslau, which they described as highly productive, stimulated by exchange and mutual influence. This influence between fellow painters becomes apparent through thematic similarities and other cross-references: in paintings, works on paper, written statements or photographs. Above all, the charismatic Otto Mueller, who was driven by longing and a thirst for freedom, had a significant influence on the Breslau art scene. According to statements from those close to him, including art critics and writers, Otto Mueller is said to have been a 'romantic' and even a 'magician'. Carl Hauptmann already memorialized him in the artist's biography “Einhart der Lächler” (1907) - in this way the poet made his decisive contribution to laying the foundations of an 'artist myth'.
Mueller's striking appearance and his unbourgeois lifestyle exerted an enormous fascination on his students at the academy. They appreciated his total dedication to art, his unconventional teaching methods and humor. Some of his students - such as Alexander Camaro and Horst Strempel - went from Breslau to Berlin and experienced the climax of their painting careers here.
A special feature of MALER's curatorial concept . MENTOR. MAGICIAN. is the principle of the 'guest': this refers to selected images through which similarities and differences can be pointed out in a spotlight-like, cross-epoch and intercultural way, especially in the German-Polish context. The inclusion of 'Polish Expressionists' enables unique visual comparisons and new connections, while at the same time intertwining the German-Polish orientation of this exhibition.