Bauhaus-trained ceramist Margarete Heymann-Löbenstein-Marks (1899–1990) was a forward-looking German Jewish artist crushed by the circumstances of her time.
Through approximately 30 artworks, the Milwaukee Art Museum will present her story in a special exhibit titled “Grete Marks: When Modern Was Degenerate.”
The exhibition, on view Sept. 6–Jan. 1, was developed by the museum with the cooperation of the artist’s daughter, Dr. Frances Marks. This is the first American exhibition to explore the artist’s story.
After attending the Bauhaus school’s ceramics program, Marks founded the Haël Factory for Artistic Ceramics in 1923 outside of Berlin. Under her direction, the factory honored the German stoneware tradition of its region and exemplified the Bauhaus ideal of uniting modern aesthetics with efficient mass production.
The Nazis came to power in 1933. In 1934, a member of the party purchased the Haël Factory, and in 1935, a Nazi newspaper slandered her ceramics as part of the campaign against “degenerate art.”
Marks, a widow, and her son fled to England. She worked in the Stoke-on-Trent potteries, but never regained the artistic or leadership stature of her period at the Haël Factory.
The works in the exhibition are on loan from museum and private collections in the United States and England. The exhibit is supported by the Chipstone Foundation, the Mae E. Demmer Charitable Trust and the Milwaukee Art Museum’s Collectors’ Corner.
The exhibit will open Thurs, Sept. 6, 6:15 p.m. The artist’s daughter and curator Mel Buchanan will discuss Marks’ life and work.
In addition, a film series accompanying the exhibit will be shown on three Thursdays, 6:15 p.m., in the museum’s Lubar Auditorium. Each film will be presented with a short introduction and discussion in collaboration with the Sam & Helen Stahl Center for Jewish Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. The schedule is:
• Oct 4, “Eyewitness” (1999), an Academy Award–nominated short film documenting the hidden art and lives of artists in the concentration camps during the Holocaust.
• Nov 1, “The Rape of Europa” (2006), a documentary about Nazi Germany’s plundering of Europe’s works of art during World War II, and Allied efforts to minimize the damage.
• Dec 6, “The Train” (1964), a feature film set in 1944, when a German colonel loads a train with French art treasures to send to Germany, and the Resistance must stop it without damaging the cargo.
The museum is open Tuesday through Sunday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., and on Thursdays until 8 p.m. Admission is $15 for adults; $12 for students, seniors, and active military; and free for members and for children age 12 and under. The first Thursday of each month is Target Free First Thursday and admission is free for individuals (does not apply to groups).
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