Ruhr area chronicler meets cultural legend

Rudolf Holtappel und Walter Kurowski - Eine foto_grafische Begegnung

23.01.2022 bis 08.05.2022

Smoking chimneys, industrial deserts, striking workers: numerous themes of the Ruhr area can be found and encountered in the photography, painting and graphics of Rudolf Holtappel and Walter Kurowski. Since 2017, the two artistic estates have enriched the collection of the LUDWIGGALERIE, have already been presented individually retrospectively and are now facing each other directly for the first time in a joint exhibition.

In their own monographic rooms, the central thematic focuses of the two artists are also shown. Rudolf Holtappel's entire artistic breadth is presented through the motifs of department store photography, theatre shots and industrial backdrops. Posters, caricatures and drawings demonstrate Walter Kurowski's artistic focus.

The Ruhr area chronicler passed his master in photography in 1950 and then worked as a freelance photographer and photojournalist. With his visual language, the Oberhausen native by choice has shaped the visual appearance of the Karstadt department store group as well as numerous industrial companies on the Rhine and Ruhr for decades, including Henkel (1974-2002), the Theater Oberhausen in the Büch era (1961–1970) and the Weise era (1992–2003) and cityscape books by well-known publishers (Carl Lange Verlag/Mercator-Verlag).

Walter Kurowski (1939–2017), as a cultural legend and the only Oberhausen city artist, moved the city's artistic and musical scene for over 50 years and thus painted and drew himself in her memory. The award-winning graduate of the FolkwangSchule fights with his art as one of Germany's most important caricaturists in the 1970s and 1980s at the side of the workers for peace and justice and against oppression and exploitation. As a poster designer, he received commissions for cultural events, political organizations and trade unions for decades.

Fotografin unter Musikern

LINDA McCARTNEY - The Sixties and more

15.05.2022 bis 11.09.2022

When the American Linda Eastman began to photograph in the mid-1960s, she immediately became in the scene of rock'n'roll. A press invitation opens the door to a Rolling Stones promotion party aboard the SS Sea Panther on the Hudson River. This is where her unusual career begins. "Those were the days when Jimi Hendrix came to my apartment snowed out of the blue and I went out to eat with Jim Morrison in Chinatown. Once I bought peanut butter with Janis Joplin for a midnight feast, another time I was taking the subway through town with Jackson Browne." She also meets the Beatles and thus her future husband Paul.

With the photos from the Sixties, the exhibition shows haunting moments of this intense musical era. Her work is complemented by the roadworks and the experimental sunprints. In addition, an independent presentation of record covers with their special designs offers a complementary insight into the time of sex, drugs and rock'n'roll. The exhibition was created in collaboration with Ina Brockmann and Peter Reichelt.

Räuber Hotzenplotz, Krabat und Die kleine Hexe

Otfried Preußler – Figurenschöpfer und Geschichtenerzähler

18.09.2022 bis 15.01.2023

Otfried Preußler (1923–2013) is one of the most important and influential German authors of children's and young adult books. In addition to the fantastic and fairytale stories that he knows how to tell skillfully, it is the striking illustrations that have been inscribed in the collective memory of several generations. The little ghost that turns black in daylight, the one hundred and twenty-seven years young witch and the little Aquarius living at the Mühlenweiher have found their way into many children's rooms to this day. Various illustrators have given the figures their characteristic and unmistakable appearance. Particularly well-known are the illustrations of F. J. Tripp, who gave the robber Hotzenplotz his distinctive appearance. In the exhibition, Preußler's curious new word creations also attract attention. Muhme Rumpumpel, Hörbe and his friend Zwottel are characterized by their linguistically and figuratively high recognition value. Preußler's adaptation of the Sorbian legend Krabat was successfully filmed in 2008 and is just one example of the successful transfer of his stories to other media.