Witten Museum

The Witten Museum was founded in 1886 by the “Association of Local and Regional History” (VOHM) as a museum of industry, and also as a museum of history and local lore . After moving to three temporary sites, in the period from 1909 to 1911, a modern museum building was built on Huzemanstraße - the owners of the factory “Stahlfabrik Friedrich Lohmann” became construction sponsors. The museum has collected paleontological , geological, mineralogical, biological and cultural-historical collections. Collect a collection of commercial and industrial history of the region failed. The collections were supplemented by an extensive library on the history of the region (and the history of Westphalia ), as well as on legal, church and medical history: a significant part of the collections was the city archive, which included documents on the history of Witten and old newspapers in the region. Later a collection of coins and medals was added to it.

Works of art began to gather only from the 1920s. Art exhibitions regularly held by the museum were usually perceived as trade shows — thanks to commissions, the museum sought to partially self-finance. Peter Emil Noel, who was the director of the local gymnasium and chairman of VOHM, donated his collection of modern German painting to the museum. However, when the Reich Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels , who defended some representatives of expressionism , lost some of his political positions in 1937, the position of Alfred Rosenberg , who did not share the views of Goebbels, prevailed in the formation of the Third Reich ideology . The position of Noel, despite his national socialist convictions, became difficult: the national socialists believed that the Witten Museum should focus on the historical direction - but it did not develop due to the financial difficulties of the Second World War .

Wilhelm Nettmann, director of the museum from 1953 to 1978, continued to work in the field of contemporary art. During his tenure, the museum was expanded to include the neighboring Villa Berger, which today houses the headquarters of the Kulturforum Witten union. Under Nettmann's successor - Wolfgang Zemtere, who held the post of director from 1978 to 2009 - the museum was closed from 1985 to 1988: during these years it was completely renovated and significantly expanded. The principle of "open spaces", which is the basis of the reorganization, allowed the public to continue to present modern works to the general public - including the use of modern technical means. In October 2014, construction began on a separate building for the library - in 2016, the Witten Library moved into it.

Collection

Most of the museum collection collected by the “Association of Local and Regional History” is today the property of the city of Witten. Two major exhibits on the history of the region: the statue of the Archbishop of Cologne Engelbert I, created around 1230 (currently transferred to the permanent exhibition of the Ruhr Museum in Essen ) and the tomb of the Strynkeded family, created in the 16th century. The basis of the art-historical collection consists of "4000 paintings, sculptures and graphic works", created in Germany in the XX century. So the museum houses the works of several famous expressionists, including paintings by Max Pechstein , Ernst Ludwig Kirchner , Emil Nolde , Erich Heckel , Conrad Felixmüller , August Macke , Gabriela Munter and Heinrich Campendonk . Among local authors are Westphalian expressionists Wilhelm Morgner and Christian Rolfs . The administration of the museum claims that it has the largest collection of German informationism .

• Witten Library
• Emil Schumacher Museum

• Wilhelm Nettmann: Wie das alles angefangen hat. 1886-1976. 90 Jahre Verein für Orts- Heimatkunde in der Grafschaft Mark zu Witten und Märkisches Museum der Stadt Witten. In: Jahrbuch des Vereins für Orts- und Heimatkunde in der Grafschaft Mark. Band 74, 1976.
• Heinrich Schoppmeyer: Die Grundsteinlegung zum Märkischen Museum vor einhundert Jahren am 18. Mai 1909. In: Märkisches Jahrbuch für Geschichte. Band 110, 2010.
• Verband Westdeutscher Eisenbeton-Unternehmungen (Hrsg.): Bauausführungen der Mitglieder. Düsseldorf 1909.
• Emil Noelle, 1946 bis 1953 (= Beiträge zur Geschichte des Märkischen Museums der Stadt Witten. Band 1). Märkisches Museum, Witten 1986.
• Wolfgang Zemter: Das Märkische Museum unter Wilhelm Nettmann 1953 bis 1978 (= Beiträge zur Geschichte des Märkischen Museums der Stadt Witten. Band 2). Märkisches Museum, Witten 1995.
• Ralph Klein: Das Märkische Museum in Witten unter der Leitung von PE Noelle 1930 bis 1937. In: Jahrbuch des Vereins für Orts- und Heimatkunde in der Grafschaft Mark. Band 112. Dortmund 2012, S. 170–208.

• Märkisches Museum Witten (German) . ruhrkunstmuseen.com . RuhrKunstMuseen. The appeal date is April 14, 2019.