Albertinum: Focus Albertinum: Where art and ideology converge

Focus Albertinum: Where art and ideology converge

Works by Rudolf Bergander from the collection

When does art with a political agenda become propaganda? How do art and social activism fit together? To what extent is it acceptable to fall into line when faced with a dictatorship? These questions are of essential significance when considering the work of the artist Rudolf Bergander, whose biography has not yet been comprehensively researched.

Exhibition Site Albertinum

DATES 12/11/2022—02/07/2023

ein dünnes Mädchen in einem blauen Kleid — **Rudolf Bergander, Mädchen im blauen Kleid (Schwindsüchtige), 1931** Öl auf Holz, 65 x 46 cm, Albertinum

ein Mann und eine Frau liegen nebeneinander — **Rudolf Bergander, Liegendes Paar, 1936** Öl auf Jute, 50 x 70 cm, Albertinum

Menschen bergen Trümmer — **Rudolf Bergander, Aufbauschicht, 1959** Öl auf Leinwand, 140 x 105 cm, Albertinum

Menschen stehen an einem Fahrkartenschalter, dahinter eine Brücke — **Rudolf Bergander, Am Fahrkartenschalter, 1968** Öl auf Leinwand, 70 x 100 cm, Albertinum

Rudolf Bergander, born in 1909, learned the craft of porcelain painting in Meissen. In 1928 he joined the Communist Party, and two years later he became a member of the Assoziation Revolutionärer Bildender Künstler Deutschland (Association of Revolutionary Visual Artists of Germany, ASSO). After only three semesters he was already working in Professor Otto Dix's painting class. What has hardly seeped into the public domain until now is documented in the German Federal Archives: a few days after the beginning of the war, on 12 September 1939, Rudolf Bergander applied to become a member of the NSDAP; his membership number was 79370041940. In 1940 he participated for the first time in the Große Deutsche Kunstausstellung (Great German Art Exhibition) in the Haus der Deutschen Kunst (House of German Art) in Munich, presenting the now lost painting “Trommel und Fahne” (Drum and Flag, Fig. 03), a picture whose formal aesthetics and motif clearly promoted the ideology of the Nazi dictatorship. Two members of the Hitler Youth are portrayed in a choreographed scene, waving a flag and twirling drumsticks.

ein Mann mit Pinsel in der Hand — **Rudolf Bergander, Selbstbildnis, 1947** Öl auf Leinwand, 90,5 x 65 cm, Albertinum

Was he driven by political ideas, by a desire to keep up with the times, or by conviction, ambition, opportunism, fear, or hardship? We know nothing about any of this; the evidence has become obscured, and a systematic scholarly investigation of the sources has yet to be carried out. In that same year, Bergander was called up for military service. In 1946 Bergander joined the SED. In 1949 he became a lecturer at the Dresden Akademie (from 1950 Hochschule) für Bildende Künste (Academy of Fine Arts), and in 1951 he was appointed professor of composition and panel painting. Rudolf Bergander held the position of Rector at the Academy from 1953 to 1959 and again in 1964/65. In this office he was charged with the task of bringing art into line with "the marching direction of the political struggle" (Otto Grotewohl, then Prime Minister of the GDR), educating young artists to be committed to society, the party, and the state, and fighting ‘bourgeois formalism’ in art.

drei Menschen sitzen vor einer Tür — **Rudolf Bergander, Vor der Tür, 1963** Öl auf Leinwand, 70 x 80 cm, Albertinum

eine junge Frau hockt zwischen Tauben — **Rudolf Bergander, Venezianische Episode, 1958** Öl auf Leinwand, 85 x 65 cm, Albertinum

ein Junge — **Rudolf Bergander, Dieter stehend, 1964** Öl auf Leinwand, 90 x 65 cm, Albertinum

Bergander became well-known as an artist primarily on account of his 1952 painting entitled “Hausfriedenskomitee” (House Peace Committee). This painting, which was subsequently reproduced multiple times and gained considerable popularity in the GDR, was highly praised as a pioneering work of socialist realism, although certain details in it were also criticised as formalistic. In the late 1950s, Bergander not only painted motifs that were practically exemplary in their conformity with party and state doctrine, such as demonstrations and scenes of industrial work and reconstruction, which were to serve as "exemplary" role models; he also frequently produced depictions of leisure activities, of children, or happy young people, signifying faith in a better future. Rudolf Bergander died in Dresden in 1970. His works are being made accessible in the "Focus Albertinum" series as a contribution to ongoing and future research.

Further Exhibitions