Museum für Sächsische Volkskunst: 100 years Wendt & Kühn

100 years Wendt & Kühn. Dresden Modernism from the Erzgebirge

In honour of Wendt & Kühn’s 100-year anniversary, the Museum für Sächsische Volkskunst (Museum of Saxon Folk Art) is hosting an exhibition on the history of the company since its beginnings in 1915. It all started when the two founders, Margarete Wendt and Margarete Kühn, attended the first class for women at the School of Applied Arts in Dresden in 1907, a time when, thanks to the city’s burgeoning art scene, new directions were being sought and found in the arts and architecture. The style that emerged from this reform movement in Dresden, combining elements of Jugendstil, folk art and modernism, was the secret to the young designers’ success.

Exhibition Site Jägerhof

DATES 20/06/2015—10/01/2016

With more than 300 objects, the exhibition traces the creative environment that shaped and influenced the two designers and the important links forged at the beginning of their careers with the Deutsche Werkstätten Hellerau, the Deutscher Werkbund, and the newly established Verein Sächsischer Heimatschutz, protecting Saxony’s natural and cultural heritage. Works from the early days of the company attest to the breadth of their designs at this initial stage, ranging from grave crosses to dolls houses and toys typical of the reform movement as well as various small items for the modern young woman. The distinctive figurines of children, angels and Christmas characters only gradually became the most successful and enduring trademark associated with Wendt & Kühn.

kleine Holzfigur eines Mädchens mit Margerite — **Blumenkind "Mädchen mit Margerite"** Firma Wendt & Kühn, Entwurf 1929

The exhibition was made possible through the close cooperation between Wendt & Kühn and the Museum für Sächsische Volkskunst Dresden and presents numerous previously unknown documents, drawings and figurines from the extensive holdings of both houses as well as privately owned collections and other museums of the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden (Dresden State Art Collections).