Kleve (dpa / lnw) - The Museum Kurhaus Kleve has received a large donation with around 1200 works by the sculptor Ewald Mataré (1887-1965). The extensive donation includes works from all creative periods, said a spokeswoman for the museum on Friday. Mataré is one of the most important sculptors of classical modernism in Germany. His master student at the Düsseldorf Art Academy was Joseph Beuys.
The works to be exhibited in 2024 include sculptures in wood, bronze and ceramics, as well as drawings, watercolors and paintings. "The fascination with his work lies in the way in which he negotiated a representation in his figures and landscapes that was neither fully representative nor abstract," said the museum in the run-up to the exhibition. The donation also includes designs for building projects, diaries and former furnishings from Mataré's studio.
Ewald Mataré was born in Aachen. His work was shaped by the First World War, the Weimar Republic, National Socialism, the Second World War and the upswing of the young Federal Republic. The artist spent 25 years in Berlin. In the post-war period he received great recognition with numerous commissions, such as the west window of Aachen Cathedral or the bronze doors for the south portal of Cologne Cathedral.
The Kurhaus Museum has kept part of the artistic legacy since 1988. When Sonja Mataré, the artist's daughter, died in 2020, she left the museum's circle of friends "with a great legacy of her father's works" in her will, the museum further announced.
