A new theme is at home in the Weßlinger Gemeindegalerie: "Étienne de Silhouette and the history of paper cutting".
Gallery manager Erich Rüba put together the exhibition together with collector, artist and bookbinder Olaf Nie (60).
Weßling
- The Weßlinger dealt with the art of paper cutting for the first time around 15 years ago.
He was supposed to give a lecture about it - and in the course of his research he literally fell in love with the craft, which, as China's oldest folk art, moved into Europe in the 17th century.
His collected works by well-known artists and also amateurs as well as loans can be seen in Hauptstraße 57 until March.
The walls are lined with pictures that literally captivate the viewer with their finely crafted details.
For example, the silhouettes of Paul Konewka cut in wood, which illustrated the lines of Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream in 1868.
You can see Bottom with the donkey's head and the hovering elf in the thorn bush - that involuntarily triggers head cinema.
Goethe also collected shadows.
“You threw the profile onto a canvas with a lamp,” explains Nie.
The outlines drawn were ultimately the template for the paper cuts.
A work of art based on a silhouette - the namesake Étienne de Silhouette actually had little to do with art.
In fact, the French finance minister was notorious for his tough austerity measures in the mid-18th century.
Evil tongues blasphemed him - and out of sheer avarice he would hang the castle with silhouettes instead of precious paintings.
Even the layperson likes to respond to the term paper cutting with “This is something for children,” says Nie.
A fallacy, as the visitor to the community gallery learns.
The spectrum ranges from handicrafts at home to artfully cut out scenes on paper.
The white cut from Italy, on loan from a private household, is an eye-catcher.
The biblical motif of Daniel in the lions' den is reproduced in a gold frame, with an apparently moving hunting scene just above it.
The wafer-thin lines of movement of the protagonists are no longer possible with the scissors, explains Nie.
To do this, the paper was glued to a glass with sugar water and cut out with a penknife.
A job that is now possible with a laser printer and perfectly shows that the art of paper cutting has arrived in modern times.
The loan from private individuals is handmade and still in action today: The shadow theater from the 19th century by Franz von Pocci, the Punch's father.
Also exciting is the emergency money from the 1920s, on which the bailiffs are depicted in black and white with all their greed.
Science has also taken on the silhouettes: JC Lavaters Physionomie studied the profiles and assigned characteristics such as the pointed nose to character traits.
“To promote knowledge of human nature and human love,” says Nie - and Lavater could not have imagined that his studies would one day be misused for the racial teachings of the National Socialists.
Michèle Kirner
"Étienne de Silhouette and the history of paper cutting"
can be seen at Hauptstraße 57 until March 7, 2021.
Opening times are Friday and Sunday 2pm to 5pm.
For groups by appointment on (0 81 53) 40 40.