Exciting Summer Exhibitions at the Stadtturm Gmünd

Ever since 1996 the Kulturinitiative Gmünd has been proudly presenting exhibitions on the four floors of the ancient city tower “Stadtturm” in the medieval town of Gmünd. Each floor of this special and unique exhibition space displayed works of art of many well known national artists who gained fame in Austria as well as abroad. In previous years the “Stadtturmgalerie” hosted art shows of classical, modern and contemporary artists, making the gallery a firm favourite among first time as well as returning visitors of our town.

Since the first year of operation, 1996, the “Stadtturm” has exhibited the following artists:

HERBERT BOECKL 1996
MAX WEILER 1997
HANS GASSER 1998
ALFRED HRDLICKA 1999
ARIK BRAUER 2000
WERNER BERG 2001
GISELBERT HOKE 2002
ANTON LEHMDEN 2003
GRAFIKSAMMLUNG VERBUND 2004
HANS STAUDACHER 2005
WASSER IN DER KUNST 2006
VALIE EXPORT 2007
GERHARD ROTH 2008
ALFRED KUBIN 2009
PAUL FLORA 2010

Summer Exhibition 2011

BERGLUST

Mountains imply a break from everyday life. Standing in front of a mountain range, feeling small, evokes feelings of inferiority. It is this kind of feeling that opens our hearts, touches our souls and that makes us want to bow before the overwhelming power of nature. The artists‘ town of Gmünd and its 2011 program „Bergkunstsommer 2011“ want to whet your appetite for an imaginative mountain world, as ingenious and diverse, as our mountains are.

It’s a rather new phenomenon that mountains fascinate people in a way that touches their hearts and makes them want to find sportive as well as mental distraction. Compared to geological transformations over millions of years and the duration of ice and stone, people have only turned to voluntary hiking as a source of recreation quite recently. Just around the mid of the 19th century a new desire for mountains began to evolve and this fascination started to be expressed in paintings. From topographically correct illustrations to romantic views of mountain ranges, mountains were no longer mere background features, but moved to the center of artistic attention.

The main summer exhibition at the „Stadtturm“, the medieval city tower, presents alpine painting of three centuries. Thanks to the support of numerous private and public lenders the Artists Town Gmünd is able to exhibit a considerable spectrum of paintings that depict the local mountains. Everybody who has been hiking or skiing in our alpine region might be able to recognize one or the other mountain top from the paintings and will be able to experience how different artistic approaches to the same topic can be.

The oil on canvas paintings by Markus Pernhart (1824-1871), the most famous Austrian painter of the Alps, are highlights of the exhibition. Especially in depicting the Großglockner, the highest Austrian mountain, Pernhart gained fame in the art world. His famous panorama paintings of high mountain ranges are evidence of a newly evolved interest of exploring unknown mountain regions as well as to transform the formerly rough and dangerous Alpine region into a tourist attraction.

The Englishman Edward Theodore Compton (1849-1921) is famous for both, exploring and painting the Alps. He is said to have completed the first ascent on 7 mountain tops and discovered more than 20 new routes for climbing mountain tops, some of those in the region around Gmünd. From his „base camp“ Gasthof Kohlmayr, an up to this day operating inn and restaurant on the main square of Gmünd, Compton explored the valley of the river Malta and the area around the Ankogel mountain top. As a brilliant mountain painter Compton always travelled with pencils, water colors and a sketchbook and thanks to his fascination with our region there exist many Compton paintings and drawings of the mountains close by. The exhibtion „Berglust“ proudly presents more than 20 works by E.T.Compton.

Besides Pernhart and Compton many other well known artists have engaged in mountain paintings: Works by Thomas Ender (1793-1875) and Eduard Manhart (1880-1945) present proof of the art world’s fascination with the mountains of our region. To give a complete overview of artistic preoccupation with our mountains as the central theme, the „Stadtturmgalerie“ also exhibits paintings by Edward Harrison Compton, Ernst Platz, Gustav Jahn and Switbert Lobisser as well as contemporary art of the same topic by Karl Stark, Herbert Breiter and Boris Koller. More than 70 years old historical film footage from the first ascent of the „Hochalmspitze“ puts the finishing touch to the exhibtion.

This considerable exhibition is the first of its kind in Carinthia and was made possible in cooperation with the sections Gmünd and Spittal/Drau of the Austrian Alpine Association, the section Osnabrück of the German Alpine Association, the Tourism Association Lieser-/Maltatal and the National Park Hohe Tauern and due to many private and public lenders. A warm thank you goes out to the Museum of the Austrian Alpine Association in Innsbruck, the Alpine Museum of the German Alpine Association in Munich, the Town Museum of Villach, the State Museum of Upper Austria, the State Museum of Carinthia, the STRABAG Art Forum, the Art Gallery Magnet and to numerous private lenders.

Opening: Friday, May 20th 2011, 7 pm
Duration: May 20th – October 2nd 2011
Opening times: Daily 10 am – 1 pm and 2.30 pm – 6 pm, Wednesdays in July and August until 9 pm
Tickets: € 6,–; children under the age of 14 free
OeAV members and DAV members: € 4,50
KärntenCard, NationalparkCard, KELAG Plus Card and Kärnten Kulturpass accepted.

Guided tours for groups of 10 or more visitors subject to arrangement.