Folkwang Museum Association

The Folkwang Museum Association (in German: Folkwang Museumsverein e.V.) is a German non-profit association of citizens, patrons and companies interested in art, founded on June 1, 1922. According to the statutes, its main aim is "to manage and expand the Folkwang Museum founded by Karl Ernst Osthaus together with the city of Essen and to make it permanently available for research and popular education purposes as a public collection". The association is based in Essen, where the Folkwang Museum has been located since October 1922. A special feature of the association compared to almost all other museum associations is that, together with the city of Essen, it is co-owner of the collections of the Folkwang Museum. The association publishes its own periodical for its members, the Folkwang newsletter. Its chairman since 2015 is Ulrich Blank.

Folkwang Museum Association
Folkwang Museumsverein
Formation1 June 1922
Founded atEssen
Location
  • Museumsplatz 1, 45128 Essen, Germany
Membership
400
LeaderUlrich Blank
Websitefolkwang-museumsverein.de/en/

Goals and bodies

Association purpose

The purpose and tasks of the Folkwang Museum Association are determined in its statutes as follows: "1. The purpose of the association is to manage, expand and public the Folkwang Museum founded by Dr. Karl Ernst Osthaus in Hagen together with the city of Essen 2. To make the collection permanently usable for the purposes of research and popular education. 2. In addition, the association has the general task of promoting the fine arts. 3. The association also has the task of maintaining and promoting the international status and character of the museum by supporting the work of the scientific staff in the field of teaching and research as well as all efforts of the museum for international cooperation in the artistic field."[1] The purpose of the association determined in point 1 has been valid since 1922 (in the wording as quoted), the task of promoting the fine arts (analogously). The deliberate internationality of the museum and its activities was enshrined in the statutes only later, in fact it had existed from the beginning – only interrupted during the National Socialist era.

Bodies

The two governing bodies of the association are the board of directors elected by the general assembly (currently 14 members, at least seven according to the articles of association) and the executive board (currently six members). This is elected by the General Assembly on the proposal of the Board of Directors. In the early days, the board of directors had eight members (at least five according to the Articles of Association), while the executive board consisted of only three people, who at that time still had to belong to the board of directors.

Cooperation with the city of Essen and the heirs of Karl Osthaus as well as the supervision of the museum's operations take place in the board of trustees (Kuratorium) of the Museum Folkwang. It comprises up to 20 people, ten representatives of the city, five from the museum association and also up to five representatives from the Karl Ernst Osthaus Foundation, as well as the director of the museum (Peter Gorschlüter since 2018) as advisory member. The chair of the board of trustees changes annually between the mayor of Essen and the chairman of the museum association.[2]

Membership and chairpersons

The Folkwang Museum Association has around 400 members, including legal entities (mostly companies). Its chairmen (since 1960 "first chairperson") were:

  • 1922–1924: Friedrich Schöne
  • 1925–1926: Ernst Henke
  • 1926–1928: Oskar Ruperti
  • 1928–1937: Hermann Seippel
  • 1938–1959: Adalbert Colsman
  • 1959–1969: Ernst Henke
  • 1969–1985: Berthold von Bohlen und Halbach
  • 1985–2000: Dietrich Oppenberg
  • 2000–2005: Gerhard Cromme
  • 2005–2010: Henner Puppel
  • 2010–2015: Achim Middelschulte
  • since 2015: Ulrich Blank

Literature
  • Folkwang-Museumsverein (Edit.): Sammlerfleiß und Stiftungswille. 90 Jahre Folkwang-Museumsverein – 90 Jahre Museum Folkwang [Collector's Diligence and Will to the Foundation. 90 Years of the Folkwang Museum Association – 90 Years of the Folkwang Museum], by Ulrike Laufer, 448p., Edition Folkwang / Steidl, Göttingen 2012, ISBN 978-3-86930-601-8. [A comprehensive account of the history and activities of the Folkwang Museum Association, published on the occasion of its ninetieth anniversary; in German.]
  • Folkwang-Museumsverein (Edit.): Bilder für eine Sammlung. Museum Folkwang Essen. DuMont, Cologne 1994, ISBN 3-7701-3433-8.
  • Tayfun Belgin, Christoph Dorsz (Edit.): Der Folkwang Impuls. Das Museum von 1902 bis heute. Neuer Folkwang Verlag, Hagen 2012.
  • Andreas Lepik: Die Zurückführung der Kunst ins Leben: Karl Ernst Osthaus und das Museum Folkwang. In: Manet bis van Gogh, Hugo von Tschudi und der Kampf um die Moderne. Exhibition catalogue. Prestel, Berlin / München 1996, ISBN 3-7913-1748-2.

References
  1. §1, Satutes of the Folkwang Museum Association as published on its website
  2. Website of the Folkwang Museum Association
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